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Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters
Stars:
Ken Chang, Michael Chow, Chan Kwok Kwan, Anya, Yu Rong Guang, Horace Lee Wai
Shing, and Ji Chun Hua
Writer:
Tsui Hark
Director:
Wellson Chin
Feature
length: 90 minutes
Extras:
Trailers
Languages:
Cantonese and English Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French
Language Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and English and French Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Destination Films
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
I
find it fascinating how almost every culture has a basic mythology that goes
back to the most primal fears of the human art. When a body is buried the spirit
must be at peace otherwise negative energy creeps into the corpse, re-animating
it. The zombie rises then to feast on the flesh of the living. Eventually the
zombie becomes a vampire. Vampires are extremely difficult to kill and where
there are vampires, there are always zombies somewhere near. If a person is
scratched or bitten by a zombie and that zombie should become a vampire then the
victim will be damned to walk the Earth as one of the flesh eating living dead.
However there are men of courage, strength, and goodwill who hunt these foul
creatures and destroy them. In a feudal like China of the past, they are all
that stand between the light and the shadow. When a vampire is discovered at the
gravesite of ancient general, Four Taoist heroes trained to master martial arts
and equipped with the mastery of one of the four natural elements that include
rain, lightening, thunder, and wind, lose their master in a battle with the
undead creature. Fearful that he has become one of the undead, they set out to
find and destroy the Vampire King before it’s too late.
Written
by acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark and directed by Wellson Chin, “Tsui
Hark’s Vampire Hunters” is one hell of a cool film mixing elements of horror
with martial arts action that excites as well as scares. While the iconic
imagery of good vs. evil is ever present, the manner by which zombies and
vampires are portrayed differs somewhat from western culture. So as long as they
do not expect something akin to “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” or “Night Of The
Living Dead” and viewers should be able to ease into this film smoothly.
Presented
in an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio, “Tsui Hark’s Vampire
Hunters” looks quite nice with only a fine grain in some scenes obscuring the
background detail here and there. The film’s Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Soundtrack is included along with an English Language Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Soundtrack that sounds a little to American for my ears though I am
glad the option is present. A French Language Dolby Surround Soundtrack is also
included along with English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and English
and French Language Subtitles are encoded as options.
Bonus
trailers for “Cowboy Bebop” (: 42), “National Security” (2:06), and
“Time And Tide” (1:13) are included on the DVD as well. The menus are
standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate. “Tsui Hark’s
Vampire Hunters” will debut on DVD-Video on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 from
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and I think it is definitely worth checking
out.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link Below!
Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters