The Era of Vampires (2002)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Wellson Chin

Writer:

Hark Tsui (writer)

Genre:

Horror | Action

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Gas Explosion | Snakebite Poison | Kung Fu | Chinese Mythology

Cast

Ken Chang	...	Hei
Michael Chow Man-Kin	...	Fat
Suet Lam	...	Kung
Kwok-Kwan Chan	...	Choi
Anya	...	Sasa
Rongguang Yu	...	Master Jiang (as Yu Rong Guang)
Horace Lee Wai Shing	...	Dragon Tang
Chun Hua Ji	...	Master Mao Shan
Kuan Tai Chen	...	Zombie Wrangler (as Chan Koon Tai)
Lik-Chi Lee	...	Butler
Wang Zhen Lin	...	Young Maser Jiang
Zou Na	...	Ling
Yut Fei Wong	...	Undertaker
Mei-Yee Sze	...	Clothing salesman
Kin-Yan Lee	...	Geomancer

Also Known As:

Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters (Hong Kong: English title) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and gore. (also English dubbed version)

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

Hong Kong | Japan | Netherlands

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:18SG | Sweden:15 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:M | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Film Workshop

Movie Connections:

Remake of The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

Crazy hopping vampires strike back

Version: English dub

If like me, you possess an awesome-sense (like Spider-Man's Spider-sense, only it detects awesomeness instead of danger), you should ignore all the negative for 'Vampire Hunters' and listen to me instead. It isn't an awesome movie, but how can a movie with zombies, vampires, and kung-fu not be somewhat entertaining?

In 17th century China, zombies and vampires roamed the lands, feeding on the unsuspecting. A group of martial artists / vampire hunters find themselves employed by a very rich - and very insane - old man who has kept everyone of his relatives preserved in wax and not buried. Apparently it is his family's tradition. So, having generations of potential zombies in your cellar may not be the smartest idea ever, but it takes two to tango. In this case, a thief wants the old-man's treasure and hires a zombie-wrangler to re-animate the waxed up relatives in order to sneak into the mansion and steal the treasure. It's up to the kung-fu fighting vampire hunters to save the day (or night).

'Vampire Hunters' ends up being a more serious version of 'Mr. Vampire'. I don't think I've seen any other HK vampire movie that actually tried to be serious instead of an action / comedy. Unfortunately, the concept of 'serious' is my arch-nemesis.

I'd forgive the seriousness if the action was good. I would have expected a better action movie from Tsui Hark, but what am I gonna do? Complain some more? Sure! The action is okay, but poorly edited. Thankfully there is enough to keep someone like me entertained. The special effects aren't all that good, but I've never been one to care about bad special effects.

'Vampire Hunters' is a decent action movie, but really only for anyone interesting in Hong Kong vampire / action movies - 5/10