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Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

Director: Chris Nahon

Time Out rating

Average user rating

8 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Based on Hiroyuki Kitakubo’s eerily absorbing, if thematically under-elaborated animation set in a US military base in 1970s Tokyo, this live-action adaptation of 'Blood...' tells the story of Saya, the ‘last vampire’ (perfectly cast Korean actress Gianna Jun), who slashes her way through a demon-infested world to avenge her father’s death at the hands of Onigen (Japanese actress Koyuki, unfortunately involved), the head of all man-eating demons. Why is Saya tasked with killing bloodsuckers if she’s one herself, you may ask? Because 'it’s her duty', declares her guardian in a supposedly illuminating sequence: we may well be witnessing The Myth of Sisyphus.

With special effects so fake that they actually look animated (or maybe that’s the point?), 'Blood' has notably accomplished three things: first, the film has conveniently removed all the thematic undertones (racial, religious, and political) of the original; second, it has supplied a blonde schoolgirl (Allison Miller) as Saya’s sidekick, veering the story from cold-blooded enigma into teenage drama territory; lastly, perhaps as an attempt to satisfy fans of the original, the filmmakers have thrashed out an entire back story for Saya, which twists her origins and makes the film title erroneous. But then again, who needs narrative logic if you have a heroine dressed in Japanese schoolgirl uniform, ferociously chopping up demons with a sword?

Author: Edmund Lee 2009-06-23 13:06:45

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User reviews of this film

BIOSONIC BLITZ said...

Posted on Jul 06 2009 18:08 wow i failed, In the comment below it should be "flaws" not 'falws'.

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BIOSONIC BLITZ said...

Posted on Jul 06 2009 18:08 wow i failed, In the comment below it should be "flaws" not 'falws'.

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BIOSONIC BLITZ said...

Posted on Jul 06 2009 18:06 A film with poor acting, poor cg and many flaws.
The vampire monster things look like something you would expect to see in an original doom game, as does the blood. I noticed many falws with the film (mainly with the lead character having a sword before it is given to her, see the scene where she is battling on top of the truck and has just saved her friend).
Also the acting was poor, I'm not sure if the lead character has ever spoken much english before, I got the feeling she was reciting a strange language from the script without knowing what it meant.
I love anime and I love films with swordplay, violence etc, I enjoyed the original blood the last vampire however this film is crap, don't waste your money. It is yet again another poor attempt by americans to remake a classic asian piece.

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adam said...

Posted on Jul 05 2009 09:19 i think it wuz quite cul n scary whoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Paul said...

Posted on Jul 03 2009 22:06 I didn't expect a film worse than Transformers II so quickly, but here it is. Apart from a Japanese schoolgirl outfit doing a Kill Bill with lots of 300 style CGI blood, the film was a dud.
Waste of time and I really hate men who wear shades indoors and at night as it is always synonymous with a w***er.

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Cappybear said...

Posted on Jul 02 2009 07:55 Boring, unpersuasive hokum with the special effects lost in the darkness. I'd've left the cinema if my wife hadn't been with me. I'm told that the manga animation on which the film was based is much better.

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critique said...

Posted on Jun 30 2009 19:31 Decent, if somewhat half-arsed, martial arts/"vampire" actioner.

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Matt said...

Posted on Jun 29 2009 15:09 Thin plot, thin characters, visually awful animated demons to mar what ought to be some of its more climactic scenes, unimpressive demon-magic and merely a respectable modicum of the truly frightening mean that this film, which looks like something shot in the early 1990s, has an uphill struggle to attract praise. What it does have is plenty of slightly silly Oriental-teenage-girl-in-sailor-style-Japanese-school-uniform-with-samurai-sword-kicking-absolute-megabutt martial arts-type action. So this film may succeed as entertainment as a slightly gorey [girl-]samurai-v-demons, [girl-]samurai-v-ninjas action film with some cool spooks (in the CIA/MI6 sense). It's OK, just about. The animated demons very nearly ruin it completely because they are just so, so bad, but I'm quite tolerant and I basically enjoyed this film.
I think that the title "Blood: The Last Vampire" sets this film far too high a goal. This film is very, VERY far from being the last word on vampires with katana. In fact the "vampires" are not so much unliving drinkers of blood as simply murderous demonic monstrosities with no human or once-human aspect to them at all (well, one droplet of sweat early on, OK, but apart from that). The film manages to make room for some emo-angsty self-doubt from the heroine, but there is very little to mark out the mass of demons in the film specifically as vampires. Yes, some blood is drunk, but basically this film is about demons who may happen to drink blood, not vampires. Also, SPOILER ALERT there is one scene where the heroine's sidekick does something with some blood where you just have to ask:- HOW did she know??
Some of the dramatic final comments that one of the female characters makes in the closing scenes of the film, specifically about a looking-glass, just don't hit home. There's massively insufficient development of the background to those remarks and their significance. OK, I got the general idea of what the remarks were about, but it just seemed like a horrendously failed attempt at injecting a bit of mystique and drama at the end of the film. Not good enough.
I'd have to admit to a little bias due to a negative feeling I felt as soon as I realised [during the opening title sequence] that this film was based on an animation. I feel a little bad about giving this reasonable effort of a film two stars after also giving two stars to the abysmal Drag Me To Hell. But this film just doesn't have the punch for a three-star film. It's just a bit bland, with really nothing particularly special about it at all.
All in all, this film is OK. If what you want to see is a truly frightening horror film, a film about vampires or a truly credible film with rich characters and drama and excellent visuals, avoid. If you want to see a cute oriental teenage girl slicing hordes of demons to ribbons, this film may work for you as a martial arts-style action film. I basically enjoyed this film, but I wasn't particularly impressed.

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