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The Vampire Doll
The Vampire Doll
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michio Yamamoto
Screenplay by	Ei Ogawa; Hiroshi Nagano;
Produced by	Tomoyuki Tanaka; Fumio Tanaka;
Starring	Kayo Matsuo; Yukiko Kobayashi; Yoko Minazake;
Cinematography	Kazutomi Hara
Music by	Riichiro Manabe
Production; company	Toho
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	June 4, 1970 (Japan);
Running time	71 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

The Vampire Doll (幽霊屋敷の恐怖血を吸う人形, Chi o suu ningyo) is a 1970 Japanese horror film directed by Michio Yamamoto.^[3]

Plot

Returning to Tokyo from a six-month business trip overseas, Kazuhiko leaves to visit his girlfriend Yuko at her isolated country home. After a week when nothing is heard from him, his sister Keiko and her fiancé Hiroshi go to find him. Yuko's mother Shidu tells them that he left after being told that Yuko had died when a landslide struck her car two weeks before he arrived. Keiko suspects there is more to the story. She and Hiroshi stay and try to trace her brother's last steps and end up uncovering tragic and horrifying secrets about Shidu and Yuko.

Cast

Yukiko Kobayashi as Yuko Nonomura^[5]
Yoko Minazake as Shidu Nonomura, Yuko's mother^[5]
Atsuo Nakamura as Kazuhiko Sagawa, Yuko's fiancé^[5]
Kayo Matsuo as Keiko Sagawa^[5]
Akira Nakao as Hiroshi Takagi, Keiko's fiancé^[5]
Jun Usami as Dr. Yamaguchi^[5]
Sachio Sakai as Taxi driver
Kaku Takashina as Genzo^[5]

Production

The Vampire Doll was the first of three vampire films made by Toho studios in the 1970s.^[6] The Vampire Doll was followed by Lake of Dracula (1971) and Evil of Dracula (1974).^[1]^[7]^[8]

Release

The Vampire Doll was released in Japan on July 4, 1970.^[2] The film was released in an English-subtitled format in the United States under the title The Night of the Vampire on August 6, 1971.^[9] The release was limited only to Japanese theatres in New York and Los Angeles.^[10] The film has also gone under the title Legacy of Dracula.^[11]

Reception

The New York Times gave the film a positive review, stating that the director "tells his grisly story with a cool taciturn detachment. Don't be fooled by what seems a conventional staging. There is plenty lurking around the bend, some of it is hair-raising".^[12] The review also noted that the film was "exceptionally well-written, with a denouement that is fascinating and—well, almost credible. The acting is on a par with the rest".^[12]

Home media

In 2018, Arrow Films released The Vampire Doll, along with Lake of Dracula and Evil of Dracula, in a single Blu-ray set titled The Bloodthirsty Trilogy.^[13] This release included uncompressed mono audio, Toho's export English dubs for Lake of Dracula and Evil of Dracula, a video appraisal by Kim Newman, original trailers, and a collector's booklet in the first pressing. The Vampire Doll is in Japanese language / subtitled only.^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b Galbraith IV 2008, p. 321.
^ ^a ^b Galbraith IV 1996, p. 107.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Galbraith IV 1994, p. 373.
^ 幽霊屋敷の恐怖血を吸う人形
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Sharp 2018, p. 5.
^ Galbraith IV 1994, p. 204.
^ Galbraith IV 1994, p. 225.
^ Galbraith IV 1994, p. 194.
^ Galbraith IV 1996, p. 424.
^ Galbraith IV 1994, p. 195.
^ Sharp 2018, p. 23.
^ ^a ^b Thompson, Howard (January 10, 1971). "Japanese 'Vampire Doll' Opens at Bijou". The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
^ Squires, John (23 February 2018). "Toho's Trilogy of '70s Vampire Films US & UK Arrow Video Blu-ray Set". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
^ Weiler, Clint (April 11, 2018). "Toho's The Bloodthirsty Trilogy Blu-ray Collection from Arrow Video US in May". SciFi Japan. Retrieved May 27, 2018.

Bibliography

Galbraith IV, Stuart (1994). Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. McFarland. ISBN 0-89950-853-7.
Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.
Galbraith IV, Stuart (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-1461673743.
Sharp, Jasper (2018). Blood Lines: The Genealogy of Michio Yamamoto's Bloodthirsty Trilogy - Collector's Booklet. Arrow Video. ASIN B07B12HN97.