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[quote] Paul W. S. Anderson’s Castlevania E-mail
Written by Big Ross, CC2K Staff Writer
ImageThere is a disconcerting disconnect between the potential for video games to be adapted into quality films and reality. On the one side of this gulf are games such as Halo: Combat Evolved, Metal Gear Solid, Metroid, Mass Effect, Bioshock, and more with detailed, compelling stories full of thrilling action just sitting and waiting to be adapted into awesome films. On the other side is the gleaming promised land of all that potential fulfilled and realized into glowing reviews, happy movie-goers, and box office gold. And in between, lying scattered at the bottom of this chasm are the charred and broken remains of past attempts, films that producers and directors launched across the void like Evil Knievel-piloted motorcycles straining to reach the other side: the reality of a successful adaptation. Have any actually made it? I would argue that some have come close, perhaps Mortal Kombat, Silent Hill, or Resident Evil, but most have come up woefully short – Street Fighter, Alone in the Dark, Bloodrayne, Doom, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, House of the Dead, Postal. If Paul W. S. Anderson’s script for the planned adaptation of Konami’s venerable Castlevania is hurled across the divide in its current state, I have no doubt it will crash and burn like so many of its predecessors.

To say this is disappointing is a huge understatement. Castlevania sits alongside those other great games I mentioned, well suited for adaptation to a feature film. Though it spawned a franchise of games that cover a wide span of time and story (just begging for sequels, I might add) I’m going to focus on the first, released for the NES here in America in 1987. This game’s story centers on a single night in every one hundred years when conditions are such that Dracula reclaims physical form in his monstrous castle and begins a quest to cover the world in darkness. For centuries one family, the Belmonts, have served as vigilant guardians against the undead. With every manifestation a lone member of the Belmont clan ventures to Castlevania to confront and defeat Dracula. This time the task falls on the shoulders of Simon Belmont, who must navigate the horrors of Dracula’s castle to stop his reign of evil before it begins.

With that as the source material, where does this script go wrong? Where doesn’t it?! I understand that certain games may have an interesting concept (and a strong fan base) but are difficult to translate in their present state (Super Mario Bros. comes to mind). In the translation process changes are made (for good or ill), but Castlevania does not require such treatment. Yet here Anderson almost completely ignores the existing storyline in favor of plot so reminiscent of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that I wondered if I was indeed reading a script for a Castlevania adaptation or a remake of Francis Ford Coppola’s film. Gone is the epic struggle that spans generations between Dracula and the Belmont clan. Gone are the monstrous inhabitants of Castlevania such as mummies, Medusa, and Frankenstein’s monster that stand in the way of Simon’s quest. Gone even is the signature weapon of the Belmonts, the Vampire Killer – a sacred chain whip that is used so successfully to battle the forces of darkness.

Instead for some reason we are introduced to Castlevania through the eyes of German soldiers during World War II, who seek to use it as a temporary stronghold but are quickly dispatched by its sinister inhabitants. Along with the ending this bookends the film with what I suppose is a theme of the timelessness of the castle and its dark lord, yet the audience invests nothing in these one-dimensional characters and will care nothing of their deaths. And really, we don’t even see what it is that kills the soldiers. The script describes a lot of things moving unseen in the dark and expressions of growing terror on the faces of the soldiers as they are killed, but in a post The Ring-The Grudge-Last Missed Call-The Strangers-Eli Roth-Rob Zombie world is this even going to be effectively suspenseful? But I digress.

We then flash back to the mid 1500’s, and instead of being introduced to a clan of Belmonts we meet the last two surviving brothers of the family: Christopher and Simon. Both are lords of a small contingent of Romanian knights sworn to fight the invading Turks responsible for the deaths of their parents and the ravaging of their homeland. No surprise here the elder Simon plays Prince Willam to Christopher’s more reckless Prince Harry, if you catch my analogy. No sooner do we meet them scouting ahead of their party than do they encounter a gypsy carriage under attack by a pack of ravenous, gray wolves, and among them a much larger, black wolf (if you guessed this is Dracula, kudos for realizing the obvious). After the brothers fend them off, not without Christopher suffering a bite wound from the black wolf that strangely consists of only two holes in his neck (can you say foreshadowing?), we meet the lone survivor: a beautiful young gypsy woman named Aurica. Once the Belmont brothers and their recently rescued damsel-in-distress who is actually tougher and more self-reliant than she looks (no surprise there) reunite with the rest of the knights they move on and find the same village and overlooking castle we saw discovered by the German soldiers in the opening scene.

When Simon learns that the castle is inhabited not by a large garrison but by a single lord, he wishes to go and meet him. Shortly thereafter the village is attacked by a Turkish army that vastly outnumbers the Romanian knights. They and the villagers seek refuge in the castle, but there are no apparent defenses, nothing to keep the Turks from entering. This, of course, is by design; what would the first vampire have to fear from mortal man? Why go out and hunt his prey when it can come to him? In what is one of the few bright spots in this script the castle seemingly comes to life and defends itself against the invaders, quickly decimating the Turks in various inventive and gruesome ways. Dracul’a - oh yeah, did I mention that for a completely arbitrary reason Dracula is spelled Dracul’a throughout the script? I have no idea if that means his name should be pronounced differently but there you are – anyway, Dracul’a invites Simon, his knights, and Aurica to stay in Castlevania as his guests.

It is here that Anderson begins to borrow heavily from the traditional Dracula story. To wit:

Dracul’a claims to be the son of Dracul, The Dragon, who is based on the historical figure of Vlad Tepes AKA Vlad the Impaler with whom Simon and his followers are aware. Turns out Dracul’a is in fact Dracul, who fought and impaled a bunch of Turks and later renounced God and became a vampire, the story of which we are shown in a series of flashbacks. Maybe they can ask Mr. Coppola if they can just reuse the scenes he shot of this. It would save time and money.

Dracul’a had a wife waiting for him while he was away defending his homeland. When he returned to his beloved Anita, the king of Romania had her killed out of jealousy. It was Dracul’a’s undying love for her that drove him to become the first vampire, so that not even time could separate them, believing that if he but waited long enough she would return to him. Turns out that Aurica bears a striking resemblance to Anita, that Dracul’a believes her to be the reincarnation of his lost love, and that possessing her is what drives his machinations throughout the film. Hey, remember the tag line to Coppola’s Dracula, “Love Never Diesâ€

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Sad Face.


I don't like the idea of a modern Castlevania movie. I would prefer a CG movie like FF:The Spirits Within or CG-Live Action like Journey to the Center of the Earth.

... Yup. This film might be all right, then. In which case it will actually make three video game movies in all to not royally suck. Won't that be nice?

It might be, but he's not writing this.

... Hmmm. I read that first post incorrectly. For some reason my mind was registering what you said as he was writing it, but not directing it as normal. Got it backwards, basically.

..... Well, then I'll just say this: let's just not assume that the film will suck unless Uwe Boll gets in on it. ^_^

You like ASSuming don't you. Personally, if there's only three good video games that when to movie... and there's a boat load of videogame to movie films, then it's actually smarter to brace yourself for another movie that is about as enjoyable as bashing your teeth aginst a brick.