Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

A vampire named Saya, who is part of covert government agency that hunts and destroys demons in a post-WWII Japan, is inserted in a military school to discover which one of her classmates is a demon in disguise.

Director:

Chris Nahon

Writers:

Chris Chow (screenplay), Kenji Kamiyama (character)

Stars:

Ji-Hyun Jun, Allison Miller, Liam Cunningham

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ji-Hyun Jun	...	Saya (as Gianna)
Allison Miller	...	Alice McKee
Liam Cunningham	...	Michael Harrison
JJ Feild	...	Luke
Koyuki	...	Onigen
Yasuaki Kurata	...	Kato Takatora
Larry Lamb	...	General McKee
Andrew Pleavin	...	Frank Nielsen
Michael Byrne	...	Elder
Colin Salmon	...	Powell
Masiela Lusha	...	Sharon
Ailish O'Connor	...	Linda
Constantine Gregory	...	Mr. Henry
Joey Anaya	...	Creature
Khary Payton	...	Creature

Storyline

In 1970, the four hundred year-old skilled samurai Saya is sent to the Kanto High School in an American military base in Tokyo by the Council, a secret society that has been hunting vampires for centuries. Saya has the appearance of a teenager but is the tormented half-breed creature with the soul of her human father and the powers and need of blood of her vampire mother. She is obsessed to face the powerful demon Onigen that killed her father. In the base, Saya saves Alice McKee, who is the daughter of General McKee and commander of the base, from the attack of several vampires. When General McKee is killed by a member of the Council, Alice runs to the hotel where Saya is lodged. They join forces and go to the countryside to chase Onigen.

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Plot Keywords:

live action remake of anime | bladed weapon | supernatural power | psychotronic film | frankenstein's monster | 

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Taglines:

Where evil grows she preys

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

In May 2006, Bill Kong announced that he was producing a live-action film adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire, directed by Ronny Yu. Like the source anime, it would be primarily filmed in English rather than Japanese. Kong and Yu originally planned to finance the project themselves, but in November 2006, Production I.G officially consented to the film and began offering financial support. Rather than being paid a straight license, Production I.G will receive a percentage of all revenues generated by the film. Through ties to Manga Entertainment, the French company Pathe became the film's co-production company, joining the Hong Kong-based Edko. Yu was retained as its producer, but Chris Nahon took over as the film's director.

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Goofs

In the scene where Saya, Alice and the army truck fall down a ravine, there is a part where the winged demon flies away and turns for another attack run. You see Saya jump on the side of the truck sword in hand, then see the demon flying away then cuts to Alice shouting "Saya!" and she throws the sword up to Saya. But we'd just seen Saya already had her sword.

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Quotes

Onigen: You think the more demons you kill the more human you become, don't you? How naïve.

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Alternate Versions

Japanese DVD is about 2 minutes longer and contains a much longer street battle scene.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 WORST Live Action Anime Films (2017)

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Soundtracks

Space Truckin'
Performed by Deep Purple

User Reviews

A whole lot of style!! But not much substance.

Alright first off I will say I liked this movie and the style it is going for. If you are in to Directors who take a unique visual approach to their films then you will enjoy this film. The style here is very cool the way the characters are filmed and the surrounding are just beautiful. The fight scenes are good but not the best and at times the camera cuts too much during them. The special effects were very good and did not look cheap, yeah the blood floats but that seems to be more of a style choice. This movie is not really about Vampires and that is were this film falls short, is that its a lil different than the trailer I saw. The script on this one is barely there a lot of the time I felt confused as to the characters purpose of the story. This film reminded me of a film I saw earlier this year Suki Yaki Western Django, the style it used and also there seems to be some homages to the work of Quentin Tarantino done in a very nice way. Here they paid homage like he pays homage to other films and Directors.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Official site [France]

Country:

Hong Kong France China

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

4 June 2009 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Blood: The Last Vampire

Filming Locations:

Dali, Yunnan, China

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$110,029, 12 July 2009

Gross USA:

$257,412

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,874,530

Company Credits

Production Co:

East Wing Holdings, SAJ, Beijing Happy Pictures Cultural Communications Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1