Blood: The Last Vampire

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Horrorphile - November 2009

Blood: The Last Vampire

November 3rd 2009 23:16

Japan, 1966, and the American-occupied Yokota Air Force base is about to mobilised, as the United States is on the brink of the Vietnam War. But a threat much worse than human soldiers lies lurking within the walks of the compound’s High School: Chiropterran demons; savage beasts in the guise of humans. One mysterious young woman, in the disguise of a schoolgirl, is the U.S. Government’s only hope. She’s the last of her kind, and has been brought in especially by a top-secret covert team to destroy the supernatural force. Who is she? What is she? Will she succeed?

Originally intended to be the middle part of an anime trilogy Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) ended up being the only part filmed and released due to a lack of time and money. The result is a curious, but deeply resonant featurette. In fact at only 45 minutes running time it barely even qualifies as a featurette, as there are some short films that run almost as long, and most television episodes clock in at around 50-odd minutes. Still, despite its paper-thin plotting, it’s a tight, super-stylish, at times genuinely creepy, three-quarters of an hour.

Saya (voiced by Youki Kudoh) is a moody, feisty character indeed. It’s a pity not more of her background is explained, but one can only presume that was all revealed in the mini-series’ first episode. Of course this only deepens the prevailing mystery. Saya, in her plaits and school uniform, is apparently a very-old vampire, not that you’d know guess it (apart from the title). She comes across more like an adolescent bully armed with a samurai sword. She uses her supernatural powers sparingly, relying on animal instinct, superhuman strength and agility only when needed. And boy, she needs them, as her adversaries are massively powerful themselves, and very nasty to boot. They shape-shift from their human foil into prehistoric-looking gargoyles with huge bat-like wings, skeletal snouts and no doubt horrendous breath.

There aren’t too many central speaking parts apart from Saya; there’s schoolgirl Sharon (Rebecca Forstadt), Nurse Makiho Amano (Saemi Nakamura), and Saya’s covert military colleague David (Joe Romersa). The dialogue shifts between English and Japanese from person to person with no real rhyme or reason. Of course it’s understandable because of the setting, but not with characters saying some lines in Japanese and others in English. The dubbed voices work fine though, which is a relief as often they are woefully miscast voice actors.

The animation is excellent, combining traditional matte painting and cell technique with cutting edge (for the time) computer generated design. There’s a beautiful soft focus to much of the imagery, as if Vaseline has been smeared across the camera lens, or a fine mist has formed. It adds a slight atmospheric veil to the palette, which heightens the darkened mood. The colours are rich, and much of the movement of trains and planes almost suggests rotoscoping (animating over live action). This has to be one of the best looking anime movies I’ve seen.

Blood: The Last Vampire writing on the wall

Blood: The Last Vampire is directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo, who was the storyboard artist for Ghost in the Shell and the key animator for Akira. It’s a mood-piece, a treat for anime fans, but frustrating for those wanting a full-blooded feature; short like a haiku, but sweet like blood sugar. A French/Hong Kong/Japanese live action version of Blood: The Last Vampire was released this year, but was mostly panned by critics and anime fans for being too camp, with dodgy CGI effects.

Blood: The Last Vampire demon and victim

Saya ... the last vampire

Here's the Euro-Asian-styled trailer:

Here's the U.S. trailer:

Blood: The Last Vampire DVD is courtesy of Madman Entertainment, many thanks!

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

2 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Matt Shea

November 4th 2009 01:55

20/20 Filmsight

Great review, Bryn. Haven't heard of this but sounds like solid stuff, even if I'm already disappointed they didn't make the full series. Judging by the stills, it looks spectacular.

Comment by Bryn

November 4th 2009 04:17

Horrorphile

Hey Matt, cheers mate, I'm assuming then you held off from watching either of the trailers?

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