FilmSnobReviews

Title: Castlevania
Network: Netflix
Starring: Richard Armitage, James Callis, Alejandra Reynoso
Episodes: 4

What It Is: After the murder of his wife by the Catholic Church in a village in Wallachia Vlad “Dracula” Tepes (Graham MacTavish) seeks vengeance for the death of his wife at the hands of the Archbishop of Wallachia. He gives the residents one year to clear out or he will wreak his revenge upon all of the humanity still left in Wallachia. One year passes and all of Wallachia is being devastated by the hell beasts being summoned by Dracula. Meanwhile, Trevor of the vampire hunting clan Belmont (Armitage) is here and he’s in search of Dracula.

What We Think: This thing is gorgeous. From an animation perspective, it uses Japanese influence for its style. Those really work to tell this story. All the voice acting is brilliant especially Armitage as the lead. For me, though once James Callis’ Alucard shows up on the scene he steals the show. I loved the origins and explanation of how vile and corrupt the church is. I loved that Dracula would stop at nothing to redeem his wife. They didn’t hold back on the blood and the gore. It is what was needed to tell this story. I mean their vampire hunters after all.

Our Grade: A-, If this is how an American company presents a Japanese style product I WANT MORE. They had my interest because Castlevania is a great story and the games are incredible but they kept my attention with a stunning visual style and great narrative. I’ll be right here waiting for season 2 Netflix. If you wanna go ahead and get that done ASAP that’d be cool. In the meantime, I am going to go ahead and recommend this highly. Check it out when you get the chance it’s worth the relatively short time you’re there.