GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

christopher-underwood Very well shot and creepy tale that seems to be somewhat unoriginal at first, albeit, still able to induce a few jumps by me, which is a bit unusual. Gradually, though, this becomes less familiar and whilst occasionally verging on the silly, still enough solid horror element to hold one pretty spellbound in its grip. The most unusual and intermittent soundtrack helped keep up the unease and indeed, ramp up the scares. The final denouement almost degenerates into farce but once again the direction is so sharp that we are still persuaded. Good performances all round and a particularly energetic one by the guy playing the mute servant. Lovely old western style house too, which, I assume is why we had none of the usual shoe removing. Effects were simple yet effective and the dead girl always very good indeed. Well worth catching and I must watch out for the other two in the series.

udar55 Keiko (Kayo Matsuo) and her friend try to find her missing brother after he disappeared on a trip to visit his girlfriend Yuko (Yukiko Kobayashi). They don't get very far as Yuko's mother claims the brother ran away after finding out Yuko had been killed in a car wreck the week before his visit. But Keiko finds signs that she might be being lied to - namely, a doll that her brother had purchased and, oh yeah, she sees Yuko's corpse walking around at night. This Toho production is a unique Japanese take on vampires. Fans of suave vampire types will be disappointed as this film's count is very different. The film does benefit from some great scary and atmospheric bits though. I also wonder if Tobe Hooper ever saw this as several things remind me of his later SALEM'S LOT (1979), most notably the design of the vampire (pale blue face with gold glowing eyes) and the rotting depiction of the vampire's lair. Toho produced two more vampire films after this in LAKE OF Dracula (1971) and EVIL OF Dracula (1974).

capkronos Kazuhiko Sagawa (Atsuo Nakamura) met and fell in love with Yuko (Yukiko Kobayashi) while in Tokyo, but had to go abroad for six months on business. When he returns, he decides to go to Yuko's secluded country home in a small village called Tadeshina to pay her a visit. Almost immediately upon arriving, strange things begin to happen. The creepy, near-deaf servant Genzo (Kaku Takashina) attacks him right after he enters the door, but is called off by Yuko's mother, Mrs. Nonomura (Yôko Minakaze), who promptly informs him that just two weeks earlier Yuko was tragically killed when her car got caught in a landslide. She still offers up her home for him to stay in and he agrees. That night, Kazuhiko hears something coming from Yuko's room, goes to investigate and finds Yuko standing in the closet. He's knocked out by someone, and the next day the mother claims he must had fainted and dreamt it all. The following evening Kazuhiko looks out his window and sees Yuko. He follows her into the woods and to the family graveyard. When he catches sight of her, she's ghostly white and ice cold, and pleads "Please kill me..." Instead, he's the one to end up dying when she reveals a set of green cat eyes and then sinks a knife into his back.A week later, Kazuhiko's sister Keiko (gorgeous Kayo Matsuo) becomes worried because she hasn't heard from her brother. She and her friend Hiroshi (Akira Nakao) decide to take a trip to Yuko's former residence to look for him, and that's when they discover the home's sordid history, a tragic attack that soiled the family name and of a possible curse. During a visit to the town doctor (Jun Usami), they learn that twenty-years earlier a killer broke into the home and murdered nearly everyone there except for Mrs. Nonomura, who was raped and ended up conceiving a child. That child was Yuko. They were then shunned by the locals and became reclusive. After the car accident, the grief-stricken mother couldn't part with her daughter, and through another means found a way to ensure she could keep Yuko around.The film is technically well-made, with good cinematography, nicely composed shots, classy art direction inside the Nonomura home and fine performances from the entire cast. Unfortunately, it's also saddled with a confused, needlessly cluttered and muddled screenplay. Yuko seems to be either a vengeance-seeking ghost or a blood-thirsty vampire, but may not be either. So how is she able to return from the grave? There's talk of the mother making a pact with the devil to keep her alive... and then there's talk about the use of hypnosis to keep her in a parallel world between life and death. And she might not even actually be dead; when her grave is excavated, all that's there is a mannequin. The movie waits until the last 20-minutes to start flinging around various ideas about who or what Yuko is, and why she's back from the dead killing people, before finally deciding to settle back into the vengeful ghost mold.So while it's a pretty good effort overall, it's not quite as good, nor as satisfying, as it could have been, despite fine production values and eerie visions of the pale-faced, green-eyed Yuko popping up from time to time. I saw the 71-minute widescreen cut of the film, which was released as VAMPIRE DOLL. The film was also released in the UK under the misleading title LEGACY OF DR ACULA: THE BLOODTHIRSTY DOLL. It was the first film is a three-part series from director Michio Yamamoto (called the "Bloodthirsty Trilogy" by some) and was followed by LAKE OF Dracula (1971) and EVIL OF Dracula (1974).

Boaz357 NO SPOILERSIf you like Hammer style Vampire films.Give it a shot.TOHO has three Dracula films.This one, Lake Of Dracula and Evil of Dracula.All three are excellent in their original language versions.Now, don't expect "Victorian Era" vampire horror here, like in the Hammer films.This is Japanese after all.All three films have great atmosphere and some very creepy scenes.I write this review for this particular one because it has no other reviews.And it deserves one. TOHO is better known for its giant monster flicks(Godzilla etc.) I would assume most would shy away from a TOHO "Vampire" flick.Don't!! Its well worth your time.Very much out of character for TOHO and a darn good effort on their part.Its a shame many horror fans don't know of this or the other two titles.Its just one guys opinion that these films belong in any "Vampire" film lover's collection.