Samurai Priest Vampire Hunter Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Samurai Priest Vampire Hunter Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf September 9, 2025

While Blu-ray packaging lists “Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter” as a 2025 release, there’s a bit more to this film’s history. The endeavor began life as “Live Evil,” a 2009 release written and directed by Jay Woelfel, who wanted to explore the well-tread terrain of exploitation cinema, looking to make his own drive-in offering in a tale of a “warrior priest” questing to destroy vampire colonies in the American southwest. The feature didn’t attract much attention, fading into obscurity after being pulled from distribution, but it didn’t fully go away. Years later, producer Mark Terry wanted a crack at reworking “Live Evil,” recruiting editor Michael Hoffman Jr. to return to the original footage to create a new tale from an old story, emerging with “Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter.” Fans of the original offering are treated to a fresh take on the central premise, and those new to the endeavor are probably going to be left scratching their heads. As hard as Terry (who takes over as the credited director, eliminating Woelfel) and Hoffman Jr. try to manufacture something fresh out of the work, they come up short when it comes to excitement and narrative clarity in “Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter,” which plays too messy at times, fighting for its own identity without having enough footage to work with.

Due to years of disease and neglect, humans are losing the purity of their blood, putting the vampire colonies of the world at risk as they face extinction. Bakster (Gregory Lee Kenyon) is the leader of a small gang of bloodsuckers, joined by Sidney (Asa Wallander), Yale (Eva Derrek), and Benedikt (Mark Hengst) as they try to find people to feed on, allowing them to carry on for a bit longer as they hunt for a magical blood source that will restore vampire authority. Driving through California on their way to Hollywood, the vamps create a lot of trouble along the journey, killing off clueless humans as they grow thirstier. Standing in the way of success is the Priest (Tim Thomerson), a vampire-killing man of the cloth who’s out to make sure the monsters are eliminated in full, pursuing any lead he can find. Out to make sure Bakster is taken down, the Priest finds help from Roxi (Kimberly Sanders), another person interested in killing the creatures. During his pursuit of the vampire gang, Priest gets closer to confronting his childhood trauma, while Bakster finds aid from Macks (Ken Foree), an L.A. blood dealer who knows the dangers facing all of his kind.

“Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter” aims to present itself as a comic book-inspired effort, using panel imagery to help sell the tone of the feature, and these transitions also help to cover for missing pieces left behind in the rebuilding of “Live Evil.” It’s a clunky way to do business, adding nothing to the movie beyond sudden displays of story, but a lot of “Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter” features confusion as the production attempts to find their way through ideas that weren’t present the first time around. The basic idea remains intact, imagining a world where vampires are dying due to polluted blood, growing desperate to feed, putting Bakster and his “family” on the road to L.A., hoping to find help. And there’s the Priest, who’s in possession of half-speed fighting skills and a haunted backstory, looking to find Bakster before he reaches his destination.

“Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter” is episodic, following Bakster and the ghouls as they make stops along the way, visiting a diner where Sidney maybe(?) fellates a local goon in a diner to gain access to a snack. Yale is also a temptress, helping contribute to the sexploitation interests of the production, which uses nudity to help distract from a lack of filmmaking polish. There’s also a stop at a butcher shop for more hellraising, but blood just isn’t what it used to be, forcing the vamps to break into a home and feast on infants, which is a great way for any picture to automatically destroy its attempt at a B-movie fun factor, especially with the addition of baby screaming to really sell the pain of the moment. But then again, nothing in “Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter” is really thought out in full.

Samurai Priest Vampire Hunter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The visual presentation (2.00:1 aspect ratio) for "Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter" doesn't list an exact source, but the disc's extras explore an effort to restore a movie that was "shot on super 16mm film," but previously available as "Live Evil" through an SD source. The film-like appearance of the picture is present, but grain does look a little noisy at times, and periodically blocky. Compression issues are present as well, finding banding creeping into view. Detail reaches as far as possible, providing a general understanding of character appearances and gory events, which retain some texture. Exteriors maintain open world expanse. Interiors deliver acceptable decoration and depth. Color loses a bit of consistency during the viewing experience, but mostly remains intact, exploring brighter hues on costuming and cars, and blood red remains vivid. Moodier hues are acceptable, offering decent delineation. Skin tones are natural. Source has some wear and tear, including a few pronounces scratches.

Samurai Priest Vampire Hunter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix is a fairly generic understanding of "Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter." Dialogue exchanges are understood, fighting technical limitations and the slightly underpowered track. Music is active, with passable clarity, also making aggressive use of the surrounds without nuance. Low- end isn't put to much use. Sound effects are defined.

Samurai Priest Vampire Hunter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary #1 features director Mark Terry.

• Commentary #2 features editor Michael A. Hoffman.

• Deleted & Alternate Scenes (HD) include "Feed the Baby" (:39), "Fill Her Up and Suck Her Dry" (1:04), "Help Needed" (:33), "Old Days" (1:12), "Side of Road" (1:27), "Traps" (:16), and "Bakster's Tease" (2:17).

• Featurettes (HD) include "The Movie That Wouldn't Die: Car Chases" (11:22), "The Movie That Wouldn't Die: Film Restoration" (22:35), "The Art of 'Samurai Priest'" (1:34), "Kill the Coyote Video Book" (7:53), "Restoring the Negatives" (4:50), "Almost Samurai Priest: Don Calfa" (20:15), and "Q&A: The Artwork of 'Samurai Priest'" (40:22).

• "Music and Score" (HD) includes "Samurai Priest Theme" (:57), "Blue Car Chase" (3:17), and "Relentless" (2:24).

• Image Galley collects artwork from the preparation and promotion of "Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter."

• And Trailers include "Official Trailer" (2:04), "Retro Teaser #1" (1:32), "Retro Teaser #2" (1:03), "Liquid Death" (:42), and "Hip-Hop" (:32).

Samurai Priest Vampire Hunter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Vampire history and supporting characters keep coming in "Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter," and exposition, not action, takes over the feature. Terry and Hoffman Jr. are scrambling to make sense of their new version, leaving much of the effort to screwy, chaotic editing and poor acting, with Thomerson trying to remain in antihero mode to the best of his ability (extensive use of body doubles for reshoots waters down the performance). Maybe "Samurai Priest: Vampire Hunter" is an improvement on "Live Evil," but it carries plenty of its own issues, strangely lacking clarity when dealing with a rethinking of an entire project. Terry and Hoffman Jr. don't strike gold with their do-over. Instead, they make another mess of ideas, unable to magically erase production limitations that were present the first time around.