EVIL OF DRACULA (1974, original title Chi o suu bara) is the last of the Japanese Bloodthirsty trilogy and once again a standalone contemporary vampire story. Made a good few years after the last one, this feels heavily indebted to Hammer's LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, with the girls' school setting and story of teachers menaced by the undead. There's even a little nudity and a blood-on-breast scene of the kind which was once considered a trigger for psychopaths by the good old wannabe psychiatrists working at our BBFC here in the UK!
Sonny Chiba-lookalike Toshio Kurosawa plays Professor Shiraki, arriving at a remote school to take up a teaching position. He soon discovers something odd about the principal and his wife, and elicits the aid of some allies and the local police force to investigate. As with the other films in this unconnected trilogy, it's a slow-burning slice of atmosphere with plenty of night-time set-pieces and ethereal scenes of our hero being ambushed by vampiric brides. The only action really comes at the extended climax, a hell-for-leather battle between the living and the dead. The vampires are a creepy lot here with decent makeup making them feel spooky and imposing, and it's all very close to Hammer in look and feel, albeit on a smaller budget.
Sonny Chiba-lookalike Toshio Kurosawa plays Professor Shiraki, arriving at a remote school to take up a teaching position. He soon discovers something odd about the principal and his wife, and elicits the aid of some allies and the local police force to investigate. As with the other films in this unconnected trilogy, it's a slow-burning slice of atmosphere with plenty of night-time set-pieces and ethereal scenes of our hero being ambushed by vampiric brides. The only action really comes at the extended climax, a hell-for-leather battle between the living and the dead. The vampires are a creepy lot here with decent makeup making them feel spooky and imposing, and it's all very close to Hammer in look and feel, albeit on a smaller budget.