Monday, July 10, 2017

Castlevania - Witchbottle


Based on the third video game in the series, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Netflix's new four-part Castlevania animated series introduces us to Dracula (Graham McTavish) and the events which would wake the retiring vampire out of his seclusion to declare war on humanity. Set prior to the events of the game, the first episode introduces us to both Dracula and the human woman (Emily Swallow), a scientist mistaken for a witch in the Fifteenth Century, whose love would bring Dracula out into the world and whose death at the hands of an angry church-fearing mob would lead to the vampire's thirst for vengeance.

Written by comic writer Warren Ellis, "Witchbottle" sets the stage for the three remaining episodes of the season while also making Dracula a somewhat sympathetic character before he, you know... goes bat-shit crazy and raises an army from Hell to destroy the world. Dracula's revenge is pretty damn bloody as the animation goes so far to show us hellish creatures lay siege to a town and victim's entrails spilled out on the streets. The game's hero, Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage), only appears in the briefest of cameos at the end of the episode but I'm betting we'll be seeing quite a bit more of him in the later episodes.

No comments: