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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Japanese equivalent of a Hammer vampire film, 9 May 2004
There is something fascinating to me about Asian vampire films. How closely will the story follow the classic western vampire mythology, and what differences will there be in the Asian interpretation of the greatest of all horror "monsters?" Given the fact that this Japanese film was made in 1974 and was obviously influenced by the standard Hammer Studio formula, there isn't much to make these particular vampires stand out from the crowd. The only real difference I discerned was the target area of the vampires' bites; foregoing the jugular mother lode, these undead guys and gals preferred to aim for the upper breast of female victims. Well, there was another difference - these vampires don't seem to have super-human strength; not only do they struggle to overcome the hero, the head vampire dude keeps forgetting he can rip people apart with his fangs and thinks he has to choke people in order to kill them. Clearly, this is no Dracula film; the original title of this film, The Bloodthirsty Rose, serves the movie much better.
I suppose I should set the stage for this vampiric adventure. Our hero, Professor Shiraki (Toshio Kurosawa) accepts a job to teach at an all-girls school. The principal of the school, played by Kunie Tanaka, welcomes him and invites him to stay overnight at his home. His dead wife, who was supposedly killed in an automobile accident two days earlier, is chilling out in the basement because, as the principal explains, it is the local custom to keep the dead topside for seven days just in case said corpse decides to come back to life. Well, Shiraki isn't the kind of guy you want to invite to your house. Hearing a noise, he gets up and decides to snoop all around the house, only to find himself attacked by the dead principal's wife and a younger dead woman. Waking up in bed, he thinks it is just a dream, but he wants to make sure. Thus, he goes down into the basement and actually opens the coffin of the dead wife - I think this is a breach of custom in any culture. Despite being caught red-handed by the principal, his host tells him he wants him to succeed him as principal. The rest of the action plays out around three school roommates staying at school over the semester break. Sharaki has his growing suspicions of vampirism substantiated when the principal attacks one of the girls, and this leads us into several chases in the woods, some vampire attacks, a few stray murders, and a big final confrontation. The special effects of the final scene stand out to some degree, largely because they are the only special effects I noticed in the entire movie. The filmmakers milk it a little bit, but it does add a little needed zest to the ending. Evil of Dracula does manage to bring a bit of a gothic feel to the mysterious school out in the middle of nowhere, but the performances of all involved never really rise to the occasion, and the end result is a good but tepid Japanese vampire flick. It is interesting to note that Toho studios, best known for giving the world the gift of Godzilla, made Evil of Dracula and a few other forgotten vampire films in the 1970s. This is a film that will interest horror fans, but those who do not feel the need to feed on vampire films will probably forget this film only moments after The End appears on the screen.
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