Blood Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Blood Blu-ray Movie Review

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Vampire.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 7, 2011

You might be forgiven for being confused about Blood. In 2009 a Japanese film entitled Blood: The Last Vampire appeared, based on a similarly titled 2000 anime. That film received a somewhat limited international theatrical release, but seems to be the Blood that fans of samurai vampire films (evidently a rapidly expanding subgenre) think might be the Blood which this review will cover. No, this Blood is actually another samurai vampire flick (sort of, anyway, as we've moved into modern times along with the main vampire duo), this one directed by Shinobi’s Ten Shimoyama. In fact, considering Shinobi’s huge international box office and reputation, one might think that Shimoyama’s Blood would be the one fans would remember and flock to, but it seems to have suffered a theatrical fate even worse than that other Blood. This particular Blood is a fitfully entertaining piece that is strong on mood and some softcore porn elements, but which devolves into such ridiculous soap operatic depths that some more jaded and cynical viewers may find themselves laughing inappropriately. Co-starring Aya Sugimoto, somewhat notorious for her appearance in the relaunch of the Flower and Snake softcore enterprise a few years ago, Blood is a deliberately odd mélange of genres and styles that may leave those wanting an out and out vampire or martial arts film or even porn outing scratching their head in bemused bewilderment as to what exactly they’re watching.

Blood follows the exploits of cold case police investigator Hoshino (Kanji Tsuda) who is trying to track down clues about the 14 year old murder of a housemaid. The statute of limitations is about to expire, and Hoshino’s own personal career problems lead him on a frustrating journey where solving the case seems to be something to divert his attention from more pressing issues. He’s soon hot on the trail of Miyako (Sugimoto), who owned the house where the maid was slain. Somewhat improbably, Miyako comes right out with the name of the murderer, a mover and shaker named Ukyo (Jun Kaname). Hoshino is soon chasing this reclusive millionaire, only to find him in the midst of drinking a hapless young girl’s blood. We quickly discover that Ukyo and Miyako have a long vampiric history together, one which is briefly depicted in the film’s oddly poetic opening.

Shinobi revealed Ten to be a director of unusual visual flair, if also one who may not be quite ready for prime time from a dramatic storytelling perspective. Both of those tendencies are fully on display throughout Blood. The film is often strikingly lensed, with moody, fog strewn shots and almost theatrically staged elements where props and sets are at an absolute minimum. But from a dramatic standpoint, the film is just flat laugh out loud wrongheaded a lot of time. Hoshino is “turned” by Miyako and spends the rest of the film spouting inane lines like “I don’t want your stinkin’ eternity,” as the audience is left gape-jawed at the inanity of it all. Miyako, Hoshino and Ukyo made the oddest “odd triple” in recent film memory, standing around in gorgeous costumes, spouting portentous dialogue that is simply silly too much of the time.

Blood also lurches from genre to genre somewhat uneasily. One moment we’re in a fairly straightforward vampire film, with all of its bloody sturm und drang. The next moment we’re witnessing the wire work acrobatics of a traditional martial arts film. And then, for better or worse, we get a lot of hot and steamy softcore sex scenes, replete will full frontal nudity of various women (mostly Sugimoto). The film also has a slightly unseemly bondage element in terms of some of the hapless (also naked) females whom Ukyo lures to their deaths.

Despite the tonal ambiguity of Blood, the film manages to sustain a suitably gothic demeanor, even if it's frankly neo-Goth in the modern sense. If Hoshino’s anguish is not exactly tragic, and the film defies even the bounds of fairly unstable logic which is part and parcel of both vampire and martial arts movies, there’s a certain amiably moody ambience to a lot of Blood that may help it to find an audience stateside. Ten’s visual flair gives the film a somewhat lurid look that recalls the British Hammer vampire films of the 1960’s and 1970’s, full of ice blue lighting punctuated by bright smears of crimson blood. Ten loves slow motion and other gimmicks, but he stages things well and the film has a polished overall look that helps to elevate it above the sillier aspects of its screenplay.

Blood may benefit from its tie-in with the other, anime-based film, not to mention Ten’s reputation culled from Shinobi. The film may actually become a sort of cult classic if only because it’s such an odd combination of genres. The overly dramatic sensibility may earn it a few catcalls (or maybe even more than a few) from more discerning and/or judgmental viewers, but for those who just can’t get enough of samurai vampire movies, this Blood may suit the bill well enough until Blood: The Last Vampire gets a Blu-ray release.

Blood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blood oozes onto Blu-ray with a mostly sharp looking AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.85:1. As mentioned above, this film is bathed in a cool blue lighting scheme almost its entire running length. That gives fleshtones a pallid ambience, but it presents an icy overall look which is perfectly in keeping with the film's mood. Black levels are fairly impressive here throughout the many dark segments of the film, with only very minor crushing to report. Because of the lurid lighting scheme, and probably not helped by its interlaced transfer, there are some passing moments of posterization, notably in some of the fog-strewn scenes, but also in one dungeon segment on Ukyo's face. It actually makes the film look like a vampire version of Waking Life, and is not as off-putting as you might expect. Sharpness and clarity are excellent throughout the film, and despite its intentionally desaturated, blue look, colors can be very impressively saturated, especially in the bloodier sequences.

Blood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's not a lot of bombast to Blood's Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, but when we get to any of the martial arts sequences, we're surrounded by a variety of nicely immersive "whoosh" effects as swords clip and clobber various assailants. Dialogue is rooted pretty firmly in the front channels, with surrounds utilized for passing ambient effects and the sound effects in the fight sequences. Fidelity is just fine throughout the feature, with good reproduction of dialogue and effects (there's very little underscore), and above average dynamic range. Perhaps due to the film's more sonically reserved approach, this soundtrack may not reach out and touch you like you might expect from a lot of martial arts films, but it does the job well, even without a lot of showiness.

Blood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included on this Blu-ray.

Blood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Blood has camp value, if nothing else, going for it. Some of the dialogue is just giggle inducing, but the film has the same impressive visual flair that Ten brought to his international hit Shinobi. Dramatically uneven (and often inert), and with a patently odd sensibility that blends some extremely disparate genres, Blood may still appeal to a select group who wants something decidedly different in either their vampire, martial arts, or indeed softcore porn fare.