Well whaddya know? Dracula isn't Transylvanian after all... he's Japanese, and he likes to hang around small rural harbours scaring the bejeezuz out of young girls. As a five year old, Akiko Kashiwagi (Midori Fujita) is shocked by the sight of the legendary bloodsucker (played by Shin Kishida) but over time convinces herself that it was all a dream. Eighteen years later, she crosses paths with the vampire once again: Dracula is at work draining the blood of the locals at Lake Fujimi, where Akiko now lives. With help from her boyfriend, Dr. Takashi Saeki (Chôei Takahashi), Akiko confronts her past, leading her back to the vampire's lair.
Dracula played by a Japanese actor is something a little different, but it doesn't mean that the film is worth seeing (unless you absolutely, positively have to see every vampire film ever made, like I do). Moving at an extremely sluggish pace, with very little in the way of scares, Lake of Dracula is quite the snoozefest, not a patch on the marvellous Hammer films it so clearly strives to emulate. Only in the film's closing moments are we treated to anything of note (a cool disintegrating hand and Dracula's bloody demise), the bulk of the film being largely forgettable with lots of dull dialogue. Some scenes are artfully shot, but a few pretty pictures do little to change matters: Japanese Dracula sucks.
2.5/10, rounded up to 3 for IMDb.
Dracula played by a Japanese actor is something a little different, but it doesn't mean that the film is worth seeing (unless you absolutely, positively have to see every vampire film ever made, like I do). Moving at an extremely sluggish pace, with very little in the way of scares, Lake of Dracula is quite the snoozefest, not a patch on the marvellous Hammer films it so clearly strives to emulate. Only in the film's closing moments are we treated to anything of note (a cool disintegrating hand and Dracula's bloody demise), the bulk of the film being largely forgettable with lots of dull dialogue. Some scenes are artfully shot, but a few pretty pictures do little to change matters: Japanese Dracula sucks.
2.5/10, rounded up to 3 for IMDb.