YouTube sensation and Hollywood dark horse Adi Shankar has announced his next project which is sure to please nostalgic gamers and gore fans, as it’s going to be an ultra-violent animated adaptation of console classic Castlevania.
Side-scrolling vampire game Castlevania was created by Konami and took its first whip shot in 1986. Over the next three decades it was a Nintendo mainstay also having a nibble on other major consoles including the Sega MegaDrive and later PlayStation and Xbox consoles. In the west there have been over 30 title released and most recently the legacy of the vampire hunting Belmont Family vs. Dracula reached next gen consoles in the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series.
Speaking to Collider, Shankar confirms his animated series will replace an original idea to adapt Castlevania in a live-action show. The new series will focus on Trevor Belmont and the Castlevania III game which was a prequel to the original and part II.
Adi Shankar has been an underground favourite for some time and the Indian/American director has notoriously upset (and interested) Hollywood by creating a bootleg universe of ‘one-shot’ mini films on YouTube including cult favourites. These have featured such characters as Judge Dredd, James Bond and The Punisher (in which actor Thomas Jane unofficially reprised his movie role.)
Recently however, it’s been his updated and gritty reimaging of eternally popular kid’s show Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers which made his name widely known thanks to social media sharing. Called Power/Rangers, the 14 minute film starred former Dawson of Dawson’s Creek James Van Der Beek and Katie Sackoff and was reposted by thousands on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This was before it was pulled by the forces of evil – otherwise known as the official copyright holders Saban whose permission was not granted for the project.
Before Castlevania takes flight in the night, Adi will be releasing another mini-series based on but not directly referencing DC comic-book characters. “Gods and Secrets” will show the darker side of super-heroism (much like Watchmen did) and stars pro-wrestling legend turned yoga guru Diamond Dallas Page as ‘Knight Hawk’ a simile of the Dark Knight, Batman.