Blood: The Last Vampire (Anime)

                                                                                                                    

Date Of Release: 29th July 2000 (Worldwide), 18th November 2000 (Japan)

Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo

Producer: Ryuji Mitsumoto, Yukio Nagasaki

Starring: Youki Kudo, Joe Romersa

Running Time: 50 minutes

Distributor: Production I.G

Review

There are very few films that I would actually place in my top 10; this is quite possibly one of my favourite movies of all time. I have been a big fan of anime for years and have watched every type of movie and series going (yes, even the cheesy ones!). This film is from the creators of Ghost in the Shell, which itself, is an excellent series. When I heard that they were doing a vampire film, I didn't take it too seriously. It was either going to be extremely funny or very over the top serious. Imagine my joy when it was actually something completely in its own league.

The film has a very dark setting, from start to finish. This really helps set of that dark, horror scene. The script is also very simple but effective. The only criticism that the film ever had was its lack of character building, but you can easily over look that (there was a series after called Blood + which was loosely based on it, that may give you the character background that you crave). Another criticism would be that the movie is relatively short compared to most. Although it feels like one big episode, you forget that halfway through as it is able to suck you into the story. You will be also glad to know that there are no cheesy vampires in this movie. No, these are proper monsters of a type that you won't have seen before. They are referred to as "chiropterans", basically a bat like creature.

My favourite scene would have to be the Halloween school dance scene. It is very simple, the creature has a sack over them and they manage to grab the teacher in a busy dance hall with no one noticing> May not sound like a big deal but that really stuck with me somehow, it is borderline creepy. The end scene is quite a poignant one, I won't give it away but it pulls the film together I think. For all you gore freaks, there is a fair bit of blood flying around (literally) in this movie which I think would satisfy your needs.

It is a bit of a cult classic and sometimes it has to grow on a person a bit for them to like it but I took to it straight away. It was everything that I loved about an anime and everything I wanted to be different in it also. If you are a big fan of the genre and have not seen it yet then where have you been??? If you are not however, you should still see it anyway....because I told you too!!

Rating: 10/10 - A bloody good film that even the last of you vampires should see!