Toho's "Bloodthirsty Trilogy" on US/UK BRD May 2018

[Benjamin Haines]

Toho's "Bloodthirsty Trilogy" that includes Vampire Doll (1970), Lake of Dracula (1971), and Evil of Dracula (1974) will finally get a home media release in the United States and United Kingdom courtesy of Arrow Video.



The 2-disc BRD set will be released on May 14 in the and on the following day in the .

Featuring music by the one and only Riichiro Manabe.

[lhb412]

I'm really looking forward to this release. I've always wanted to see these movies, and I love the attention Arrow gives their releases and had been itching for an excuse to buy more of their stuff!

[DannyBeane]

Just put my pre-order in

[H-Man]

[lhb412]

The off chance that this release selling well spurs more classic Japanese horror and sci-fi with Arrow's deluxe treatment is reason enough to buy this. I salivate at what they could do with the Gamera movies or the classic Toho sci-fi flicks!

[Benjamin Haines]

[H-Man]

[Benjamin Haines]

^ That's interesting. I wonder if this upcoming BRD set will have the credit sequences subtitled in English.

It is a shame that we won't be getting the Hong Kong dubs for these, as it's always a treat to hear the voices from the '70s Godzilla dubs again. I'm just glad these movies are getting released at all and I'll definitely pick up this set at some point.

[lhb412]

Dubs were included - apparently last minute, as they aren't listed and can only be accessed by selecting the audio option while watching the films according to this review:

http://dvddrive-in.com/reviews/a-d/bloo ... 707174.htm

[Joseph Goodman]

A review of "The Vampire Doll" is up, with screencaps:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDrevie ... lu-ray.htm


I have no idea if Arrow did their own transfer or not, but at least this doesn't look like the mush Toho has supplied in the past.

The best deal on this set I've seen so far, for $27.99:

https://www.deepdiscount.com/the-bloodt ... 0137126881

[Gwangi]

[lhb412]

Are these HK dubs with familiar voices?

[Joseph Goodman]

I last saw the VHS of LAKE fifteen years ago or so, so I don't fully remember, but I'm pretty sure it was the usual Hong Kong crew.

Blu-ray.com has reviews for the full set up:

[H-Man]

[Gigan71]

Cant wait to get this.

[lhb412]

Cool! Original Japanese poster art on the reverse:

[Heiseigodzilla425]

Hmm, that's a different reverse cover than what my copy has.

[lhb412]

^The image I posted was from Arrow's site. It must've just been preliminary - I like your's more!

[Gigan71]

So there are english tracks on lake of dracula and evil of dracula, how about vampire doll, does it include an english track also ?

[DannyBeane]

[tbeasley]

For me Lake was the strongest of the bunch but all three have a wonderfully spooky stylish look and feel to them. Makes me curious as to what a Michio Yamamoto Godzilla film would be like, I imagine something like a cross between Hedorah and Terror of Mechagodzilla.

Godzilla fans should recognize quite a few faces as well - In Vampire Doll Sachio Sakai (Hagiwara in the original Godzilla and a bit player in many other Honda sci-fi films) cameos as a cab driver, and a young Akira Nakao (Commander Aso in the Heisei series and Prime Minister in the Kiryu films) stars as the male protagonist. Shin Kishida (the Interpol agent in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) appears as the main vampire in the last two films, and he's one of the coolest screen vampires I've ever seen.

The approach to vampirism is quite interesting as well cause it's not quite traditional, there's definitely a supernatural slant to it, but they do try to offer a more scientific rationale including hypnotism, hereditary blood conditions, and whatnot but things are mostly left open. All three have a strong identity in that way, and there's a nice booklet included in the BD set that goes into how vampires were seen and depicted in Japanese films back in the day.

Only thing that really bothered me, and I hope I was seeing things as it goes by fact, but I'm pretty sure there's some animal violence in the first film, where it appears a crow has its throat cut. There's also a pretty convincing dead dog in the second film, but I've been told that's most likely a prop.

[lhb412]

^Kishida is all over '70s Japanese genre films. He's in Godzilla vs. Mechagaodzilla and is Toho's Dracula, but he also plays villains in two Lone Wolf and Cub films, Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, and is the main villain in the second Lady Snowblood movie.

[Goji 84]