Evil of Dracula Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Evil of Dracula Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 13, 2018

Note: This film is available as part of The Bloodthirsty Trilogy.

Hammer Horror: The Warner Bros. Years almost unavoidably if kind of tangentially documented the venerable British studio’s impact in the United States due to its partnership with what was then called Warner Brothers — Seven Arts, but Arrow’s new Bloodthirsty Trilogy proves that Hammer’s influence reached far beyond just the shores of the United States, in case there had been any doubt. As the cheerful Kim Newman mentions in an appealing overview included on this two disc set as a supplement, there have been a lot of iconic Japanese horror films through the years going back to the earliest days of cinema, including any number of so-called J-Horror outings that were ultimately adapted into English language entries (Ring), but what may interest horror fans most about The Bloodthirsty Trilogy is this trio of films’ obvious homages to Hammer stylistic proclivities as well as certain plot mechanics. That said, all three of the films in The Bloodthirsty Trilogy definitely have a Japanese sensibility often focusing on the influence of supernatural phenomena, a subtext of sorts that in its own way points both backward to some trends Newman outlines as well as to what would become the future of Japanese horror as evidenced by the glut of 21st century films that gained international audiences. All three of the films in this set are midlevel programmers (even Newman confesses that after having seen each of the trilogy several times he has a hard time remembering them and had to refer to his notes to prepare for his interview for the Blu-ray), and so those searching for obscure, undiscovered masterpieces may be at least a little let down, but all three films have spooky elements and some directorial flair courtesy of Michio Yamamoto.

A “trilogy” which might be argued by some to be a trilogy in name only, kind of like The Bloodthirsty Trilogy, was put out by Hammer Films itself in the early 1970s, with three films that featured a vampiric family named the Karnsteins. The Vampire Lovers came out in 1970, followed by Lust for a Vampire just a few months later in 1971, and then Twins of Evil in 1972. As both Kim Newman in the on screen supplement included with this set and Jasper Sharp in the insert booklet essay mention, there are some undeniable similarities between Evil of Dracula and the “middle child” of the kinda sorta Hammer trilogy, Lust for a Vampire, with a setting at a boarding school for girls that includes a vampire lurking among the staff.

Though it takes about a half hour for the film to get there, once again a dastardly European interloper is blamed for the rise of vampirism in Japan (a “trend” begun in the previous film as outlined in the Lake of Dracula Blu-ray review), a kind of narrative sidebar that is arrived at when a teacher named Shiraki (Thosio Kurosawa) arrives at a ludicrously isolated school where he’s been hired as a professor. On the way there he spots a horribly damaged car and is informed by his chauffeur that a drunk driver killed two people in the vehicle just a few days ago, with one of the victims being the wife of the school’s principal. That obviously puts a pall on things, though kind of weirdly, the principal (Shin Kishida) doesn’t seem that concerned about things, telling Shiraki that his wife’s body is residing in the principal’s cellar for a week due to local custom (yeah, right), and that just for good measure the princiapl wants Shiraki to take over running the school.

Evil of Dracula is probably the easiest of the three films to fit into a perceived “Hammer” template, but it’s also the easiest of the three films to fit into a perceived Dracula template, especially with regard to one of the school professors who turns out to be more or less of a Renfield character. There’s a slightly more salacious quality to this film, with vampire bites edging down from the neck territory toward the bosom, and with at least a couple of passing glances at partially undressed young schoolgirls. Again, there’s no real mystery, especially once a fairly early “Moishe the Explainer” moment intrudes documenting the arrival of the foreign vampire and how his lineage no doubt survives to this day. That said, this is a surprisingly stylish “little” film with another great showdown capping things that probably outdoes the kind of raucous battle that climaxed Lake of Dracula.

Evil of Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All three films in The Bloodthirsty Trilogy are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet provides the following fairly generic verbiage on the transfers:

The films in The Bloodthirsty Trilogy are presented in their original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with mono audio. The Vampire Doll, Lake of Dracula and Evil of Dracula were remastered from the original film preservation film elements by Toho Co., Ltd. and delivered as High Definition masters to Arrow Films. Additional picture restoration work was completed at R3store Studios, London.

All three of these films look pretty similar in terms of palette reproduction and grain resolution, and all three have been restored to a point where any age related wear and tear is virtually negligible. I'm assuming "preservation film elements" may not mean original camera negatives, since all three of these films have a slightly "dupey" look at times, with contrast fluctuations and blacks that can be on the milky side at times, as well as grain that can look fairly thick quite a bit of the time. Some day for night material also can have a slightly gray-green appearance. While the palettes in all three films resonate with some authenticity, things looked slightly brown to my eyes in all three films, skewing flesh tones toward "Egyptian makeup" territory and tending to push "Hammer red" blood tones slightly toward orange hues at times. Clarity is somewhat variable at times as well, and in fact it looks like focus pulling was a challenge in all three films at selected moments. Some opticals can look a little rough, including flashback sequences that are featured in all three films.

Evil of Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All three films in The Bloodthirsty Trilogy feature LPCM Mono tracks in the original Japanese. The trilogy sports some rather unusual music, with astringent modernist orchestral cues being mixed with some electronic instruments and even (in the third film) a more "pop-ish" almost Bacharach quality at times, and fidelity support good if sometimes kind of brash sounding rendering of the music in all three films. Dialogue and effects are also reproduced with good prioritization and no discernable damage like distortion or dropouts.

While I didn't see any mention of this in the insert booklet or on the documentation included with the release, and while the disc menu also doesn't provide necessary information, it turns out that both Lake of Dracula and Evil of Dracula include English dubs presented via LPCM Mono. You can access these tracks by toggling the Audio button on your remote. The English dubs have marginally lower amplitude and a somewhat boxier sound than the Japanese tracks, and of course feature almost hilariously loose sync in terms of dialogue matching lip movements.

Evil of Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This is the latest multi-film release from Arrow where at least some of the films share a disc, and so supplements on that particular disc are not necessarily tied to a particular film.

Disc Two contains Lake of Dracula and Evil of Dracula and the following supplements:

• Original Trailers

  The Vampire Doll (1080p; 2:04)

  
  

  Lake of Dracula (1080p; 2:12)

  
  

  Evil of Dracula (1080p; 2:22)

Evil of Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Evil of Dracula is arguably the most "Hammer-esque" of the three films in this set, but it also is rather strangely reminiscent (at least at times) of the Italian giallo subgenre known as "schoolgirls in peril", as exemplified by films like Enigma Rosso and/or What Have You Done to Solange?. This is probably also the best paced of the three films and features some effective scares scattered amongst more mundane elements. Arrow has provided a disc with decent technical merits for those considering a purchase.