Where evil grows she preys
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 is disguise.
Genre(s): Action, Horror, Thriller
Runtime: 91 minutes
Rating: 5.6/10 (1,714 votes)
Release Date: 2 April 2009
Country: Hong Kong, Japan, France
Languages: English
Company: East Wing Holdings
Sound: Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence.
Director(s): Chris Nahon
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Producer(s):
Fernando Altschul - associate producer
Hans Bauer - consulting producer
Muriel Cabeza - line producer: Argentina
William Kong - producer (as Bill Kong)
Craig Mitchell - associate producer
Abel Nahmias - producer
Chris Thompson - line producer
Alice Yeung - co-producer
Luis Zanger - executive producer: Argentina
Zhenyan Zhang - associate producer (as Zhang Zhenyan)
Writer(s):
Chris Chow - (screenplay)
Kenji Kamiyama - character
Katsuya Terada - character
Cast:
Gianna Jun - Saya (as Gianna)
Allison Miller - Alice Mckee
Liam Cunningham - Michael
JJ Feild - Luke
Koyuki - Onigen
Yasuaki Kurata - Kato Takatora
Larry Lamb - General Mckee
Andrew Pleavin - Frank Nielsen
Michael Byrne - Elder
Colin Salmon - Powell
Music: Clint Mansell
Fernando Altschul - associate producer
Hans Bauer - consulting producer
Muriel Cabeza - line producer: Argentina
William Kong - producer (as Bill Kong)
Craig Mitchell - associate producer
Abel Nahmias - producer
Chris Thompson - line producer
Alice Yeung - co-producer
Luis Zanger - executive producer: Argentina
Zhenyan Zhang - associate producer (as Zhang Zhenyan)
Writer(s):
Chris Chow - (screenplay)
Kenji Kamiyama - character
Katsuya Terada - character
Cast:
Gianna Jun - Saya (as Gianna)
Allison Miller - Alice Mckee
Liam Cunningham - Michael
JJ Feild - Luke
Koyuki - Onigen
Yasuaki Kurata - Kato Takatora
Larry Lamb - General Mckee
Andrew Pleavin - Frank Nielsen
Michael Byrne - Elder
Colin Salmon - Powell
Music: Clint Mansell
Posted on: July 1, 2009
July 10th, 2009
This is one movie that needs a do-over. I say this as a fan of theoriginal anime. The leading actress was good, her teacher (Kato) wasgood, actually, the cast were fine, it was the script that's bad andthe CGI was awful. This movie needs some money thrown at it with abetter writer. I believe the director had his hands tied 'cause therewasn't enough money for what he wanted to do. I've seen directors makea wonderful movie out of nothing but then, at least the script wassound. Here, the director had no chance 'cause the script sucked and hehad no money (haha!) I blame the producer for this. It's their job tobring in good talent. Talented writers, directors, actors, and money.
I hope someone with balls picks this film up and does a sequel thatdoes the original title justice.
July 11th, 2009
When I first heard that Jeon Ji Hyun was going to make a Hollywoodmovie i was a bit nervous. I thought it was a bad idea but then idecided to give her a chance. I saw Blood: The Last Vampire thisevening and I was pleasantly surprised. I mean the only real complaintwas the CGI monsters and the CGI blood. I mean i know that the demonsand humans were supposed to be different but why not just use theTarantino method, i know it was supposed to be hyper real, but it wouldhave looked so much better if they used "old school" tricks. Also theCGI demons…no excuse, i would have rather scene someone in a rubbersuit.
Other then that it was well worth the wait and my cash. I thought ithad good atmosphere and i thought that Jeon Ji Hyun acted well and shewas looking sexy as ever. I mean she didn't have much to work with andI think she did a really awesome job. I think that if you're fans ofcomics or anime you may enjoy this. Also if you're a fan of Jeon JiHyun(Like me) then you will like this. It is not Oscar winning stuff,but its fun. I cannot wait for the DVD.
July 11th, 2009
Walking into Blood: The Last Vampire, I was very skeptical that I couldwalk back out with a feeling of satisfaction. Despite the originalanimation's short length and the limited plot that accompanied that, Ihave helped myself to several servings of the film and was hoping toget the same out of its recently-released counterpart.
To be honest, I think what redeems the live-action adaptation of anyshortcomings due to "lack of plot" or whatever is the fact that theoriginal animation is literally thirty minutes long. Considering thatthe live-action Blood clocks in right around an hour and a half, thereobviously had to be some brainstorming on how to fill up those extraminutes. I believe the extra scenes do Blood more good than harm.
Gianna Jun as Saya is, in my opinion, a perfect example of casting gonegood. I may be biased when saying this due to the fact that I have beena huge fan of Gianna ever since I first saw My Sassy Girl, but I feellike she provided the perfect balance of "hardened action hero" andsomeone who genuinely cared about the well-being of others. It was atreat for me to see her in an English/Japanese-speaking role.
The only negatives I found in Blood were the low-budget visual effects.This was the number one thing I was worried about walking into themovie, and it's the thing when walking out that left me wonderingwhether I could truly enjoy the film again someday. I believe theartists would have been better off sticking to traditional means ofblood-spray (like in Kill Bill) and ditching the "blood-blobs".
All in all, I can honestly say I enjoyed Blood: The Last Vampire andwill likely watch it at least once more as a Blu-ray release comesabout. Although it wasn't everything I had hoped for, I believe I cansafely recommend the film to those that have seen the originalanimation and got some sense of pleasure out of it. I watched this filmin the company of someone who watched the original, as well as twoothers that had never even heard of Blood before, and the experiencewas positive across the board.
July 11th, 2009
As a sort of chaser to the NYAFF I decided to wander into Manhattan andsee the American release of the live action version of the originalanimated film of the same name. This is a Hong Kong,Japanese, French,Argentine co-production with a Korean lead, a French director andapparently shot in English. For my money it's as scatter-shot as itsworld wide origins.
The plot is reasonably close to the source, expanding it here and therein order to fill out the 95 minute running time. For those who haven'tseen it, it concern Saya the last of the vampires, who works for ashadowy American agency hunting demons that stalk mankind. Saya islooking to find the big demon Oregin who killed her father centuriesago and take revenge. The film is set primarily in Japan in 1970 on amilitary base where the demon is thought to be hiding. Saya is put intoa high school class in order to track down the monster and his minions.Some blood is spilled.
As exciting as the 45 minute short film is this adaptation is dull andboring. I was looking at my watch almost from the start as thelegendary subway attack from the animation is redone pretty much asdully as you can imagine. The performances from much of the cast isstilted, even the usually good Gianna Jun (My Sassy Girl, Il Mare)seems at sea with a part that essentially has her brooding. I'm curiousif some of the cast was dubbed since their delivery of the Englishlines seems off. The action sequences are dull and badly filmed and Iwas incredulous when I saw that they were staged by Corey Yuen, one ofthe best action directors and fight choreographers working today (Hedid Lethal Weapon 4, X-Men and The Transporter films). Did he phone itin or did they disregard what he did? The effects are part of theannoying trend to use CGI for the gore which gives the decapitationsand slicing and dicing an unreal effect that breaks any spell the storycreates.
This is a huge disappointment for me, since I really had high hopes forthe film based on the trailer. I'd wait for home video or do what Idid, catch a really early bargain matinée which was about the price ofa rental.
July 11th, 2009
I finally got to see the one movie I have been waiting and counting thedays for: BLOOD: The Last Vampire.
(SPOILERS WITHIN) Jeon Ji-Hyun, going by Gianna, was definitely thebest thing about this movie. I couldn't believe that this was her firstEnglish movie and action movie. What amazes me even more is that she isKorean, but she spoke both English and Japanese so well, and was ableto portray the correct emotions when speaking in languages foreign toher. This girl poured her blood, sweat, and tears into this role and itshows. Anyone who says her acting was bad needs to watch one of ParisHilton's movies.
The action scenes were brilliantly choreographed. I loved Saya's fightin the alley, and I loved Kato's fighting in the forest; one of myfavorite things about that fight, was when Saya just plowed throughthose demons with nothing really driving her but her grief and herdesire to save the man who raised her.
People have complained about the script. I think they seemed to forgetthat this was a popcorn action flick. They almost seemed like they wereexpecting something so thought provoking. I don't really understandwhen they say "cheesy lines". The script was normal for this kind ofmovie. Watch the original anime movie and there isn't a lot of spokendialogue. Both movies were meant to show off the action scenes, andthey did their jobs very well.
I really don't understand why this movie has received so much negativecriticism. Yes, the CGI demon was bad, but that was about it. It wasn'teven that bad when it was moving/fighting. And the CGI blood? Even my54-year-old mother understood the point of that was to show thedifference between human blood and demon blood (which is black) In thescenes where some of the human characters were shot, they had normalblood splats.
Comparing the online bootleg I watched and what I saw here in anAmerican cinema, things were very different. In the online bootleg,almost all of the really gory scenes were cut; from memory, Linda'shead being sliced off, Saya splitting a guy in two, Saya cutting a guysneck and then kicking it off, Kato's fingers being sliced off. Theyalso left out a scene where Onigen and her retainer were all dressed upand leaving the onsen. Koyuki's voice was also left intact.
In the version I saw here in the states, a huge goof happened right inthe In the beginning; after Saya leaves the Council behind to clean upSaya's kill, we are shown her already at her hotel room, franticallydowning a bottle of blood and she's already wearing her school uniform,which she hadn't received yet. We then see her walking to the hotelback in her normal clothes.
A scene during Saya's alley fight was completely cut out. It's thescene where she is fighting to big black demons with afro's. I'massuming it was cut out for PC reasons, but I am kind of happy they didthat just because there is a point in the scene where Saya jump kicksone of the demons in the neck, and it is so badly edited. I mean, thinkback to 50 and 60's fantasy/action movies and how fake the monsterslooked when edited into the movie.
Another thing I am happy about is that either they dubbed Koyuki or shewas brought back in to redo her lines. Her English was pretty bad, atsome points not even being able to understand her.
One thing I am disappointed about is how small of a role they gave toSharon, who was the main villain in the original anime. We don't evenget to see how Saya took her out.
Ending this review, I have to say that I liked this movie even morethan I thought I would. I would say I loved it, even. This is a moviethat you have to see and judge for yourself, and take other opinions onthe movie with a grain of salt; really, don't miss this movie justbecause of a few bad reviews (and hey! Ebert gave it a 3 out of 4stars!)
July 12th, 2009
Martial arts, women with swords, and VAMPIRES…what's not tolove???!!! Yes the CGI could have been more realistic… Yes some ofthe acting could have been better… But if you go into a movie likethis looking for academy-award winning performances you're barking upthe wrong tree. BLOOD The Last Vampire is a fun adventure with goodvisuals, cool styling, and great fight scenes. Compared to thethin/non-existent plots in the latest blockbusters coming out ofHollywood this summer, BLOOD is almost an Oscar contender. If you'relooking to take an exciting journey into a world where demons are amongus hunted down by hot, sword wielding, bad-ass chicks…buy somepopcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride!
July 14th, 2009
With credit to the creators of this live action edition of Blood: TheLast Vampire, they really didn't have much to work with to begin withand before I pick apart the movie I feel obligated to preface withthis. As an owner of the original Anime and a fan of the Blood seriesin itself, I was looking forward to a nice tie-in with the saga of Sayathe Femme Vampire Slayer. What I got in this movie was a nicecollection of katana action, low-budget CGI and poor acting. This isn'tto say that BTLV is a bad movie, just one that I would only recommendto fans of the series itself.
What the movie tries to do with the aforementioned anime, is take thatexact same story and expand it a bit to give us some history on Saya.We are shown her human father, vampire mother and even a childhood loveinterest. Our Saya is given emotion (she even cries a bit) and worstthan that, she is given a sidekick in Alice McKee (Allison Miller).Though I found Saya (Gianna Jun) to be a very good casting choice,which coupled with the choppy but interesting action scenes, made herseem similar to the anime Saya, I found Alice to be absolutelyunbearable. The character Alice is the American element to the movie,being a rebellious teenager stealing daddy's car, talking back anddoing all the annoying things that teenagers in movies tend to do.
The jerky camera angles, made some of the early fighting scenes veryconfusing. However it does get better as the movie progresses and someof the battles are quite interesting once the camera settles down. Theacting was not bad as a whole aside from Alice whose crying andscreaming were so fake I found myself shaking my head every time shehad a burst of "emotion". The direction was good enough and we get aback story as it progresses unlike the original anime. Still when itended I was a bit confused about Saya even with the history given andit made me wonder why they didn't stick with more of the elements fromthe anime series.
If it were only up to actress Gianna Jun and her portrayal of thekiller Vampire Saya, I would rank this with high points but the weightof the bad acting by the supporting cast, the already silly story,awful CGI and the unnecessary military portion of the movie drug itdown way below that. Although I would watch it again, this wouldprobably be due to my being a fan of the character moreso than a moviewatcher.
Full review: http://www.SpicyMovieDogs.com
July 16th, 2009
Let me begin by enlightening the forum and get rid of the bottomfeeders who like to spoil and ruin the movie for no reason. First ofall, I am not a spoiler and second let me begin telling you the overallof the movie. Well, it was great!!! The action was new to me and thoseslow motion scenes were like a piece art to me. No Offence, I loved theaction especially when the master fought and killed half of the ninjaarmy. Alas, I expected more in the ending. I mean come on, the finalfight scene should have been longer like Darth Sidious VS Yoda or AyaVS Saki. She was tough but not one of those master figures. Third, I amnot fan of blood but I did watched Blood+ Anime TV Series and theoriginal animation but I never had the chance to read the mange.Anyway, the plot is not the same but who cares? At least they addedsomething new. You can't expect everything to be perfect. Fourth, theacting was mediocre thats all I can say. Fifth, the special effectswere impressive only the monsters looked crappy but the setting wascolorful and nice and the blood CGI effects, still needs some work onit. Finally, the final score is 9/10. One of the best movies in 2009.Don't miss it.
October 24th, 2009
i thought this site was supposed to let you actually watch movies! WTF???????????????
February 18th, 2010
i thought this movie was ok