productions such as Akira Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD (Kumonosu-jo, 1957). Working in both films and television, Yamamoto’s first feature as director was the violent crime drama RESURRECTION OF THE BEAST (Yaju-no Fukkatsu, 1969). For his next project, as a professed fan of Thrillers and the Hammer Horrors, he was given an unusual opportunity to helm both films for a double feature of his own. At the top of the bill was THE DEVIL BECKONS (Akuma Yondeiru, aka TERROR IN THE STREETS), based on Kikuo Tsunoda’s 1957 novella “Twilight Demon” (Tasogare- no Akuma), about a young woman who falls into a world of madness and murder. For the second feature, he indulged himself into the world of Gothic Horror with THE BLOODTHIRSTY DOLL: TERROR IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE (Yurei Yashiki- no Kyofu Chi-o Suu Ningyo). Alternately known as THE VAMPIRE
DOLL, NIGHT OF THE VAMPIRE, and THE LEGACY OF DRACULA, the first entry of what would become known as Yamamoto’s “Bloodthirsty Trilogy” is rich in Gothic atmosphere, similar to the films of Terence Fisher, and punctuated with outbursts of sudden and brutal violence. Set in a remote European-style mansion, the compact story, written by Ei Ogawa (AGE OF ASSASSINS) and Hiroshi Nagano (GUERRILLA WARFARE), first unfolds as a mystery, until the horrible secret of
the house unravels to its supernatural core. Yamamoto seems to incorporate elements of Roger Corman’s Poe series with equal parts of Alfred Hitchcock, and keeps his trilogy grounded in Gothic atmosphere within a modern setting (foreshadowing Hammer’s switch to Swingin’ London). That being said, Yamamoto’s films are arguably more successful than either Alan Gibson’s DRACULA A.D. 1972 or THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA (1974), despite their lack of “name” thesps such as Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing. With the success of THE BLOODTHIRSTY DOLL,
Yamamoto was given the
greenlight to helm a full-blooded follow- up, entitled THE CURSED MANSION: THE BLOODTHIRSTY EYES (Noroi-no Yakata Chi-o Suu Me, 1971). THE BLOODTHIRSTY EYES is
20 FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND • MAR/APR 2012
better known outside of Japan under the hyperbolic title THE LAKE OF DRACULA, in an attempt by Toho’s foreign sales department to better hawk the film to Western buyers. The screenplay, written
by the returning Ogawa and
Masaru Takesue (RESURRECTION OF THE BEAST), begins with a dream-like sequence of a little girl who stumbles upon a strange western manor littered with corpses and has an encounter with a golden-eyed vampire. Obsessed with these images, the girl is kept hospitalized for 18 years, and eventually must return to her hometown— the setting of her hallucinations. Slowly, it is revealed that the vampire haunting her dreams is quite real. Yamamoto cast actor Shin Kishida in the role as “The Man Who Resembles a Shadow”. Kishida (1939-1982), born
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86