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Starring
:
Ken
Chang
Michael
Chow
Lam
Suet
Chan
Kwok Kwan
Anya
Yu
Rong Guang
Horace
Lee
Ji
Chun Hua
Action
:
Tam
Chun To
Producer
:
Tsui
Hark
Director
:
Wellson
Chin
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THE
VAMPIRE HUNTERS (2001)
A.K.A.
- The Era Of Vampire; Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters
Reviewed
by Pat King
Master
Mao Shan (Ji Chun Hua) and his understudies Thunder (Ken
Chang), Rain (Michael Chow), Wind (Lam Suet) and Lightning
(Chan Kwok Kwan) are chasing the King Vampire. But after their
pursuit ends in initial failure, the understudies find
themselves separated from their master. While searching for
the King Vampire and Master Mao Shan, they stumble upon a
wedding party at the Jiang household and sell their services
as servants. Young Master Jiang (Wang Zhen Lin) who has
already been made a widower on no less than six occasions is
getting married to Sasa (Anya). However this time it is the
Young Master who dies after the aforementioned wedding from a
poisonous snake bite. Sasa however is merely on a mission on
the behalf of her brother Dragon Tang (Horace Lee Wai Shing),
who wishes to possess the hidden fortune of the Jiang
household to pay off his gambling debts. Soon Master Jiang (Yu
Rong Kwong), who has a macabre penchant for preserving his
dead relatives in wax, becomes increasingly paranoid that
everyone in sight is after his wealth. Dragon Tang then hires
a Zombie Wrangler (Chen Kwan Tai) to stir the preserved
corpses in the Jiang household so as to create a diversion.
The King Vampire then makes his presence felt and Sasa, whom
Thunder has become smitten with, is injured in the scuffle and
risks becoming a vampire before seven days have elapsed.
'The
Vampire Hunters' is a narrative disaster as it seems to lack
any cohesive structure. I can only assume that much footage
was edited out as all the characters remain relatively
undeveloped, in particular our four primary heroes. Half the
film has already elapsed before it becomes apparent which one
of the four is to become the pivotal hero. As a result the
audience fails to successfully identify with him. Incidentally
the other three heroes then vanish for a large section of the
film.
One
area 'The Vampire Hunters' succeeds in is the action
sequences. These are well constructed and serve as a reminder
of the standard of action that was a staple of the wuxia films
of the early 90's. Even if they are relatively short. That is
until the final showdown where quality choreography is
forsaken in favour of a special effects bonanza, which
highlights another problem with the film. On the surface 'The
Vampire Hunters' looks more expensive than say for example,
the 'Mr. Vampire' series. However not only are we subject to
very poor digital effects, but horrendous physical effects as
well. The physical effects in the 'Mr. Vampire' series look
far superior despite being nearly twenty years older. In
particular the effects concerning the King Vampire are truly
appalling. Surely it would have been better to forgo expensive
(not to mention dodgy in this instance) digital effects and
invest in better physical effects instead? The result is a
tedious final reel involving characters we don't really care
all that much for because there has been no apparent effort to
adequately develop them.
It
is difficult to speculate as to whether a lot of footage was
cut on the part of the distributors, or if it is just a case
of sloppy editing and/or general film making. But whatever the
reason, 'The Vampire Hunters' fails to capitalise on a concept
that could have turned out to be a solid film given enough
care. It does raise interest from time to time but is unable
to sustain that interest.
Rating:
  
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