Castlevania - The Series

I'm normally wary of TV shows and movies based on video games, but I did just finish watching the Castlevania series which premiered on Netflix this month - based specifically on the NES title, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.

We open in Wallachia in 1455. Lisa, a young woman who aspires to be a doctor, travels to the castle of the reclusive Vlad Dracula Tepes to seek his advanced knowledge. Dracula, voiced by Graham McTavish, is intrigued by her courage and offers to teach her what he knows while she helps him regain his faith in humanity. Well, it's still a better love story than Twilight. Sorry, I couldn't resist making that.

Anyway, we flash forward twenty years and Lisa is burned at the stake as a witch. Dracula learns of this and warns the people that he will destroy everyone in Wallachia in a year's time. One year later, the archbishop laughs off this prophecy when karma comes to bite in the form of Dracula's demonic army which took a year to summon. The next three episodes follow Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont, a jaded monster hunter from a disgraced noble family who's walking the earth. Soon, he ends up saving an old scholar from religious authorities and gains a companion in the form of the magic user Sypha Belnaldes, with the finale seeing them joined by Adrian "Alucard" Tepes, the half-human half-vampire son of Dracula who had opposed his father's plan.

There are only four episodes, and the first two are mostly just world-building. There seems to be a greater focus on opposing the region's corrupt church leadership than fighting monsters, but given the setting, I can kind of understand that - power corrupts, after all.

When the action does take off, it goes for gritty fight scenes rather than entertaining ones - the fights are shorter but more intense. The anime-inspired visuals do well to bring in the Gothic feeling which is reminiscent of the old Hammer Horrors. There's plenty of snarky dialogue, and I do quite like the way they made Dracula an almost sympathetic villain.

It's not the best series around, but it's better than I thought it would be, and it's kept me interested enough to want to see the next series.

But if there's anything I will deride, it's the lack of the music from the games. The score is orchestral, but there aren't any versions of Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, or Beginnings. Look for those online to hear what you're missing.