Noroi no yakata: Chi o suu me

Somehow, while being a fan of Japanese horror and ghost story movies, I managed to never have heard of the so-called Bloodthirsty trilogy. They are loads of fun.

Lake of Dracula is the middle film in the trilogy. It has an atmospheric opening, an entertaining if periodically slow moving middle portion, and a fantastic climax, including quite an ending. Wow, did they ever go for it with the ending!

There are a couple of annoying inconsistencies in the script, but really, perfect logic is never really the point in most modern Japanese horror. It's more about atmosphere, mood, and, in the case of these wonderful and unusual Japanese Gothic horror movies, a garish luredness lifted straight from the Hammer movies. The actors are also appealing and competent, and when consistently applied (it doesn't always cover the necks) the blue-gray vampire makeup is pretty cool.

Interesting context: the Bloodthirsty trilogy was produced by Toho, and Lake of Dracula was released the same year as Toho's Godzilla vs. Hedorah.

Highly recommended for fans of Hammer horror, Gothic horror, and Japanese horror cinema.

Lake of Dracula is the second entry in the Bloodthirsty Trilogy, a series of Japanese movies inspired by American and European horror cinema, literature and myths. The story revolves around school teacher Kashiwagi Akiko who lives near a peaceful lake. When a coffin is delivered to a local boathouse by a strange truck driver, strange events start to occur. Akiko believes the current events are somehow related to a traumatizing event she went through when she was only five years old. Her joyful sister Natsuko doesn't believe her but her fiancé Doctor Saeki Takashi starts to investigate when one of his patients who lived near the lake is brought to his hospital with two bite marks on her neck.

If compared to the first entry in the franchise, Lake of Dracula isn't as intense from start to finish as the creepy The Vampire Doll. There are a few too many dialogues in the middle section and scenes like the two sisters going shopping in a nearby town are irrelevant to the story. However, the opening flashback has a very eerie atmosphere and the first scene in the present when a mysterious coffin is delivered sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Things start getting really intense in the second half when the protagonist gets attacked at home and her fiancé in his car. From then on, the film has intense pace and ends very dramatically as well.

The settings are perfectly chosen. The beautiful town by the lake turns into a sinister trap. The vampire's strange house has an otherworldly vibe to it. The hospital the doctor works in looks sinsiter at night. The different locations add some diversity to an already entertaining movie.

The acting performances are also quite solid. Fujita Midori delivers the goods as lead actress in her very first film and it's a mystery to me why she only starred in six movies in her whole career. Her fragile yet determined nature is perfecrly balanced in this movie. She harmonizes well with her more rational and grounded partner Takahashi Chôei. Their chemistry is comparable to the couple in the first movie. The mysterious vampire is played by Kishida Shin and truly terrifying. It reminds of several classic American horror movies in a positive way.

The second half of the film might even be better than the one of The Vampire Doll but a slightly dragging middle section makes Lake of Dracula overall a little bit less enjoyable. Still, fans of classic horror cinema will dig the combination of Japanese culture and Western horror tropes. The idea that vampirism was brought to Japan by foreigners as explained in this movie is somewhat awkward but everything else fits together very fluidly. The movie looks a little bit dated nowadays but still convinces with very good acting performances, a lot of atmosphere and great locations.

As a child "Akiko Kashiwagi" (Midori Fujita) witnessed a horrible scene involving a vampire and has tried her best to repress it since then. Now in her mid-twenties certain strange events begin occurring which bring those memories front and center. The problem is that when she tries to tell her younger sister "Natsuko Kashiwagi" (Sanae Emi) about them she ends up sounding a little crazy and begins to question her sanity. Fortunately, her boyfriend "Dr. Takashi Saeki" (Choei Takahashi) is a bit more understanding. Even so, he still isn't quite able to make the connection when a patient is admitted to the emergency room totally drained of blood and with two bite marks on her neck. And then things really begin to happen. Now, rather than detail any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that, even though this basic story has been told many times and in many ways, this particular film was somewhat unique due in large part to the Japanese setting. I especially liked the heavy use of makeup on some of the characters along with the fog which helped to create an overall eerie atmosphere. Likewise, having a pretty actress like the aforementioned Sanae Emi certainly didn't hurt either. In any case, while the movie was certainly no blockbuster I think it deserves at least an average rating.

On the age of five, Akiko Kashiwagi had a weird dream that has traumatized her life. Eighteen years later, Akiko Kashiwagi (Midori Fujita) is a school teacher that lives with her younger sister Natsuko Kashiwagi (Sanae Emi) and their dog Leo in an isolated house by a lake. Her fiancé Dr. Takashi Saeki (Chôei Takahashi) visits her every now and then when possible. When a coffin is delivered in the boat house of her acquaintance nearby her house, he is subdue by a weird man (Shin Kishida). Soon victims without blood and two holes on the neck arrive in the hospital and Dr. Takashi Saeki is attacking them at the lakeshore where Akiko lives and he decides to investigate.

"Noroi no yakata: Chi o suu me", a.k.a. "Lake of Dracula", is another vampire movie produced by Toho studios. The flawed plot is entertaining and is funny to see Akiko and Takashi going to the vampire house during the night without any weapon. The age of the dog Leo is also intriguing. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Lago de Drácula" ("The Lake of Dracula")

As I write, it's 69 years since Godzilla first stomped across our planet, causing the kind of destruction that is, even now, wowing audiences across the world. Toho films were originally (and subsequently) responsible for most of The Big G's attempts to save/destroy humanity. Perhaps less well known, particularly to Western audiences, is that Toho also enjoys a run of horror films. They were behind 1998's seminal Ringu, for example, which spawned a whole host of ghostly dark-haired children in horror films.

They flirted with the Prince of Darkness himself with this trilogy of films. Beginning with 1970's 'The Vampire Doll' and ending with ending with 'Evil of Dracula (1974)', 'Lake of Dracula' stars Shin Kishida as a thin glowing-eyed vampire and is more frightening than you might imagine. Nicely directed by Michio Yamamoto and bathed in abrasive colours, he is a force well up to the standing and style of other Draculas.

Any middle section of a trilogy has the most difficult job. No beginning and no end to speak of, it might ungraciously be regarded as 'filler' to any ongoing story. Happily, the stories are so loosely connected, 'Lake' is free to do as it pleases to a large degree.

There's a note of restrain with the horrors here, which isn't always the way with Toho films, and yet the finale is as horrifying as you could hope for. A triumph of lighting, tension and a generally eerie ambience, my score is 8 out of 10.