EJ Moreno reviews the third season of Netflix’s Castlevania animated series…
If there’s anything this reviewer loves in life, it’s high camp mixing with high art. It takes a special kind of project to find a balance between the gritty and posh sides of life. Thank the stars that Netflix is continuing to give us just that balance with their series Castlevania. Nothing right now feels posher and grittier than this.
As the show enters its third season, you can feel it’s a bit more comfortable in its skin. I can only compare it to those middle season of Game of Thrones when they knew they locked in the fanbase so they can do just about anything. Well, Castlevania Season 3 does just about anything it wants and pushes all the limits. Don’t think Netflix has ever released something this erotic, this shocking, and this bloody…and I mean all of that with the highest respect.
As a casual viewer of the series and a player of only a few of the video games, I’m not coming into this show with a big fanboy mentality. I come in as a fan of gothic horror, and this is precisely that. There’s a regal beauty to the show, where everyone looks striking and their costumes even more so.
The same goes for the production design and visuals as well. Everything looks like it’s straight out of a classic horror film with elegance on full display. Then you look past the beauty and see a real edge to the show. The beauty people are doing horrible things. The beautiful castles have hidden secrets within the walls. That’s the exact type of feeling that draws me to the show, and what has drawn fans to this franchise for decades.
Following the insanity of Season 2 is no easy task; the last season finished with Dracula dying at the hands of his son and a team of bad-asses. But now all of those people are split-up, and the dark forces are doing everything in its power to right their supposed wrong. Trevor and Sypha are on their own, trying to find their next adventures. Alucard is guarding the castle once occupied by his father, and you can feel the guilt with every action of his.
This season also does a beautiful job of introducing a new set of villains, four women led by Carmilla, with a scheme to build a dangerous empire. If I can pinpoint one thing I went wild for this season, it was this storyline. There’s so much going on with these women that I want to see more and more each episode. Sadly, one of my few complaints does come with building them up more as a threat later on than in the moment, leaving this season’s real foe to feel weak in comparison.
For me, a perfect season of a television show will work on its own and also fit into an over-arching story. Castlevania Season 3 isn’t the worst offender of this, but it does feel like a lot of time was spent setting up something cool for next season, instead of focusing on the now. But there is still a lot of good here with the inclusion of Hector, Issac, and Saint Germain, helping to flesh out the lack of a real villain at the moment.
Castlevania, the video game series and this animated show, is known for the beautiful art style. There’s an obvious love of old Gothic horror and feels like something ripped out of a 1950’s Hammer Horror production. But this season goes above and beyond to improve on that aesthetic while providing new and refreshing changes.
There are moments of pure surrealism with a scene reminding me of the art film Enter The Void. Yes, never thought a show about vampires would conjure up feelings to movies about DMT, but somehow, that’s where season 3 goes for Castlevania.
When it isn’t diving into trippy visuals, the show still is looking wonderfully rich. The colors, if it’s costumes or spraying blood, stand out and pop on the screen. Also, the show seems to have improved on the looks of their action scenes as well, since this feels even crisper than last season. If this show can keep improving as the years go by, this could be a cult classic for decades to come.
If you are looking for one of the most refreshing animated shows in quite some time, Castlevania Season Three is perfect for you. There’s a newness that makes it feel like experiencing a whole new type of show, but also finds a way to strike familiar cords with genre fans. Anyone looking for explosive vampire drama that True Blood and Buffy wish it could dive into, then look no further.
For all the blood, guts, and sexuality the show offers, there’s a real soul inside Castlevania that makes it feel so grounded. There’s nothing like this on Netflix or anywhere else, so experience the wildness of this universe for yourself.
Season 3 of Castlevania premieres on Netflix on March 5th.
EJ Moreno
