#castlevania orlock

[arcanemadman]

The Castlevania franchise feels like it's getting more and more divided since Netflixvania started and it's getting really bloody frustrating to the point that while watching Nocturne I've felt disquieted, and I think I've realised why that is.

It's the fucking DmC:Devil May Cry white hair fiasco all over again.

For those that don't know, when the DmC reboot was revealed people had a lot of criticism, including turning Dante from a cool but likeable hero into a foul mouthed smoker, the dumbing down of the gameplay, the antagonism towards the fanbase, and turning his iconic white hair black. Of all these criticism, only the hair colour change was given any attention, painting the fan base in a very negative light and side stepping the real issues people had by only focusing on the cherry rather than the whole sundae.

All this attention directed towards something that in the grand scheme of things is very minor but it gets all the attention while the bigger stuff is ignore.

Yes, there are people mad about the show for racist reasons and they shouldn't be listened to, but there are genuine complaints that are being swept up with that.

The character changes have a sort of domino effect on everything. Maria being a serious revolutionary is interesting, but I saw someone put it best that what made her special was the fact that she was a little girl in a world of classic horror that believed she was in a fairy tale and had the power to force that reality on everyone else. Netflix Maria is good, but lacks the charm of Maria.

The second example is Juste. When I saw him I was very excited, but that was mainly because it was acknowledgement of the original canon than anything else. His magical prowess, the thing that makes him stand out among the Belmont linage, is mentioned and then brushed aside, and the worst ending of his game is what is taken as canon. And once Richter gets his magic back, Juste is gone. He feels like a plot point rather than the character. I sympathise with people who's favourite game was Harmony of Dissonance.

Annette was a compelling character with a well developed story, but anyone that says her original characterisation would never work are being disingenuous because they literally did that, except that did so with Tera. The connections to Richter and Maria, the damsel elements, the fact she gets turned into a vampire, all from Annette. Swapping them around wouldn't work for multiple reasons and I'm not going to say I can do better than people you get paid to write when I don't, but I feel I can say that if they had wanted to they could have done something closer to the original while still touching on the themes and narratives they wanted to.

Olrox... honestly the only criticism I can really think of is the removal of any reference to Count Orlock.

There's an elitism with both sides of the fanbase here. On the Netflix side, there's the feeling that since theirs is more popular that any criticism is because people are just nostalgic, and game fans feel that since theirs is the original foundation that anyone that doesn't agree with them is just a new fair-weather fan. And honestly, I'm more sympathetic to the game fans.

I've seen Netflixvania fans look at people complaining that the character have changed and go "yeah well the version you like sucks so you should just grow up" As if that's going to make everything better. And all the people complaining about the race changes or posting "WOKE?!?!?!" have poisoned the well for any actual discussion about this, not helped by the social media accounts deliberately stoking the flames in the mistaken belief that all publicity is good publicity, which raised the ire of nexflixvania creators. Unfortunately marketing can often be removed from the intentions of the creators.

Yes, Netflixvania is a great show, with beautiful animation and great storytelling, but it's not perfect and as an adaptation is leaves a lot to be desired. And that's the crux of it! The show is good, really good! But it doesn't feel like an adaptation of Castlevania. It's just a bunch of little details that pile up to make it less of what the game fans liked about the series. It's more grimdark horror than classic horror. It's more crude than it is philosophical. It's more hopeless than it is hopeful. And regardless of what you individually think, that's what people have liked about Castlevania for almost 40 years.

Ultimately I just have to ask, why do people seem to assume that you can't make a faithful adaptation while also making it interesting? They're not mutually exclusive.

[can-of-pringles]

I told you I'm not an expert on vampires! It took me like 15 minutes just to think of all the vampires I know.

Edit: I completely forgot about the Castlevania series! Damn. See, I wasn't cut out for this /j

Jane is one of the Voultori and I know she can be pretty sinister (and also that my dad hates her every time my mom watches Twilight) so I thought she fit Carina.

Flutterbat is basically when Fluttershy got bit by Vampire Fruitbats in My Little Pony. (They manage to cure her) she has wings so it reminded me of Pigeon. (Pigeon doesn't have wings of course but look at what they're named after)

Nadja is Lazlo's wife in WWDITS and they're such an iconic pair so I had to choose Nadja for Iriel so she and Arith would match.

I had a hard time choosing for Kaia so I just went with Serana since she's from one of my favorite video games.

Um but secondly updating this now I'd also choose Alucard from Castlevania for her... since he is a hybrid and my favorite character in the show.

Father Paul is from Midnight Mass and tries to use his vampire powers to help the town he's in (it backfires) he doesn't actually know he's a vampire (no one in the show knows what one is 💀) but instead he thinks an angel gave him a gift. He's very confused but I think he started out with good intentions? Kinda? It's been awhile since I've seen it. And I didn't even watch the start of it, my mom did and I caught on. But with the whole angel thing and trying to do good, it reminded me of Odel.

Honestly I was running out of ideas and just went with Countess Ruby for Marigold since she's cool and a mom and from a nostalgic childhood movie. I couldn't find a gif because it's so obscure.

Honestly it was big brain energy of me to choose Draculaura for Rosie. She's so fun and bubbly and likes pink.

Count Orlock was a funny bit they had in an old episode of SpongeBob. It was a scary episode and they were trying to figure out who was flickering the lights. They find out it's him and playfully scold him and he just smiles. (They've since brought him back for new cameos but I haven't watched any new SpongeBob) I know it's really silly but I like it 😭 as for why I chose him for Van... I don't really have a good explanation. I just wanted to include him. (They are both tall though)

Assign fictional vampires to your OCs? Like across any media, any vampire that exists in movies/TV/books/whatever, you can duplicate media if they have multiple vampires, etc.

Let me just preface this by saying that I really don't know a whole lot of vampire characters or watch a lot of vampire media, but I'll try.

Arline Lanes: Um... Claudia? (Interview with a Vampire) (I only briefly watched the movie)

Fox: The Countess (AHS: Hotel)

Carina Shepherd: I guess Jane? (Twilight)

Silas Petersson: Dracopia headcanon/fanon (Ghost) (ha)

Pigeon: Flutterbat (My Little Pony)

Arith: Lazlo Cravensworth (WWDITS)

Iriel: I feel like I have to automatically say Nadja like come on lol (WWDITS)

Kaia: Serana (Skyrim)

Odel: Father Paul? (Midnight Mass)

Marigold Rosales: Countess Ruby (Scary Godmother) (lol)

Rosie Rosales-Maximoff: Draculaura (Monster High) (G1 specifically)

Allison Dahir: Mavis (Hotel Transylvania)

Lee Quinn: Marceline Abadeer (Adventure Time)

Van Kahl: Nosferatu (in Spongebob specifically. I know his name is Count Orlock but they don't call him that in the show)

[lord-myk]

In 2018, I attempted to draw a monster for every single day of the year. I made it surprisingly far! A lot farther than the other attempts! It's a mix of OCs, fan-art, and just random nonsense. Here's the first ten. 1. Ro-Man (from the film Robot Monster) 2. Wolfduck (from the Darkwing Duck NES game) 3. Nosferatu (actually Count Orlock, though the movie is called that) 4. Zombie Dave 5. Glob the Blob (who is now in Zorgnox's Depository of Earth Sundries) 6. Frogman (who started as a Gillman but turned into this) 7. The Lorbert (who started as an attempt to draw King Kong from memory) 8. Slogra (from Castlevania) 9. Gaibon (also from Castlevania) 10. The Horklejork (who has also become a menace in Zorgnox's Depository of Earth Sundries)                                

[thenightling]

Vampires with pointed ears

A few years ago when IMVU had proper forums, someone posted a pet peeve that struck me.   The person had said “I don’t like vampires with pointed ears.  They’re not elves!”

But... Vampires usually do have pointed ears!  And I happen to like vampires with pointed ears.  In may works of fiction Dracula is depicted with pointed ears, including in the original Dracula novel by Bram Stoker.

“For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops extremely pointed.“  - Jonathan Harker in Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Dracula in Castlevania:

Dracula in Marvel Comics:

Dracula in Dracula: The Company of Monsters.

Gary Oldman as Dracula.(you can’t see his ears too well in his younger form.)

Monster High.

Hotel Transylvania.

Dracula: The Unconquered

Van Helsing 

Love at first bite.

Hellsing.

Dario Argento’s Dracula 

Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned

Monster squad.

Scooby Doo and the reluctant werewolf

Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School (Note in these two mentioned Scooby Doo animated movies the monsters are real, not people in costume.)         

Dracula as depicted in Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula novels.  Here (though blurry and small) is an image from the cover of the novel An Old friend of The family.

Other notable vampires with pointed ears include:

Count Orlock (from the film Nosferatu.  

Morgan as depicted on a cover of Fred Saberhagen’s An Old Friend of the Family.   

Barnabas and Josette in the 2012 version of Dark Shadows. (their ears are enlarged and have a slight point.)

The Baron in What we do in The Shadows. 

The Master in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Vampire in Brooklyn.

David in Lost Boys.  (And yes, he has them even when not in “Vampire game face.’)

Jerry Dandridge in Fright Night (1985).  Usually the tips are hidden in Jerry’s very curly hair.  I am not sure he should count here since in the novelization of Fright Night it was implied that Jerry actually IS Dracula.  So I probably should have put him in the pointy eared Dracula list.

All the vampires of Castlevania including Carmilla and Godbrand but Carmilla’s ears are usually hidden behind her hair.  

Draculaura in Monster High.

Morbius from Marvel Comics.

Nina Price AKA Vampire by Night in Marvel comics.  Actually all the vampires in Marvel have pointed ears.

The Brides in Van Helsing.   But you can only really see their ears when they’re flying around in woman-bat form.

So yes, vampires are often depicted with pointed ears.  I’m often amazed how many people don’t seem to realize this.

You may also note Dracula usually has sharp claw-like nails that are often depicted as retractable, like a cat’s claws.  

Also, Dracula does NOT hate wolves.  He’s very fond of them.  Everyone remembers “Children of the Night!  What music they make!” but forget the context.  He can turn into a wolf at will (as well as a bat and mist).  And no, he is not vulnerable to “werewolf venom.”   I am still annoyed at the movie Van Helsing and Vampire Diaries for perpetuating this idea...

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

So with Psycho Analysis, 11s are something I rarely give out, and I’ve said it before but it’s because I need to give it to villains who have, like, a monumentous cultural impact, like they change the course of how we view villains or something. It’s why Thanos gets a 10, or Kira (despite being my favorite villain ever) “only” gets a 10; like 10 is still the best score, 11 is just when the villain goes above and beyond and leaves an undeniable impact on popular culture.

This is why Darth Vader was the first (and as of this writing, ONLY) 11. And I do have a few more 11s coming eventually, I try to use them sparingly - I’ve explicitly compared it to the usage of Thaumiel and Apollyon class objects in SCP, use them sparingly or it loses all meaning.

Anyway, here’s the updated list of 11s I’m planning on covering. Some of these are tentative, mind you, as I haven’t finished watching their works but I acknowledge their influence on popular culture regardless and plan on going that extra mile for them.

Count Orlock (He’s probably the most important villain in history, to be honest)

Cruella de Vil***

Bowser

DIO

Dr. Frank N. Furter

Dracula (Bela Lugosi)

Dracula (Castlevania Netflix)**

Elmer Fudd

Frieza*

Harley Quinn (DCAU)

Joker (DCAU)

King Ghidorah (Showa Era)

Maleficent

Tyler Durden

The Wicked Witch of the West

*I need to finish watching DBZ but Frieza’s impact on pop culture is quite frankly undeniable

**I kind of think the Castlevania Dracula in general is just the definitive Dracula for how rich and complex a character he is, particularly in outings like Symphony of the Night, and the Netflix show really goes out of its way to distill everything that is great about the series’ take on Dracula into one performance. This one is the most tentative 11 on here, mind you, I may decide against it. 

***Easily the character I’m most tentative aout putting on here. While she’s probably the only villain I’d say comes remotely close to Maleficent in being one of the most wicked icons of animated cinema, I just don’t think she has had quite as much influence. She’ll likely end up a 10.

If I did non-visual mediums, I’d put Book!Pennywise, Book!Sauron, and probably quite a few beings from the Cthulhu Mythos on here as well.

[thenightling]

What is the best vampire movie you have ever seen? I am in desperate need of some good ones to quench my thirst. Lol I apologize for that joke XD

Hehe.  I love the pun.   I like cheesy things.

1.   Dracula (1979 version).   This version of Dracula is one of the few romantic incarnations of Dracula that still seems to enjoy what he is and isn’t suicidal.  I chose to believe he faked his death at the end.   Also the Mina character (renamed Lucy) is delightfully aggressive and Laurence Olivier plays a fantastic Abraham Van Helsing.

2. Bram Stoker’s Dracula.   Though this version is more faithful to The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen than it follows Bram Stoker’s novel it’s the only version to leave Quincey Morris in tact and still the most faithful film adaptation to date despite the added love story between Mina and Dracula. And that odd origin story they gave for Dracula’s vampirism. 

3.   Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula.  This film can be found on Youtube for free.  It stars Rudolf Martin, who also played Dracula in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode Buffy vs. Dracula.  It’s surprisingly respectful to the history while also implying Vlad the Impaler became the famous vampire after death and actually works as a very good prequel to most recent (within the last thirty years) adaptations of Dracula.

4.   Fright Night (original 1985 version).  If you love eighties music, traditional vampires, and loving homages to classic Hammer Horror and Dark Shadows I strongly recommend this movie.   You don’t see too many serious modern vampires able to turn into a bat, wolf, or mist anymore and it’s just a fun movie.  Also Roddy Mcdowell played Peter Vincent (a sweet homage to both Peter Cushing and Vincent Price) masterfully.   You see excellent and well portrayed character growth and I highly recommend it and even it’s 1988 sequel, Fright Night: Part 2.  I miss the traditional vampire powers to summon storms and change form into a bat, wolf, or mist and age and de-age at will and most of those lost powers make an appearance in this movie but not in the 2011 remake which lacks heart and passion on the part of the film makers behind it.  

5.   Lost Boys.   Much like Fright Night this is a fun eighties movie.  Like Fright Night it has an excellent soundtrack and humor with the horror.  The sequel’s not very good but the third one is decent.  Not as good as the first but decent.  

6.    Interview with the vampire.  Despite what Anne Rice hopes I doubt she will ever be able to make a better film adaptation of the original source material than this movie and it’s a shame that a version of The Vampire Lestat was never made by the same people.  If you can find it the San Francisco (NOT the New York) adaptation of the Lestat musical actually works pretty well as a direct sequel.   The San Francisco version of the Lestat musical was never officially released to video but there is a good quality bootleg out there.

7.   Let the Right One In.   An eerie and beautiful platonic love story between a boy and a vampire. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name.  Also it’s far better than it’s awful American remake.

9.   The vampire Lovers.  Despite deviations from the novel and two character name changes this is still a far better adaptation of Carmilla than many other film versions and it does capture the atmosphere and ambiance of the original novel, something few adaptations seem to manage.

10.    Demon Under Glass.  This one is extremely low budget.  It’s so low budget it might as well have been filmed in someone’s basement however it has a very clever premise and a tie-in novel (with twice the plot) by the woman who wrote the script.  It deals with what happens when a kindly doctor is roped into working with the government in regard to studying a captured vampire.  

11.   Scars of Dracula.  This was Christopher Lee’s favorite Hammer Dracula movie to work on and you can tell.

12.   Nightbreed.  Not specifically dealing with vampires the main character does rise from the dead as a vampire who craves blood.   Seek the director’s cut or “Cabal Cut” if possible. It’s based on the novel Cabal by Clive Barker.  And it has a haunting score by Danny Elfman.

13.  Monster Squad.  This is a mulltimonster movie but Dracula is the ring leader and it’s fun.  Another 80s gem.     

Bonus mentions: F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu.  Though I hate that people now think the word means a bald and bucked toothed vampire when it just means vampire.  Vampire The masquerade helped popularize that idea and this movie popularized the idea of vampires burning in the sun, which didn’t exist until the movie.   However, as terrifying as Count Orlock might be, I like Murnau’s Faust better than his Nosferatu.  His adaptation of Goethe’s Faust is very underated and I highly recommend it even if it’s not a vampire movie.

And of course the 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi and the Spanish film also made at the same time using the same sets.  Who can forget those?  And Dracula’s Daughter.  Son of Dracula.  House of Dracula and House of Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. (those require watching the other Universal Monster movies first). 

The Subspecies movies.    Cult classics and very under-rated.   Radu (named after the real life Dracula’s brother) is not a sexy vampire but an intriguing one. 

The Hunger starring David Bowie, based on the novel by Whitley Streiber.  

Hammer’s Dracula movies:  Dracula (1958) AKA Horror of Dracula. Brides of Dracula.  Dracula: Prince of Darkness.  Dracula has risen from the grave.  Taste the blood of Dracula.  Scars of Dracula.  Dracula 1972 AD.  Satanic Rites of Dracula (AKA Dracula and his vampire Bride).   

Innocent Blood.   This one deals with vampire mobsters after a female vampire bungles a feeding and has to team up with a cop. 

For vampire comedies I recommend Love at First Bite, What we do in the Shadows and Dracula: Dead and Loving it.     

TV shows: Castlevania (new animated series),  Dracula: the Series (not the awful NBC series, but the 1990s kid friendly one, it’s weirdly respectful to the novel despite giving Dracula blond hair).  Forever Knight.  And Buffy The Vamprire Slayer.   True Blood’s first few seasons were good but around the Lilith / Billith storyline it went down hill and never recovered.  The “Hep V” storyline was God-awful.     Midnight Texas is pretty good but not strictly vampire related.  And for anime Hellsing and Hellsing: OVA.  

For “So bad it’s good” I recommend Dracula 2 (sequel to Dracula 2000) and Dario Argento’s Dracula or as my friends and I have nicknamed it “Mantis Drac.”  It’s like the Plan 9 from Outer Space of Dracula movies.  And the badly dubbed anime Dracula: Sovereign of the damned (which can be found on Youtube).  It’s meant to be an adaptation of Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula but they couldn’t get the rights to Blade and had to work around him. They also tried to condense years worth of comics into an hour and twenty minute animated movie.      

For comic books I recommend Tomb of Dracula from Marvel.  Morbius The Living Vampire, also from Marvel.  Legion Of Monsters (2010 version).   And Dracula: The Company of Monsters (independent and very good graphic novel series).

For plays I recommend the musical Dracula by composer Frank Wildhorn. It’s pretty much a musical adaptation of the 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula movie.

For novels I recommend the sorely under-rated Dracula books by Fred Saberhagen.  There are ten in all and three short stories.  The first book is The Dracula Tape.  The audio books are available on Amazon and Audible (but sadly not the printed versions except used or digital) and the audio books are brilliantly read by Roblin Bloodworth (I kid you not.  That’s really the reader’s name.).  I strongly feel Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula novels deserve more positive attention than what they get.

And of course other books: Dracula, Carmilla, Let the Right One In.  The first three Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (and possibly Tale of the Body Thief for comic relief), All the obvious staples.   But also try Quincey Morris: Vampire by P. N. Elrod.   

For short stories try Box Number 50 by Fred Saberhagen which can be found in the Saberhagen vampire Tales and the Dracula in London short story collection edited by P. N. Elrod.

I’ll probably think of some better ones later.  My mood about these things changes on a whim.

[thenightling]

To the repeat Draculas

To the Repeat Draculas:

This post is dedicated to the actors who have played Dracula more than once in film, TV, audio drama, or stage.

1.   Bela Lugosi. The first Dracula (Disincluding Max Shrek who technically played Count Orlock) and the first Dracula to have an actual Transylvania accent.  “But he wasn’t from Transylvania!  He was from Hungary!”  Technically both are correct.   He was born in Lugos Hungary which was in Transylvania (which belonged to Hungary at the time) but years later would revert to Romania.  Bela played Dracula on stage and in the 1931 film as well as Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein.

2.   John Carradine -  House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, Nocturna, Dr. Dracula, McCloud, Blood of Dracula’s castle, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, Matinee Theatre: Dracula...

3,   Christopher Lee - Horror of Dracula (1958 Dracula), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (Note: when watching these watch Brides of Dracula before this one), Dracula has Risen from the Grave, Taste the blood of Dracula, Scars of Dracula, Dracula 1972 AD, Satanic Rites of Dracula, Dracula and Son, Count Dracula (1970 version, not to be confused with the 1977 mini-series of the same name), The Magic Christian, and In Search of Dracula.

4.   Frank Langella - He played Dracula on Broadway in 1978 and was in the film in 1979.

5.   Rudolf Martin - Dracula in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Dark Prince: The True Story of DRacula.

6.   Robin Bloodworth (Yeah, that name might raise a few eyebrows) read all the audio books for Fred Saberhagen’s Dracua book series.

7.  Robert Carlyle - Voiced Dracula for both Lords of Shadow Castlevania video games.

8.  Crispin Freeman - Alucard / Dracula in the Hellsing anime and Hellsing OVA.

Bonus mention for Ingrid Pit as Carmilla / Mircalla in The Vampire Lovers and then "Carla" (obviously Carmilla) in The House that dripped blood.