Lake of
Dracula (Japan, 1971)
Alternative Titles:
Noroi
no yakata: Chi o sû me (Japan main title)
The Bloodthirsty Eyes (UK
alternative title)
Bloodsucking Eyes
Dracula's Lust for Blood (USA
Promotional title)
Japula
Lake of Death (1973 - USA)
Running Time: 82
Minutes
Video Certificate:
15
Directed By: Michio
Yamamoto
Starring: Mori Kishida, Midori Fujita, Osahide Takahashi, Sanae
Emi, Kaku Takashina
Genre:
Drama/Dracula
Language: Japanese
(English subtitles)
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In the same Vein:
Legacy of Dracula (The Bloodthirsty Doll) (1970)
- Plot wise, a non related film (First in the
'Bloodthirsty' trilogy) by the same director.
Evil of Dracula (The Bloodthirsty Roses) (1974)
- A non related 'sequel' (third in the
'Bloodthirsty' trilogy) by the same director.
Horror of Dracula (1958)
- Many Scenes of which were lifted or reworked for this film.
Tag line:
"A Bloodbath of
SHEER SHOCK!"
"A pair of Bizarre thriller chillers to SHATTER the nerves of even
the very BRAVEST!"
"The Horror of Dracula in a new and even
greater tale of terror!" Plot: The film opens very Wizard of Oz like, with a little girl
walking around with her little dog Leo. The dog runs away and the girl
chases it, and stumbles upon a creepy house. Inside she finds a woman at a
piano, but when she touches it, the body swings round - and she sees it is
a corpse. She then looks up to find this commanding man with blood around
his mouth... then she wakes up.
Cut to present day (18 years
later) where Akiko is now an artist. She lives with her sister Natsuko and
is staying at this lakeside cottage to paint. The painting is rather
abstract - a giant golden eye above a landscape which is supposedly to
exorcise her demons from this recurring nightmare. A mysterious coffin
arrives at a nearby house and suddenly people are being found dead with
puncture wounds on their neck. People around Akiko begin to change - the
local handyman Kyusaku tries to rape her and her sister is acting very
oddly indeed.
It becomes apparent that her dream is more than just
a nightmare, it is a childhood memory. With the aid of her boyfriend Dr.
Saeki, Akiko must try to remember what happened on that horrifying day in
her childhood in order to face the current evil.
Vampires:
Mori Kishida plays Dracula (though never actually referred to as
Dracula) and is clearly influenced by the Hammer tradition. He is a
dark and powerful, dominant man with a terrifying gaze. He casts no
reflection, bites women on the neck, sleeps in a coffin and can only
be killed by fire or a stake through the heart. Dracula doesn't say
much though, he mostly growls.
| ![]() | Dracula's Demise:
Dracula
falls off a balcony and is impaled on a banister, which just happened to
be in the right place to spear him through the heart (yeah right). The
disintegration scene is completely lifted from Horror of Dracula (1958)
Hunters:
Osahide Takahashi plays
Dr. Saeki Takashi, Akiko's boyfriend. He is in almost every sense the
standard hero of this type of film. The one thing which I found rather odd
was his changing attitude. Like any doctor/scientist he doesn't at first
believe in vampires, yet when it seems like Akiko is going mad he suddenly
believes, and takes her half formed ramblings, and the fact that bodies
are turning up at his hospital with puncture wounds on their neck, to
their logical conclusion - vampire. This is all turned upside down when he
comes face to face with Dracula, and he reverts back to his disbelief.
Claiming that Dracula is a man who believes he is a vampire. Huh? A few
minutes ago he totally believed!
Renfield:
Kyysaku (Kaku Takashina) is the local
handyman. He gets bitten by Dracula and becomes very pale and savage. He
kills Akiko's dog and tries to rape her.
Love
Interest:
The sensuality of the
vampire story is really played down in this adaptation. There is no real
sexual attraction between Dracula and Akiko, or indeed any of his brides.
This makes his character rather one dimensional - growling monster. I'm
not saying there should be copious amounts of nudity and gratuitous
cleavage shots, just that some sort of chemistry would have given this
film more depth.
Akiko and Natsuka are sisters and there is some
tiny hint that they are both in love with Dr. Saeki but this is never
explored, a great shame as I feel it would have heightened the tension.
Akiko admits she was jealous of her sister and making her a rival in love
would have taken this idea a step farther.
Kyusaku tries to rape
Akiko in the Caliban/Miranda idea. This does seem rather odd considering
the lack of sexuality in the rest of the film.
High Points:
![]() There
is one quite atmospheric scene where Akiko is hiding from Dracula in a
wardrobe. She looks through the keyhole, sees it is all clear and comes
out. Whereupon Dracula comes towards her - she'd been staring into the
mirror and of course Dracula casts no reflection.
![]() The
opening 'dream/memory' sequence is well done, Particularly when Akiko goes
over to the woman at the piano and discovers she is a corpse.
Low Points:
![]() Like
its predecessor Legacy of Dracula (The Bloodthirsty Doll) one of the major problems with this is a purely technical
issue. The picture is very dark and you can't always see what's going on.
The scenes in the daylight are fine, but this is a vampire film where lots
happens at night and the picture is very gloomy indeed.
![]() This
is in Japanese and subtitled. Its never going to get the audience it
deserves. Since so many western viewers are arrogant when it comes to
watching subtitled films! (OK rant over) Its presented in widescreen so
the subtitles are clear and reasonably unobtrusive. However, I'm not sure
how good the translation is. The actors seem to speak great chunks of
dialogue and when the subtitle appears it is only a single line (I think
the dialogue has been simplified considerably.) Not only is the dialogue
rather uninspired (its ok, but nothing amazing) but there are points in
the film that really don't make sense, and I'm not sure if this is because
they just don't make sense, or because its a bad translation.
Logic let me introduce
you...
In the dream Akiko has a
small dog with floppy ears - some kind of Spaniel I think. When we see her
all grown up the dog has turned into a German Shepherd - yet we are
supposed to believe it is the same dog - Since Leo is the point of
connection between these two scenes it seems very daft to have two very
different looking dogs.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: in the final scene there
is a confrontation between Akiko and Saeki and Dracula. Dracula is winning
when his father (whom we have just seen as a rotting corpse) manages to
gain the strength to grab his ankle and throw him off balance. How does
that work? He was dead!... More than that he was decaying! His hand fell
off when Saeki was pulling him round. If he, like his son is an undead
vampire then he'd surely be evil or under Dracula's thrall... And how
could he grab him anyway? he had no hand!
I'm confused over the
whole turning into a vampire mechanism. I think that Dracula bites a
victim and they become partially turned (enough to do his will), but they
then have to die to be resurrected as a vampire, with fangs (exemplified
by Natsuka). If this is the case then what happens to Kyusaku and the farm
girl? They have been bitten by Dracula (but don't seem to have fangs) and
they die (one falls from a great height and the other is struck by
lightening). Yet they seem to be just that - dead. There is no indication
that they have been resurrected as vampires.
Bad titling again.
The UK incarnation as 'Lake of Dracula' is hardly inspiring. What's
Dracula's lake going to do with you? Drown you? The Lake barely features
at all. Though at least this film does feature Dracula.... Its literal
translation of the Bloodthirsty Eyes is rather weird. Again, although
there is lots of 'eye' imagery that is not the focal point of the film.
Arty Effects:
The ending of the dream sequence you get a series of
iconic images. Akiko touches the woman at the piano which springs round
revealing that she is a corpse, then you see Dracula with blood around his
mouth. This is followed by a close up of his yellow eye. The shot then
turns into negative in blue and red, and the title of the film appears
over the negative eye.
Throughout the film are images of 'eyes'
Dracula has yellow eyes, the painting is of a giant eye and the clock also
features an eye.
Say What? Cool
Quotes:
Biggest Sign of
Imminent Doom (when Dracula Says:)
"Don't be afraid young Lady, I've taken a liking to you"
Second Biggest Sign of Imminent Doom:
"Go on, I'll be ok, I'm not a child!"
Toto we're not in Kansas anymore:
"We've become involved in an unnatural world. Nobody
will believe us"
X-files moment
"We must find out. The truth is out there"
The translator's a poet, but doesn't know
it:
"I can't forget that eye, I
don't know why."
References:
The
Bloodthirsty Trilogy is Japan's answer to Hammer and each film resembles
and borrows from a Hammer film. This one takes elements from Horror of Dracula .
Anorak Connections:
Director Michio Yamamoto also gave us Legacy of Dracula (1970) and
Evil of Dracula(1974)
Kaku Takashina (Kyusaku) the Renfield character plays a similar
role in Legacy of Dracula (1970) as
the Nonomura's deaf and dumb servant Genzo.
Did
you Know:
There is a band called
"Lake of Dracula" though I don't think it has any relevance to the film.
Gratuity Rating:
Sex/Nudity: None
Bites: ![]() plus at
least 3 more unseen
Screams: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
Human deaths: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
Humans Turned: ![]()
Vampire deaths: ![]()
![]()
Other deaths: ![]() dog
Final Word:
Lake of Dracula is in my opinion the weakest
(and yet the most famous) of the 'Bloodthirsty' Trilogy. It has a great
concept (girl encountering vampire when young, and having to relive that
memory) and yet a terrible plot - honestly very little happens. The film
is very slow and dark and fails to engage for the full 82 minute run time.
Its not nearly as atmospheric or eerie as its predecessor Legacy of Dracula (The Bloodthirsty
Doll). Saying that bits of it, like
the corpse at the piano are rather good.
The dialogue in both sub
and dub is functional and rather flat. The film owes a great debt to what
has gone before, particularly the hammer films, but in the end that is
rather a disappointment. This has a really original idea and just ends up
ripping off Horror of Dracula. There are logical inconsistencies and a good many missed
opportunities. The film fails to have any sexual tension at all between
any characters which would have really given this some depth.
Verdict: 4/10
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Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test.
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