WiC Binges: Castlevania season 2

Castlevania, Netflix’s stylized anime take on the classic videogame series, is back for a second season. Is it worth your valuable time?

In 2017, Netflix quietly dropped four episodes of a series based on Konami’s Castlevania videogame franchise on unsuspecting fans, and they were a hit. Normally, movies and TV shows based on videogames are rough at best, but Castlevania had a gaudy, gonzo over-the-top feel that stood out. It’s hard to pinpoint one person responsible for its success, but the easiest to credit is executive producer Adi Shankar, the filmmaker behind pop culture adrenaline shots like Dredd and this unauthorized Power Rangers craziness:

The first season of Castlevania was kinetic, exciting and operatic, if not overly complicated. Dracula has released the hordes of hell on the land of Wallachia. Opposing him are vampire hunter Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage), sorceress Sypha Belnades, and Alucard, the son of Dracula and a human woman. Renewal was a given, and here we are a year later with eight new episodes. Do they deliver the same giddy thrills of the first season, or has this particular neck run dry?