Love, Death & Robots Episode 5: “Sucker of Souls” Recap & Review

Dracula VS A Cat

Sucker Of Souls is arguably one of the weakest episodes in Love, Death & Robots. The art style is suitably basic, acting as a nod back to early anime titles but the overall content of the episode is a little forgettable and the swearing and violence don’t really do enough to help it stand out.

The episode begins with two characters on the run down a darkened tunnel. After escaping an unknown threat, a Doctor and a soldier referred to as “The Boss” stumble across a prophetic message on the wall relating to the “sucker of souls”. The tale then takes a turn for the worst as a blood-sucking monster appears which just so happens to be Dracula. After ripping open one of the crew members, the group hurriedly escape but they don’t get far. The Boss gets captured. In a strange turn of events, a cat shows up and it turns out Dracula isn’t too fond of our feline friends and runs off into the darkness.

After regrouping with the soldiers, Gary plants some C4 for Dracula as the group escape, cat in tow. Unfortunately they run right into a lair full of vampires and the episode ends with the blood sucking fiends ready to strike.

The art style feels very reminisce of early 90s anime. The bold, black lines between the characters combined with a simplistic colour palette makes Sucker Of Souls an episode that feels very classic and dated. This is especially evident with the facial animations which do feel admittedly basic. To make up for it, Sucker Of Souls cleverly changes its colour scheme midway through the episode from cold blues across to striking, bold reds as Dracula himself appears.

It’s also worth noting too that the episode features an awful lot of swearing and vulgarity. The violence is really quite graphic as well and one particular scene graphically depicts a methodical break down of bodily layers until a shower of blood splashes across the room. In a way, this shock-factor violence is really the selling point of the episode but it still feels a little out-of-place here next to the art style.

Sucker Of Souls may not have the best story but it does have a neat sense of colour and the shift in style midway through the episode is a really nice touch that helps an otherwise average episode. While this is unlikely to be one you’ll remember long after watching the series, there’s enough here to make for an enjoyable 12 minutes nonetheless.

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