Writers have had trouble adapting video games to movies and series for a long time. Among the notable failed adaptations of video games-to-movies are Resident Evil: Retribution, Postal, and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Creating a faithful yet different adaptation from a video game doesn’t always spell defeat, and the best recent example is the Netflix animated series Castlevania.

Castlevania is an adaptation of 1990’s Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. Dracula’s Curse and 2005’s Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. It featured a simple singular story that involved the player moving throughout the country of Wallachia recruiting allies to kill Dracula. The first two seasons of the Netflix animated series follow this plot while further fleshing out the characters with various elements from other games. Premiering in 2017, Castlevania was an early indicator that video game adaptations did not have to be bad, and here is why the series was a hit with fans.
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Behind the Scenes Talent

Netflix

Castlevania is from Warren Ellis. Ellis is a prolific comic book writer known for his dark, gritty, and violent stories. His iconic Iron Man comic storyline “Extremis” served as the basis for Iron Man 3, and his comic book series Red was adapted into the movie Red in 2010 and a sequel, Red 2, in 2013. Ellis’ The Authority is set to be adapted in James Gunn’s new DCU plans.

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The series is produced by Adi Shankar. Shankar was an Executive Producer on gritty action films like Dredd and The Grey. He is the creator of The Bootleg Universe, a series of unauthorized fan films that included Punisher: Dirty Laundry, which saw Thomas Jane reprise his role from 2004’s The Punisher, and Power/Rangers, which was a dark, gritty reimaging of the Power Rangers that featured James Van Deer Beek and Katee Sackhoff. These two creators are very much in tune with pop culture, specifically in delivering over-the-top violent takes on classic material, making them the perfect people to bring Castlevania to life.

Gripping Action Scenes

The Castlevania video game series has always been known for its riveting action and unforgiving gameplay. Ellis is unafraid to translate the punishing combat from cartridge to screen. The first season of the Castlevania series introduces the audience to the main protagonist, Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage), in a pud, down on his life, and drunk. Belmont starts a drunken brawl and proceeds to take on multiple assailants in a bloodied mess of hand-to-hand combat. Not only does this serve as a key introduction to Trevor’s flowing drinking problem, but it also gives audiences their first taste of how brutal and ruthless the combat will be throughout the series.

Each character within the series specializes in their own form of combat. Dracula moves about quickly and strikes with precise blows. Belmont uses a whip, his fists, and whatever rag-tag weapons he can find. Belnades uses various forms of magic, generally elemental spells which conjure fire and ice. Alucard uses a magical longsword that he can control with his mind. These combinations of weapons and fighting styles (along with more weapons such as claws, daggers, and necromancy) make for engaging combats that are unique throughout the entire series. Castlevania is not only full of nail-biting combat but a beautifully crafted story of struggles and successes.

Character Development
The series begins by showing an important life moment from the main antagonist, Dracula Tepes (Graham McTavish). The audience is introduced to Dracula, a vampire of immense power, and the beginning of a beautifully crafted love story that not only introduces a protagonist named Alucard (James Callis) but also as a major motivator for Dracula’s eventual war on humanity. As the series progresses, the audience is introduced to the idea that Dracula is not some crazed madman interested in destroying all life but is instead merely a lover whose heart has been broken. Dracula is still the monster audiences know him to be, terrifying and powerful, but his motivations are now deeply rooted in relatable human emotions.

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One of the best character arcs in the series is from Alucard, son of Dracula. Alucard is a half-vampire, half-human, born from Dracula and his human wife, Lisa. Alucard’s story is that of loss, grief, and pressing forward. Alucard begins his arc by losing his mother, a moment shared with his father, Dracula. The character’s reactions are completely opposite to one another and show how grief affects people differently. Some lash out at the world, like Dracula, and some bottle it up as a burden, like Alucard. Alucard never fully gets over his loss, and, despite recognizing how hard it would be for him, he joins Belnades and Belmont to kill his own father. Eventually, Belnades and Belmont leave Alucard behind. Alucard is then forced to live alone in the place he once called home. The loss of his family haunts him, and his psyche begins to break down as phantoms from his past bring him to tears.

Castlevania Set A Trend

Netflix

There are many reasons to love Castlevania, but its melancholy portrayal of the effects of grief and its riveting action make it a binge-worthy show for fans of the game or new audiences who may never have heard of the property. Castlevania’s ability to adapt its source material from an action platformer with little dialogue to a four-season-long story-driven epic filled with brilliant character moments and jaw-dropping action showed that classic Nintendo titles that were perceived as not having a story could lend themselves to adaptation just as well, if not better than AAA games.

Castlevania, in many ways, is a precursor to what The Super Mario Bros. Movie would do, take a classic video game title and find a way to craft an engaging narrative out of it. For these reasons, it is easy to recommend Castlevania, and it stands as one of the best video game adaptations.