Dracula’s Eastern Legacy: Japanese Vampire Films of the 1970s

This paper explores three Japanese vampire films directed by Michio Yamamoto for Toho Studios, Chi o suu ningyo (Legacy of Dracula 1970), Chio suu me (Lake of Dracula 1971), and Chi o suu bara (Evil of Dracula 1974). These films raise interesting issues about the international nature of horror production during this period, and, in particular, the ways in which Japanese cinema incorporates generic conventions developed in the West. The paper identifies indeterminate qualities within the films and argues that this makes it difficult to place them definitively within either a national or an international context. It is suggested that accounts of horror would benefit from taking fuller account of the playful, improvisatory elements evident not just within Yamamoto’s work but more widely in the genre.