The Era of Vampire
AKA: The Era of the Vampires, Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters, Vampire Hunters
2002
Director: Wellson Chin
Producer/Writer: Tsui Hark
Stars: Chan Kwok Kwan, Ken Chang, Lam Suet, Michael Chow, Anya, Yu Rong Guang
Era of Vampire is a decent action/horror movie that centers around a group of vampire hunters (led by Yu Rong Guang) who track a particularly deadly one to a mysterious estate. The lord of the manor keeps his dead relatives encased in wax in order to protect his family's treasure. This strategy backfires once the vampire shows up and turns the deceased kin into zombies, so it's up to the hunters to eliminate the threat and protect a beautiful young bride (Anya).
This movie has flashes of brilliance (some of the ways the vampire gets blood from humans are very cool) but ultimately feels a bit flat. There's nothing particularly wrong with Era of Vampire, but it lacks almost any of Tsui Hark's trademark crazy imagination, or even any really good action -- there are quite a few fights, but they're all too short to be really savored at all. The film just kind of feels like it's just there and not really doing anything. All of the elements are in place, but they never come together in a way satisfying enough to elicit true excitement from the viewer.
RATING: 5