Third of the trilogy of Hammer inspired Japanese 70s movies. Not quite as good as the first, this is an improvement on Lake of Dracula, with much better photography helping this become a very good looking film and adding interest to some of those middle sequences. Starts very well indeed and the finale certainly has some vigour, even if you are urging someone to construct a crucifix to bring things to a more urgent ending. Actually, total absence of use of the crucifix to save the day is presumably something to do with the Japanese not wanting to elevate the importance of such alien paraphernalia, but thats just a guess. So, bit more action here, bit more colour and a bit more sexed up too with small amount of nudity here and there.

EVIL OF DRACULA (1974, original title Chi o suu bara) is the last of the Japanese Bloodthirsty trilogy and once again a standalone contemporary vampire story. Made a good few years after the last one, this feels heavily indebted to Hammer's LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, with the girls' school setting and story of teachers menaced by the undead. There's even a little nudity and a blood-on-breast scene of the kind which was once considered a trigger for psychopaths by the good old wannabe psychiatrists working at our BBFC here in the UK!

Sonny Chiba-lookalike Toshio Kurosawa plays Professor Shiraki, arriving at a remote school to take up a teaching position. He soon discovers something odd about the principal and his wife, and elicits the aid of some allies and the local police force to investigate. As with the other films in this unconnected trilogy, it's a slow-burning slice of atmosphere with plenty of night-time set-pieces and ethereal scenes of our hero being ambushed by vampiric brides. The only action really comes at the extended climax, a hell-for-leather battle between the living and the dead. The vampires are a creepy lot here with decent makeup making them feel spooky and imposing, and it's all very close to Hammer in look and feel, albeit on a smaller budget.

The third entry in director Michio Yamamoto's Bloodthirsty Trilogy, this Toho-produced vampire film ends this non-connected cycle by telling the story of Professor Shiraki (Toshio Kurosawa, Lady Snowblood), who comes to teach at a new school and discovers that he may not be ready for this strange place.

You have to love a vampire movie that has Dracula finding himself shipwrecked in Edo period Japan, a time when Christianity was illegal. Forced to spit on the cross and wander the desert, he is forced to drink his own blood to survive. Acquiring a taste for it he soon begins feeding on the blood of the locals.

It turns out that the past principal was also a vampire and has been feeding on his student body. This involves shredding their clothes off their bodies and drinking right from their breasts, which leads me to believe that this movie is more inspired by the later, more naughty side of Hammer.

Shin Kishida is the vampire again - he also played one in Lake of Dracula - but there isn't any mention of him being the same character. That said, the love going even past death theme that exists in so much Hammer and in later films like Bram Stoker's Dracula is in full effect here.