Inspired by Konami’s long-running and popular video game series, Netflix’s new dark medieval fantasy animated mini-series – Castlevania – has come out with its first teaser, and a release date: July 7.
Much like the game, the show follows the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, which is a family of vampire hunters. His mission is to save Eastern Europe from the all-powerful Vlad Dracula Tepe himself.
The new teaser spends half of its 90-second-runtime building on the nostalgia of Castlevania players, by showcasing a Castlevania cartridge sitting atop the Nintendo Entertainment System (colloquially known as the NES), which itself sold the nostalgia appeal in the form of now-discontinued NES Classic Edition.
A person walks up to the Nintendo console, lifts the lid, and pops it in. As it powers on, the TV displays the Netflix logo, followed by a retro re-imagination of the streaming service’s UI, which features multiple popular original series including Stranger Things, Narcos, House of Cards, and Orange is the New Black, with Castlevania alongside. There’s even pixel-art representations of Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood, Pedro Pascal’s Javier Peña, and Taylor Schilling’s Piper Chapman to sell the impression.
The Gadgets 360 Spring 2017 TV Guide
The retro UI then gives way to footage from the upcoming show, as an off-screen narrates: “There is a darkness upon the land. A saviour is needed,” to shots of thousands of skeletons standing on pikes. After someone asks “Who are you?”, we get some intense action shots, and a reply: “The man who’ll kill Dracula.”
Written by comic book author Warren Ellis and produced by Kevin Kolde (Adventure Time) and Adi Shankar (Dredd, The Grey), Castlevania’s first season will have just four half-hour episodes.
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