Castlevania
© James Jean
Castlevania: Two Fates
By: Nadia OxfordDate: Thursday, December 20, 2007
Anime, video games and manga have no shortage of vampires. Most of these gothy, werewolf-bitten adventures take place in some post-apocalyptic future where the Lords of the Undead rule over a populace comprised mostly of trembling human peasants. Still, the present applies to some of these tales, which often revolve around the cast-outs who wander the broken world and hunt down their own kind.
Despite having a grandfather hailing from the Carpathian Mountains, I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of vampire lore. I can appreciate an anime like Hellsing for being exceptionally well done overall, but the subject matter isn't something I'll lunge for. Ah, but I make one exception: Anything and everything related to Castlevania. "Wait, that's a video game, right?" Yes, but soon it'll be much more than that.
Castlevania is an ancient video game franchise, and as such it's had a long time to develop its long and twisted storyline. The focus is often on the mythical Belmonts, a family of vampire hunters who are pre-destined to take down Count Dracula whenever he may arise (once every 100 years or so--or whenever the pale chap just feels like it). There are dozens of games, each featuring a storyline that might go back as far as the 13th century or go as far forward as the present day. Said stories are also famous for a prominent supporting cast, including Alucard (the half-breed son of Count Dracula) and the Belnandes family (a clan that married into the Belmont family).
Castlevania-related anime and manga isn't quite as widespread as is normal for a twenty-year-old franchise. There is a little manga to be had, which can be found in the pages of the excellent fanpage, the <a href="http://www.classicgaming.com/castlevana">Castlevania Dungeon.</a> The Castlevania Dungeon also features some official 4koma strips (four-panel gag comics) and, well, some pornographic dojinshi fancomics. The latter is more of an illustrated example of what's "out there," so to speak.
Will a Castlevania anime ever come to be? Hard to say, but equally exciting news is to be had. A live-action Castlevania movie is being made for theatres, as is an animated straight to DVD release with art produced by comic artist James Jean.
If God somehow turned these two ideas into solid matter, held them in His hands and informed me I could only get excited over one, I'd have to go with the animated feature. There are a few good reasons for this. First, video games don't have a stellar history of fantastic movie conversions. Quite frankly, the majority of video game-based movies are dumb. It's too early to tell anything with the Castlevania movie, which is currently on hold because of the writer's strike, but the sombre movie poster makes it seem like it's ready to take itself very seriously.
Castlevania has certain traits that make it unique. The Belmont family, for instance, hunts evil using a whip called the Vampire Killer. An arsenal of secondary tools are also employed, including daggers, axes and a stopwatch. The problem here is that a game-based movie must appeal to viewers outside its established audience in order to be profitable. Movies based on comic books have become very good at doing as much: Video game movies have a long way to go. I'm not yet confident that Director Paul Anderson will give us a movie that's something beyond a generic vampire-hunting flick with some fancy whipwork.
The animated feature is another story. I might even go as far as to call it the Saviour of video game movies if it was seeing a big screen release and if I weren't such a darned skeptic. <a href="http://www.castlevaniadraculascurse.com/">The production blog</a> is a fun read; script writer Warren Ellis has infused his twisted charm into the blog and story alike. The end result is…strange, but gloriously so. About halfway down the front page lies an excerpt from the script. Safe to say, nobody expected anything quite like it. The subject matter (let's just say it involves loving goats) has the potential to make a mockery out of Castlevania, yet the character dialogue is handled in a way that makes the scene remarkably fun. At the very least, it'll bring something new to a series famous for baffling dialogue like, "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!"
James Jean is another reason to get excited about the animated movie. A bit of his art can be seen in the blog's title banner, and his style is well suited for monsters and creepy things. Say what you will about My Chemical Romance, but Jean's artwork for last year's Black Parade concept album was brilliant. Between wicked writing and spooky artwork (as well as no obligation to make the film appeal to a giant theatre-bound audience), this will be a lot of fun.
The script is done, too! That's more than can be said for the live action film.
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