Drama
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a little like its titular character. It’s painful. It gets under your skin. And it just might leave a mark.
You cut off the fanged head of one vampire, and it’s almost like two pop up in its place.
That’s why the Belmonts are still stuck in the vampire-slaying business centuries after Trevor Belmont of Castlevania fame cut the head off Dracula himself. And in 1792, Richter Belmont is caught in the middle of the French Revolution, using the family’s favorite whip to literally crack some heads off vampire bodies.
But what’s most notable is that whereas Richter used to only kill one vampire every couple of months or so, now he’s killing two or three a week—and rising. It almost seems as if the vampires are multiplying faster than Richter can kill them. But turns out, this uptick in bloodsucker activity can be pinned to a soon-to-be fulfilled prophecy.
One helpful vampire gives him the news just before Richter administers the killing blow:
“Before the moon is full, the Vampire Messiah will come—the ‘Devourer of Light,’ who will eat the sun.”
Any vampire who can eat the sun is bad news. Vampires burn quicker in sunlight than someone as white as me does. But as for this Vampire Messiah (a countess named Erzsebet Bathery), well, she presents her own spiritual issues for families to fight.
Notwithstanding the whole “we’re going to drink your blood” issue, Erzsebet is said to have munched her fangs into Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of war, which, according to Egyptian mythology, is descended from the sun god, Ra. Well, Erzsebet/Sekhmet is tired of all that sun, and she’s ready to do whatever it takes to quench the burning ball. And when someone makes a passive reference to Christianity, a representative for Erzsebet scoffs.
“Not that Messiah,” she says. “The real one.”
Fortunately for us, there’s a nearby monastery whose abbot should surely stand against such blasphemy and villainy, right? Hah. You couldn’t be more wrong. Don’t you know that those Christians are just, like, the worst? Yeah, they go around oppressing everyone they can find, so it’s no surprise when the abbot is a fanatical evildoer, too. Sure, he’s still opposed to this whole Vampire Messiah thing. That’s why he’s been using black magic to create “night creatures,” demonic entities serving him in an attempt to squash the vampire threat. In his eyes, he must take on the role of Judas Iscariot—that is, to betray his friends and faith in order for salvation to occur.
The irony of both Castlevania and Nocturne is that, despite being centered on perhaps the most Catholic-based game ever made, it sure holds a grudge against the Christian faith. We noted as such in our review of the previous TV series, and little has changed in this sequel series.
The show almost seeps with its disdain for its central protagonist’s Christian background, and it instead elevates many pagan beliefs as more noble and heroic.
We’re not disregarding some of the atrocities that some within the Church have done. The history of the Christian Church is complex, and it often falls short of what it should be. But Nocturne condemns the religion along with the people, making a viewing feel a bit like a show writer’s personal grudges slipped into the final draft. As for us, the evil religious man is a tired and uninspired trope.
And like its predecessor, Nocturne is filled with bloody violence and bad words. F-words and s-words sully the dialogue, and plenty people and vampires alike are slain in extreme splashes of blood. In addition to those issues, viewers will also have to deal with a homosexual relationship, where two nude male characters have their critical bits obscured.
Richter and company overhear rumors of a soon-to-rise vampire messiah.
A vampire spars with a vampire hunter. The two fight, shooting magical skulls and ice crystals at each other. The vampire turns into a dragon, crushes the hunter’s arm and stabs her through her chest. She slowly bleeds to death.
A vampire’s head is cut in half. Vampire hunters use a variety of weapons and magic to kill vampires. One vampire bites and drains a man of his blood.
Someone says that some people are born rich, and others are born poor—and that’s “just the will of God.” A vampire claims that a vampire messiah will rise. An abbot prays. Someone says that grotesque “night creatures” are “demons made from human corpses grafted onto souls from hell.”
Someone says that killing vampires is “the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”
The f-word is used twice. We also hear one use of “d-ck,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is used in vain three times. Someone uses the insult “wanker” twice.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a little like its titular character. It’s painful. It gets under your skin. And it just might leave a mark.
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