Vampire Hunters

Master Mao Shan is separated from his four best warriors, Wid, Thunder, Rain, and Lightning, during the midst of a battle with the undead. So they decide to go undercover as servants in order to search for a vampire who they believe is nearby. That's the main plot, but there's many sub-plots and a tad too many characters. But the action scenes are pretty good. And while this is among my least favorite Tsui Hark films, that's more a statement of how much I enjoy his movies than an indictment of this one. Truth be told, I'm kinda hesitantly reviewing this title as the Tristar version is cut by numerous minutes, making the ending more optimistic, so if you ever pick up the un-edited version get in touch with me to tell me how different it is. And if I ever see the original version I,of course, will revise my review accordingly.

My Grade: C-

DVD Extras: Trailers for "Cowboy Bebop", "National Security", and "Time and Tide"

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

I felt that this movie could have been better if i had focus more on the scares, however this is much of a neutral film, which is not that scary, nor frightening.

The people focus are not that much, and the scare effects could have been better, but seeing that the film director is Hark Tsui, his films are usually made more for plot rather than characters.

Somehow, i keep remembering the name of this film back in my mind, because it gives me the creeps sometimes when trying to remember it.

However if you don't understand Asian (chinese) horror creatures, then its not really worth watching it.

-Alright film to watch / can be creepy-

The Era of Vampires is an interesting idea. Take the typical wuxia martial arts film and add a horror element in the form of vampires. On the surface this sounds great. Extraordinary fighting visuals with dark and supernatural tone. The inborn grace and elegance of vampires seems like an excellent fit for wuxia.

Unfortunately we end up getting very little of that. Partly because the vampire they end up going with is radically different from a typical Western vampire. It's more of a force of nature, an unstoppable monster that rips into pieces everything standing in its way, visually more of a zombie lord than an aristocratic vampire. And it is utterly terrifying. I actually really like this take on one of the oldest monsters in our collective mythic lore. Fantastic horror villain, even if it means that the fights are not as grandeur as they would have otherwise been.

What really fails this movie is the lackadaisical nature of the script. You don't really identify with any of the characters, the side plots are either clichéd or have nothing to do with the other plots, the backstory is convoluted and the world building doesn't really work. Plus the whole film is shot way too dark. Oftentimes you have problems making out what's happening, making the fight scenes even less stellar.

That being said, there are some good fights and as stated, the vampire is very impressive. Making this a film that's fine to check out if you're really into wuxia or you want to see a radically different take on vampires. It's not really a good film, but it has its upsides.

Before the movie was over (and before checking out the entry for the movie on this site), I had a strong suspicion that the Columbia/Tri-Star DVD of this movie I was watching was cut down from a longer print. After all, the same studio had butchered "Who Am I" a few years earlier. And a check of the "Alternate versions" link confirmed this for me. This cut played like a book missing its first few chapters, making it difficult for a long time to piece who was who and what the situation was. I also suspect some character development was cut out, since there is really nothing differentiating the four heroes from each other. Columbia/Tri-Star... STOP CUTTING HONG KONG FILMS!

However, I must admit that even if the missing footage was put back in, the movie wouldn't be that much better. It's a pretty dull affair. The action scenes aren't very impressive in what they depict, and are sometimes edited in an incomprehensible way. The vampire villain looks unbelievably cheesy - in fact, despite the expensive use of CGI for a few effects, the movie looks like it was made on a tight budget. There's a sterility in the air, a stiffness that suggests the filmmakers weren't able to let loose and fill the movie with wonders and wackiness.