A previously posted trailer for BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE was pulled for copyright reasons, but we recently recieved an authorized version, so here it is again. The trailer actually does a good job of enticing you into wanting to see the movie: the photography looks great, suggesting a lavish production; the action seems exciting; and the flashes of special effects are properly monstrous and convincing. Unfortunately, the film itself does not quite live up to its own hype. General audiences and even fans of horror and fantasy may find the vampire-sword battles a bit repetitious (and one scene, involving a winged demon pursuing a jeep, seems lifted directly from UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION), but BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE will probably please fans of the 2001 anime short subject on which this new live-action version is based.
Curiously, BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE retains the Japanese setting of the original but is shot almost entirely in English (except for a few flashbacks). Equally curious, the leading lady – vampire-slayer Saya – is played by a Korean actress, while her nemesis, the villainous vampire-queen Onegin, is played by a Japanese actress. I’ll leave it to others to sort out the racial implications, if any.
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