Vampire Doll has the setting of a Hammer movie, the dreamlike atmosphere of a Rollin film, and a story influenced by Japanese folklore; as such, it's bound to have its fans, but I'm not one of them. I found the story uneventful and languorous, and felt my eyelids drooping as I watched.

The meandering plot sees a young woman, Keiko (Kayo Matsuo),and her fiance, Hiroshi (Akira Nakao),searching for Keiko's brother, Kazuhiko (Atsuo Nakamura),who has disappeared while visiting the home of his girlfriend, Yûko (Yukiko Kobayashi). They are greeted by Yûko's mother, Shidu (Yôko Minakaze),who informs them that her daughter has died and that Kazuhiko has left. Not believing a word, Keiko and Hiroshi pretend to have car trouble so that they can stay a while longer and investigate.

As the title suggests, there is a vampire involved, although those looking for a red eyed, fanged, bloodsucking member of the undead will be disappointed: the vamp in this one is more like one of those spooky girls from movies like The Ring or Dark Water, skulking in the shadows and doing a lot of creepy smiling. If that's your kind of thing, have at it, but it didn't do much for me.

After much dreary nonsense in and around the old house, we are finally given an explanation for Yûko's vampiric state, and it is very baffling: before she could die, her father, a murderous doctor, put her in a hypnotic trance that turned her into a vampire spirit. I can't say that makes a whole lot of sense to me, but, then again, I'm not Japanese.

My favourite part of the whole film comes minutes before the end, when Yûko slashes her father's throat with a knife: I'm a big fan of arterial spray in a movie, and this scene is a doozy, with blood flying everywhere. It's just a shame that there wasn't more of this in the film (although there are a couple of moments where rats fly through the air, which were daft but fun).

THE VAMPIRE DOLL (1970, original title Yurei yashiki no kyofu: Chi wo su ningyo, aka LEGACY OF DRACULA, BLOODSUCKING DOLL, NIGHT OF THE VAMPIRE) is a low budget slow burning Japanese spin on the classic vampire story, heavily influenced by Hammer and Euro gothic and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. It was made by Toho, who are best known for their energetic kaiju movies, but this is something else entirely, quite a mature and old-fashioned kind of film.

In a gender twist spin on Dracula, a man returns to Tokyo and visits the home of his fiancee only to discover that she died recently in a car accident. When he himself goes missing, his sister and her boyfriend travel to the house to investigate and they're soon up to their ears in a sinister storyline. While the plot is quite sparse and the characterisation is negligible, it's a visual treat with lots of spooky scenes, a shadowy setting and a weird female vampire character. Plenty of creepy atmosphere for the fans alongside a gory climax. What's most interesting is the very different treatment of the vampire legend as compared to western movies; here, the vampire seems to arise as a result of hypnotism mixed with various bad luck factors coming together to form a kind of curse.

NO SPOILERS

If you like Hammer style Vampire films.Give it a shot.TOHO has three Dracula films.This one, Lake Of Dracula and Evil of Dracula.All three are excellent in their original language versions.Now, don't expect "Victorian Era" vampire horror here, like in the Hammer films.This is Japanese after all.All three films have great atmosphere and some very creepy scenes.I write this review for this particular one because it has no other reviews.And it deserves one. TOHO is better known for its giant monster flicks(Godzilla etc.) I would assume most would shy away from a TOHO "Vampire" flick.Don't!! Its well worth your time.Very much out of character for TOHO and a darn good effort on their part.Its a shame many horror fans don't know of this or the other two titles.Its just one guys opinion that these films belong in any "Vampire" film lover's collection.