A little over a year ago if you had asked me anything about Castlevania then I would’ve had very few responses for you beyond “Something about the Belmonts fighting Dracula” Well, fast forward to today and I know a pretty good deal about the lore and have played through 3 of the games and plan on Buying the “Symphony of The Night” port on PS4 soon. This is all thanks to the Castlevania Netflix series. It was a perfect jumping on point for me and I immediately fell in love with the lore of the series as a whole. Why? Well let’s get to it.
So first and foremost, it’s rated MA for a reason. There’s a bunch of swearing and excessive violence so if you’re not ready for that then don’t watch it. As for the story itself, it’s loosely based on the story of “Castlevania III : Dracula’s Curse.” Which follows Trevor Belmont as he goes around Wallachia preparing to defend it’s people and fight Dracula. I won’t spoil too much of anything else that happens because there’s a lot of really cool scenes in this first season.
It’s odd to call it a season due to the fact that it’s only 4 episodes long and each one is around 22 minutes or so. This is both a strength and a weakness for the series but it’s only a weakness in the sense that it’s over too quickly. I suggest watching the series in one sitting if you have the opportunity to do so because it flows very well as a single narrative. The dialogue is never overbearing and manages to get it’s point across very well. The action set pieces are exciting and never stagnate and that’s largely due to the pacing of the show. It plays to it’s strength well for only being a little under 2 hours in length.
One of it’s key strengths is the retelling of Dracula’s story. He’s definitely not Lee or Lugosi or Oldman but instead he manages to be his own interpretation. This is a Dracula who, in my opinion, isn’t purely evil and even if he is then you can at least understand where he’s coming from. The contrasting yet similar ideologies between him and Trevor is honestly one of my favorite parts of the series but it’s Trevor’s heart that wins out which is why he chooses to fight instead of back away from the situation.
Plus it has 2 Hobbit alumni in Richard Armitage as Trevor and Graham McTavish as Dracula and both of them are great in these roles.
The Castlevania Netflix series is great for fans new and old and I highly suggest it, plus you still have time to watch it before Season 2 comes out on October 26th!
