Castlevania series review: A vampire story done right

4/5

What it’s about:

For years movies and TV shows adapted from video games have been burdened with the curse of being unable to recreate the same formula that made the games so successful. This could have been the reason why Netflix was reluctant to give Castlevania the usual 10-episode order as is the case for most Netflix originals - it received an order of just 4 episodes for its debut season. The instant success of the show meant that Netflix executives were left with no choice but to give a full renewal order with 10 episodes. It has since made a total of four seasons completing the arc of Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Alucard.

Over the course of its run on Netflix, the show has managed to do one better after each season. It has effortlessly managed to tell a fantastic story filled with excellent narratives and characters at the same time exploring several themes with respect to religion, politics, sexuality, free will, genocide, aristocracy, absolution, redemption slavery, civilization, and other philosophical conundrums. What makes this show unique is the fact that the inclusion of such complex and thought-provoking subplots was not a constraint for the overall story, nor did it affect the pacing in any manner. The trio of heroes, Trevor, Sypha, and, Alucard have their own inner demons to battle as well as the real demons brought to life by Dracula to avenge the murder of his wife.

What’s hot:

The animation, the sound design, and the voice acting were done to perfection. This should not come as a surprise especially with regards to the voice cast as it boasts of some stellar names like Richard Armitage, Graham McTavish, Theo James, Malcolm McDowell, and Jason Issacs just to name a few. The screenplay is easily the best in the genre, some of the dialogues by characters like Hector, Isaac, and Lenore in seasons 3 and 4 were simply exceptional. It gets the viewers immersed in their psychology and inadvertently forces the audience to feel sympathetic towards these characters – characters who might not essentially deserve sympathy. The character-development each character undergoes including the trio of heroes, the morally grey characters, and the relatively villainous ones are brilliantly depicted by the showrunners Warren Ellis and Adi Shankar. The final scene between Lenore and Hector deserves immense praise as it is one of the best written scenes on television.

What’s not:

The only thing the show could possibly have done better was to have a longer first season to flesh out the characters much earlier. This would have helped the audience keep track of the overall story a little better as the second season was released a year later. Other than a few minor narrative issues in a couple of episodes which is easily forgivable the show has managed to surpass the video games even possibly, which is unheard of.

Verdict:

Castlevania is an era defining show simply because it has quite brilliantly proven that video games can be made into good film and television adaptations. It is an underrated gem which is simply a cut above the rest in this particular genre.