Chin gei bin (2003)

It's a high-kicking battle on the dark side when an ace vampire slayer and his beautiful sidekicks wage the ultimate martial-arts showdown with one of the most dangerous of the undead.

Director:

Dante Lam

Writers:

Wai Lun Ng (screenplay) (as Jack Ng), Hing-Ka Chan (screenplay) (as Chang Hing Kai)

Stars:

Gillian Chung, Charlene Choi, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong

10 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ekin Cheng	...	Reeve
Josie Ho	...	Lila
Mickey Hardt	...	Duke Dekotes
Edison Chen	...	Kazaf
Anthony Chau-Sang Wong	...	Prada
Mandy Chiang	...	Momoko
Chapman To	...	Man Keung
Charlene Choi	...	Helen
Gillian Chung	...	Gypsy
Jackie Chan	...	Jackie Fong
Spencer Lam	...	Jackie's Father
Tat-Ming Cheung	...	Jackie's Best Man
Karen Mok	...	Ivy
Matt Chow	...	Matt
Maggie Lau	...	Nurse Maggie

Storyline

It's a high-kicking battle on the dark side when an ace vampire slayer and his beautiful sidekicks wage the ultimate martial-arts showdown with one of the most dangerous of the undead.

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Plot Keywords:

showdown | vampire | martial arts | beret | combat | 

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Taglines:

Humans vs. Vampires. Only the strongest will survive.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Horror | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Release Date:

24 June 2003 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Vampire Effect

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$1,318,206 (Hong Kong), 27 June 2003, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG), Goldpeak, Million Channel Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Reeve is strangling both Gypsy and Helen, Gypsy looks down at the sword she is holding. In the first shot, the sword was different from the sword that Gypsy was holding a few scenes ago. As the shot changes, the sword becomes the same sword that Gypsy was holding earlier.

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Alternate Versions

The Region 2 UK DVD is cut by five minutes this includes:

• A short fight sequence between Reeve and Helen in which she tries to borrow some money from him
• A short dialogue scene between Prada and Miss Momoko in which Prada tries to bite her only to have her think he is trying to seduce her ending in her falling for him.
• A moment when Kasaf sticks his hand in a beam of sun light only to have it burnt.
• The cut fight sequence and the scene with Prada and Miss Momoko are shown during the end credits along with some out takes from co-star Jackie Chan.

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Connections

References Sesame Street (1969)

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Soundtracks

Change, Change, Change
Composed and arranged by Kwong Wing Chan
Lyrics by Xi Lin
Performed by Jackie Chan, and Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung as The Twins
OP Click Music Limited / EEG Music Publishing Limited
SP Music Nation Publishing Co. Limited

User Reviews

Dimension Does Good For Once...

...And I don't mean that they have released "The Twins Effect" uncut and unedited--no, I mean just the opposite. It may be blasphemy to say in the knee-jerk anti-Dimension fanboy world of HK film, but the original Hong Kong version of this film was a sloppy, unfocused, barely-watchable, highly derivative, repetitive mess. Oftentimes, in the original version, it seems as though we're watching several different stories that have little connection, even though by the end we finally realize that all these characters actually are interconnected.

The US version, retitled "Vampire Effect," has undergone some scene shifting, altering the sequence of events and thus bringing us directly into the plot right away. For example, instead of starting as the original does with a spectacular action sequence that unfortunately has much less to do with the overall plot, the US version starts off with a more low-key scene that establishes some of the conflict, introduces key characters and also sets the tone--clueing us in that the film we're about to see is going to be both Gothic and comic. THEN we jump into the action (which, by the way, has been considerably tightened). "Twins" had many, many dead spots where the story seemed to stop absolutely dead, with the actors seemingly left high and dry by the filmmakers. These scenes remind me of one of those uncomfortable conversations in which one of the participants feels compelled to keep talking to fill the dead air because the other one has nothing to say at all. "Vampire" on the other hand, moves along, giving us at least the illusion of a coherent story (though a couple of completely extraneous but pretty damn entertaining cameo appearances by Jackie Chan are preserved mostly intact).

Another interesting, and somewhat ironic effect of Dimension's re-editing is this: even though many scenes featuring the very cute titular Twins, Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi, have been cut from the US version, they are actually brought to the fore as THE main characters in the film. Of course this is due in no small part to the even more significant reduction in speaking scenes for Ekin Cheng (and, equally drenched in irony is the fact that his role is made all the more interesting as a silent-but-deadly type).

This was a good move, as the Twins are very cute and charismatic. Besides, watching cute chicks fight vampires is much more fun that watching some dude fighting vampires, right? I think "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" proves that (and, by negative example, that crapfest "Van Helsing."). There could still be MORE of the girls involved in actual Vampire fighting, but Dimension didn't have the option to shoot more film, but could only bring out the best elements of the movie by eliminating unnecessary footage.

So, as evil as people seem to think this kind of thing is these days, I say that Dimension's traditional HK "hack job" was just what this particular film needed.