Director: Sion Sono
Year: 2017
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
On the verge of a global apocalypse, a clan of vampires lures a crowd of humans into a glamorous hotel to turn it into their own private blood farm unaware one of the victims is descended from vampire hunters at war with the clan and starts a bloody war to free everybody.
From the beginning, this one was quite enjoyable. The convoluted storyline, written from the TV series adaptations, does work in its favor and sets this one up rather nicely. That adaptation coming from the miniseries is obvious with the use of prophecies, sacrifice, and different rivalries between the two families of vampires at the heart of the series. It's all quite detailed and unique by mixing together the European and Asian families that are presented here as there are numerous fun elements brought out here. The history of the European side detailed in the first hour and why it means so much to fight them for the Japanese side is well-explained. As this all comes from the main series, nothing is really lost and kept understandable in this new version.
Equally as impressive is the dynamic visual flourishes. Nearly everything here is striking in a grandiose manner, starting with the main hotel. Given a large Gothic sheen in the old-school architecture, garish colors, and overtly impressive design, these radiate with the visual flourishes. The scenes in the hotel where the vampires distribute the guests into their rooms which come adorned with separate color schemes give this another strong factor in the visual scene. Easily the most impressive is the underground headquarters used for the friendly vampires. It's a peaceful, dystopian setup that adds far more of a fantasy element than the Gothic tropes established earlier. As well, the quirky sense of humor on display here gives this even more of a strong visual sense. The sight of the aging vampire who needs blood to stay youthful and full-size or else will shrink down to a doll is a prime example, as well as the old mother vampire in the basement that they feed. The games the evil vampires play with the human guests make for exceptionally goofy times as well.
The action in the film is another major factor. Starting with the opening assault in the diner, this one manages an impressive overall pace that has plenty of stellar sequences here. From the numerous chases through the city to capture her, the first meetings with the evil vampires, and the initial gunfights in the hotel, the action here is quite enjoyable. The entire hotel sequence in the last hour plus features far more action as this goes for the entire clan war throughout here. Both sides tear into each other here, from the gun-battles to the sword slashing and ripping people and vampires to pieces, this manages to feature all manner of crazy vampire action that lets the blood spill with abandon. The two scenes where the entire banquet hall is filled with bodies getting attacked throughout the hall which look spectacular. Filled with the vampires' impressive make-up effects, this scene stands out even more offering plenty of impressive elements all around.
There isn't a whole lot to dislike with this one. The obvious feature here is the decidedly overlong running time. The fact that this one comes from a miniseries becomes apparent with the convoluted storyline that packs in a lot of plot points into the story. With the extended setup that has the introduction of their history and the bloodline running for both sides of the families, the extended time featured here cramming this setup into the film drags this out. The jumps in the timelines going from Romania to Tokyo are done quite haphazardly and make the story even harder to follow in terms of how to solve the identities of each family. It all just gives this one a much longer running time than needed to fill this storyline and gives this itsonly flaw.
There isn't a whole lot to dislike with this one. The obvious feature here is the decidedly overlong running time. The fact that this one comes from a miniseries becomes apparent with the convoluted storyline that packs in a lot of plot points into the story. With the extended setup that has the introduction of their history and the bloodline running for both sides of the families, the extended time featured here cramming this setup into the film drags this out. The jumps in the timelines going from Romania to Tokyo are done quite haphazardly and make the story even harder to follow in terms of how to solve the identities of each family. It all just gives this one a much longer running time than needed to fill this storyline and gives this its
Frankly, this is easily one of the finest efforts of Sono's career. Packed with plenty of visual flourishes, frenetic action, and a stellar storyline, this one manages to get a lot out of it which makes this an easy recommendation for fans of Sono's previous films or this brand of high-concept action/horror films.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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