#21 - The Vampire Doll (1970)

The Vampire Doll (1970)

(dir. Michio Yamamoto)

Keiko is worried about her brother - after 6 months abroad, he went to a small village to visit his girlfriend Yuko, but hasn't been heard from since. Worried, Keiko heads to Yuko's house to try to find him, but learns that Yuko died a few weeks ago, and is told that her brother has already left... but when she finds one of his cufflinks covered in blood, she decides to stay and figure out what really happened.

This is a pretty unique film, sort of a Japanese take on Hammer-style gothic horror, and very different from the other Japanese horror films I'm familiar with from this period (Kwaidan, Kuroneko, etc). Yuko's home is a large western-style house, and Yamamoto does a great job of replicating the look and atmosphere of a Hammer (or Corman/Poe) film. The score is also very different from what I'd expect from a Japanese film - it's mostly creepy harpsichord music, and I thought it worked really well.

This isn't much of a vampire film though, it's really more of a ghost story. Yuko doesn't have fangs and doesn't drink blood, and as far as I can see the only reason they refer to her as a vampire at all is because the film is trying to capitalize on the success of Hammer vampire films. The title card even says "Legacy of Dracula", which is especially odd because there are definitely no connections to Dracula anywhere in the film. This is the first in a trilogy of vampire films, so maybe the more traditional stuff will show up in the sequels. I enjoyed this one quite a bit, so I'll be checking those out soon as well.

Not exactly essential viewing, but I definitely recommend it if you like Japanese and/or gothic horror films.