Before Marvel studios took on Frankenstein we got this Dracula piece that left me pining for Dr Strange (2016) which I thought was the absolute pits.Alike The Monster Of Frankenstein (1981) this was made by Marvels Japanese animation studio however strangely looks very western.It tells the story of Dracula, the woman he loves, their children, Satan (Yes Satan) and the group determined to see him dead.I'm struggling to find the words to explain just how bad this is. It's tacky, full of laughable dialogue, pitiful characters and an awful storyline.Unlike Frankenstein this is a very PG affair. Sadly it's not exactly family friendly, won't appeal to the kids and I'd imagine most adults will find it juvenile.The movie was so bad it made my nuts rattle, both of them! The Good:Animation is decent enough The Bad: Dracula looks ridiculous A lot of cheese No idea who the demographic is Things I Learnt From This Movie:Marvels cinematic road to where they are now was one fraught with embarrassment

Anime made-for-television movie based on the Marvel comic book series from the '70s, Tomb of Dracula. It wasn't released in America until 1983, under the name Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned. This dubbed version is the one that I saw. The movie begins with some unintentionally funny scenes with a Satanic cult offering up a woman named Delores as the bride to (they believe) Satan. But it's not Satan, it's our old friend Dracula. When he sees Delores, he has to have her so he swoops her up and flies away. Meanwhile, a descendant of Dracula's named Frank Drake is recruited by vampire hunters Hans Harker and Rachel Van Helsing (yes, both are related to the characters with the same surnames from Bram Stoker's novel). The trio sets out to kill Dracula, but Satan might actually beat them to it as he's pretty PO'ed that Dracula stole his sacrifice. So he sends his worshippers after the vampire, who has now had a child with Delores and is living the good life.A sympathetic depiction of Dracula is a large part of what makes this story interesting. But it's also melodramatic and corny with an overstuffed plot and a very talky script. There is a dog named Elijah who can track Dracula by scent, so points for that. The action sequences and sci-fi sound effects are really out of place for a horror story but I expect no less from anime. There's some blood and violence in this, as well as some other things that might not be suitable for all ages. I doubt most little kids would be able to sit through it, anyway. They'd probably be bored by it. The animation is nice, particularly for the period in which this was made. The point where a dead character is resurrected as a superhero, complete with costume and powers, is a bit too much. It's not a bad movie but it won't appeal to everyone. It's weird, for sure. Sometimes a fun kind of weird but sometimes not.

I love Marvel Comics. I love all the shows (for the most part) and the movies (again, mostly). I find the characters incredibly interesting and love to know about it. I'm particularly interested in animation. I had read all about Marvel's modern animated movies, but learned that there were two relatively unknown movies: Dracula and The Monster of Frankenstein. Marvel and Toei Animation made a deal to make several of their properties, but those were the only two produced.Dracula is inspired by The Tomb of Dracula. The comic features Dracula's grandson finding his body and encountering vampire hunters like Blade. I picked up a collected edition and it's quite...odd to say the least (it was the 70s). This film is loosely inspired by the comics and features a few of the characters, but greatly alters the story. Oddly enough, the comics weren't available in Japan at the time so it's an odd choice that this was made above Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, or Hulk.The film follows both Dracula and his grandson Drake. Dracula meets a woman, falls in love, and has a child. Drake meets a team of vampire hunters and searches for his grandfather. Satan, angry at Dracula for stealing his bride, plans to destroy the vampire lord. The meeting of the three stories eventually leads to a big climatic showdown.The tone is all over the place. There's a lot of late 70s and early 80s camp, silly hairstyles, plot devices that stretch believability, and other problems that were common in anime at the time. On the other hand, there's a lot of dark stuff. Early on, Dracula graphically kills two women on screen. There's a flashback to his days of Vlad the Impaler which is more historically accurate than most other screen versions (violence-wise). Some of the characters even take a side-trip to Hell. And one female character appears fully naked from the side. I wouldn't say it's scary, but there's a shot of birds picking at dead bodies on pikes (hence the real-life Vlad's nickname) that could be disturbing. I actually applaud the darker elements. That's something almost no one in animation deals with. The problem is, the campier elements make it too silly for adults but the sex and violence make it a bit much for children.The voice acting is, again, standard for anime at the time. Unless it was Disney or Don Bluth, no one took animation seriously and certainly not anime (Akira being nearly a decade away). At the time, translations were done quickly and cheaply. It seemed that the same ten people did everything anime. The voices work for their purposes but not a one is anything more than adequate.The animation is astounding. Anime has always featured terrific animation. Characters look realistic, not the oversized hands and eyes that American animation often has. There's a great richness to the images and backgrounds. Lots of interesting looking set pieces, even for tiny little scenes or just single shots. They do have the occasional problem, but it was typical to cheat every once in a while.Dracula is an interesting tale. I would recommend it to anime and/or Marvel buffs looking for something different. There's actually a lot of interesting ideas. For example, Dracula resents his life as a vampire and his need to consume people, though Let the Right One In would do that idea better. If only this movie was simply a better movie. There's simply too many problems to take this seriously.

I recall stumbling across this to rent on the shelves of a Video Towne store in the mid-1980s, and the cover caught my eye. I took it home, popped it into the machine, and immediately experienced Deja Vu. This cartoon was based on Marvel Comic's monthly color series, "Tomb Of Dracula," from the early 1970s. (Which is when and where the character of Blade made his debut appearance.) I even still have the issue(s) used as the springboard for the story. My memories are a bit dim, but it seems as if the box for this was sketchy on details, and I don't recall any mention of Marvel being made on the packaging. Too bad this is out of print, as it would be neat to see it again and see how it holds up. Maybe it could be reissued under the Marvel banner and given better promotion, as the film seems to have slipped by unnoticed. It's so obscure, even die-hard fans of Marvel and/or Japanimation/anime' often have never heard of it.