Blood - The Last Vampire (DVD)

...through "a distension of their blood vessels", (www.bloodthemovie.com). The Chiropterans survive by drinking human blood.

Saya works for a mysterious organisation who hunt down and kill these demons. They seem to desperately need Saya but she displays no loyalty to them or anyone for that matter.

It is set mostly on an American air force base in Japan in 1966, (a year after the start of the Vietnam War), in ...
...split into 8 scenes = Blood on the tracks / Base threats / The feast of Samhain / Improv / Dance with the Devil / Line Trap / RH factor and credits, (the credits at the end are all in Japanese).

The Making Of: This is in Japanese with subtitles. I have to admit I did not watch the whole thing as I just couldn't keep it up. It seemed like the production crew chatting about ideas they had and the original premise for the film. It is ... more

Blood: The Last Vampire, (B:TLV), arrived on my doorstep this morning from Tesco DVD rentals, (www.tescodvdrentals.com). I was very excited when I spied the distinctive red and blue envelope as knew one of them contained B:TLV. I couldn't wait to watch this film as I had read so much about it, good and bad and I just had to find out about it for myself.

Blood: The Last Vampire is an "Anime", (Japanese for animation), film by Production IG and Manga. Anime has come to mean any Japanese animation in Western countries. Manga is a very popular Japanese brand who produce comics and TV/Films. For more information on Manga go to www.manga.com but be warned it is an ugly site. A lot of people incorrectly refer to all Anime as Manga in the same way that people call vacuum cleaners "Hoovers".

Being animated some people may feel that this is a children's movie: they couldn't be more wrong. The majority of Anime is aimed at adults; you can show things in animation that you couldn't get away with in live action either due to physical limitations or moral and ethical issues.

B:TLV is rated 15 but this is, as always a guide. Many 12-13 year olds could watch this with no problems but then some 15 year olds would be disturbed by it. If you have children watch it first and then decide if your child is mature enough to watch it. It does contain a lot of gore and the whole film is coloured in quite a disturbing manner.

B:TLV tells the story of Saya, (referred to in the film as the "last original vampire"). Saya looks like a young girl but is really a vampire who spends her time killing "Chiropterans" often wrongly called "Teropterids". Chiropterans are shape shifting, vampiric demons with hollow bones and skin that can change shape at will. They apparently change shape through "a distension of their blood vessels", (www.bloodthemovie.com). The Chiropterans survive by drinking human blood.

Saya works for a mysterious organisation who hunt down and kill these demons. They seem to desperately need Saya but she displays no loyalty to them or anyone for that matter.

It is set mostly on an American air force base in Japan in 1966, (a year after the start of the Vietnam War), in a school for the children of the American soldiers.

To tell you more would spoil the story for you; however do not watch this expecting a great plot. There is a story there but a lot of it is implied and it would be easy to miss. There are a lot of answered questions but for me that is part of the story and I like it.

The animation is a combination of computer generated graphics, (CG), and hand drawn animation. Production IG refer to this film as fully digital. Some of the animation was done by hand but it was all scanned, coloured and inked by computer. Visually this film is beyond stunning. The scenery is so beautiful and realistic it really takes your breath away. If you have seen Ghost in the Shell, (the two films are made by the same people), you will know what I mean. The characters are more primitively drawn and less realistic but personally when I am watching a gore-fest like this I prefer the people to look less realistic.

B:TLV was directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo who is from Tokyo. Kitakubo was a storyboard writer for Ghost in the shell and also over saw the movie clips in the Ghost in the Shell Playstation game and was an animator for Akira. He has also worked on many other Anime films and TV series in many capacities.

His direction of B:TLV was fantastic. It was so dark and it truly drew you in and kept you enthralled for the duration of the movie. The atmosphere was built from the opening scene and only truly spectacular direction can engross you the way B:TLV does. The only person I could compare him with would be Tarrantino; they have the same attention to detail. You should really check out the posters littered around the school!

The colours used for the majority of this film are dark and foreboding but that changes near the end and the colours become so bright and vivid.

I love the animation of the Chiropterans; they are gruesome and disgusting looking. They reminded me a lot of the vampires in Nosferatu. I want to say more but I can't without giving away too much! Let's just say some of the characters changes are really chilling!

Youki Kudoh was the voice of Saya and I must admit I was surprised to find out she was Japanese. Her voice sounded very American and it was a lot quieter than the rest of the film. I had to have the volume quite loud just so I could hear what she was saying. Youki plays Pumpkin in the film "Memoirs of a Geisha".

The film is only 57 minutes long including credits which I know disappoints a lot of people. For me it is one of the plus points of the film. Because it is short it keeps you interested the whole way through, you do not get bored like in longer films. I literally drink films up, I see all the little details that many people miss the first time round, so a short is perfect for me.

There are a lot of loose ends but again this is something I like. Instead of knowing everything you are left wondering, you imagine the history behind Saya and the Chiropterans, you wonder why she shows compassion for these monsters while at the same time ruthlessly hunting them and killing them. There is enough information if you watch closely, maybe you should watch this twice to pick up all the little things that are there to make up for the short running time.

This was intended to be a series of three episodes but due to money running out they just used the middle sequence to make a film. I think it worked so well but I know many others will disagree.

The special features are all on the same disc and they are:

Scene Selection: This, (as the name suggests), lets you jump straight to a scene. The film is split into 8 scenes = Blood on the tracks / Base threats / The feast of Samhain / Improv / Dance with the Devil / Line Trap / RH factor and credits, (the credits at the end are all in Japanese).

The Making Of: This is in Japanese with subtitles. I have to admit I did not watch the whole thing as I just couldn't keep it up. It seemed like the production crew chatting about ideas they had and the original premise for the film. It is beautifully directed as well. You should watch it at least until you see the guy in the dog jumper. Just watch the jumper!

Trailers: There are 8 trailers in all; one is a montage of anime set to rock music! Yay! I really like that. This is followed by the trailers for 7 films. I am pleased to note that Blood: The Last Vampire wasn't one of them. I really enjoyed watching the trailers and I will defiantly be watching some of the films they showed off. The voice over was great as well.

Hyperlink: There is a link to the website on this disc if you pop it in your DVD drive, (if you have one), and a screen saver, (which is cool), and some background images as well. I think this is a nice touch.

Photo Gallery: The photos are just a random, (and frankly bizarre), selection of stills from the film. I am starting to think that Hiroyuki Kitakubo is a bit mad!

Auto Set-Up: This film has two audio options; Stereo or 5.1 surround sound.

Subtitles: Subtitles are available in English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and Portuguese.

I hired this film but I have done a bit of research with regards to price.

I would recommend this film whole-heartily. If you are expecting a 57 minute visual feast you will not be disappointed. I also think for the price you can't go wrong.

Amazon, (www.amazon.co.uk), sell it for £8.97 + £1.42 p&p.
Play, (www.play.com), sell it for £7.99 including delivery.
You can of course pick it up on eBay but be careful. The prices on eBay are between £1.00 + £2.00 postage and over £15.00!
 

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