Editorials
[Retrospective] ‘Castlevania’ is Still Vampire Killing at 35
It’s ironic that we’ve only now gotten around to diving deep into the original Castlevania after delving into retrospectives for its two sequels. At 35, the series has seen its up and downs. The current trend seems to be to lament over “the good old days” of when Konami first bestowed greatness on Nintendo’s Famicom Disc System back in 1986, then porting it over to the NES. And given the current prospects of many of Konami’s classic series, it’s not out of the question. But hey, instead of mourning for what could have been, reminisce instead over what we’ve gotten in the original Castlevania.
Directed by Hitoshi Akamatsu, Castlevania (known as Akumajō Dracula in Japan) was approached with film in mind. Akamatsu wanted Castlevania‘s visuals and music to feel “cinematic”, with the idea that players would feel as if they were in a classic horror film. And while it’s not exactly horror, when the question arose as to why Simon wields a whip, Akamatsu replied simply that he was a fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indeed, when you boot up Castlevania for the first time, the title screen mimics the sprockets you’d find in film reels. Pressing start to begin your journey presented a scene with Simon walking to up to the gates of Dracula’s castle in an iconic scene that’s since been replicated many times in the series.
Once the game truly begins, players truly experience the series’ iconic music for the first time with “Vampire Killer”. Kinuyo Yamashita worked with Satoe Terashima on the game’s soundtrack, which still remains one of the best soundtracks to any video game ever. As all good music does, Castlevania’s soundtrack enhances the gameplay experience, touching on a variety of emotions and feelings through each stage. Of course, in keeping with Akamatsu’s cinematic feel, Yamashita was credited as under the pseudonym James Banana for the North American version, which like many of the game’s end credits, is a play on real people’s names associated with the horror genre. In this case, James Banana was a reference to James Bernard, who composed the score for 1958’s Horror of Dracula.
Graphically, while Castlevania doesn’t quite hold up as well as the later NES sequels, the quality of the art is still readily apparent even today. There’s a lot of detail that’s been put into each stage, with each having its own colour scheme (limited as it is) to give each area its own unique look and feel. Obviously, there are no turning gears or swinging pendulums for you to jump on as in Castlevania III. But again, the journey through Dracula’s massive castle, through the claustrophobic caverns underneath, up into the clock tower and up castle tower steps is just as exhilarating, thanks again in no small part to Yamashita’s soundtrack.
One of the common themes at the time for many video games was the concept of “NES hard” difficulty. While Castlevania is no easy playthrough, it’s nowhere near the frustration of what something like Ninja Gaiden would produce. Part of the perceived difficulty is Castlevania’s control scheme, which admittedly feels stiff. Of course, you could counter that with players who have no problem with Mario’s slippery control in the original Super Mario Bros., which is perceived as being “easy”. Simon is admittedly slow and deliberate in his movement, with the inability to control your distance or direction once you commit to a jump. There’s also a “wind-up” for when Simon attacks, either in the air or on the ground. For novices, this can admittedly be a frustration. However, looking closer, Akamatsu and company have deliberately built the game around this limitation for players to learn the mechanics of the game.
Take the candles, for instance. Yes, they hold the whip upgrades and hearts for your subweapons, but their placement is the key. Castlevania forces you into a rhythm of sorts when it comes to jumping and attacking. It’s all a matter of timing. You’ll have to learn how and when to jump, whip a candle, grab the item, and continue onward. This is also adapted into enemy spawns in the later stages, where the platforms they reside on leave little room for you to land. You’ll have to again jump, whip, land, and in some cases whip again to defeat your enemies. Castlevania is not a game where you stroll through the levels. You’ll have to actively be thinking, and memorize when and where to jump. Eventually, it all becomes second nature.
Another component to the controls (and gameplay) is the use of subweapons. Much like with the whip, you’ll have to learn which subweapon is best for the situation, and hold onto it (don’t accidentally pick up another one!) while maintaining your heart supply. The other strategy is to kill enough enemies with your subweapons to pick up the multipliers that will drop from candles, or find the multipliers that are sometimes hidden in the levels. Each subweapon has their own uses. The Dagger (which Akamatsu intended players to use first in order to get around the concept of the subweapon) flies fast and straight across the screen hitting once, while the Boomerang (or Cross, as it’s shaped) can be thrown and can hit multiple enemies with a single throw, even hitting on return trips back to Simon. The Axe is primarily used for hitting enemies above Simon, given its arcing flight path. The Stopwatch freezes time, giving you opportunity to move around enemies. Lastly there’s the Holy Water, which can be tossed in front of you, erupting in a small flame. While it might not seem like much, grabbing the multiplier and learning how to stunlock enemies with the Holy Water can allow you to “cheese” your way to victory with some bosses, including Dracula himself!
However, to downplay the difficulty in Castlevania would be foolish. It’s not an easy game. After the first few stages, the difficulty spikes upward, with enemies being more resilient and dealing more damage. In fact, in the final stages, you can only take four hits from enemies at most before dying. Returning to the idea of actively planning your moves, you’ll have to recognize and learn the enemy patterns, especially with the more annoying foes such as the Fleamen or Medusa Heads. Boss fights likewise scale up in difficulty, culminating in Death and his continual spawning of scythes that randomly fly at every angle, requiring you to have stocked up on hearts and the appropriate subweapon. In fact, Death presents more of a challenge than Dracula if you play your cards right.
In fact, when you think about it, the final battle against Dracula foretells the events of Simon’s Quest! After defeating Dracula’s first form, his head flies off and his body splits apart to reveal his demonic form. When asked by a former coworker as to the reasoning behind Dracula’s head flying off, Akamatsu replied that it was foreshadowing Dracula’s resurrection. As for Dracula’s demonic form, Akamatsu stated that it was not Dracula himself, but an “incarnation of the curse of man”. Hence, why after defeating Dracula, Simon is cursed. And we know what happens after that.
It’s certainly a testament to Castlevania and Konami that we’re still talking about the first game to this day, and how it’s still very much revered by critics and fans alike. Without Castlevania, there’s little doubt that Konami would have been as big of an influence in the following decades. Nor would we have had things like the recent Castlevania Netflix series, or the eventual concept of “Metroidvanias”. While Konami seems content with releasing collections of past glories for the present time, one hopes that one day the series will be back in a meaningful way. Action-platformer games like Castlevania are still very much popular today, as is the idea creating a “retro throwback” that expands upon the classic mould while adding modern touches. Whatever the case, Castlevania remains the epitome of the genre, and one of the greatest games ever.
Big thanks to Shmuplations for the info!
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
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