Normally, I hate to see movies twice. Perhaps it's small part of the reason I've reviewed so many different movies for IMDb. Regardless, I hate repetition and after seeing "Blood: The Last Vampire" I realized I'd seen it all before--it was called "Blade"!! Yes, the plots are nearly identical--too identical to make it worth seeing both. And, if you insist on seeing a film about a half-breed vampire killer, please see "Blade" instead!!

Like "Blade", the story is about a vampire killer who is part vampire themselves. However, instead of the cool Wesley Snipes character, you get an immortal dressed like a Japanese school girl, Saya (Gianna Jun). Her job is to chop vampires in half--just like Blade and his, um, blade. And, in the end, there is a confrontation with the leader of the vampires who turns out to be their mother!! In fact, I really wish "Blood" HAD starred Wesley Snipes...in a Japanese school girl outfit and with braids!!

The bottom line is that this film offers nothing new. You might think, yeah, but it's based on an earlier anime. Yes...one that came out two years after the movie "Blade" and about 27 years AFTER the "Blade" comics! The action is more over the top than "Blade"--partly because the vampires are ALSO demons in this one. But for me, the story just didn't deliver any reason to see the film in the first place. If you really, really, really, really must see it then by all means. The only new thing I got out of this film is a new understanding about the really nasty girls I knew in high school--they must have been vampire-demons!

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE is the live action, English language remake of a popular anime from a decade before, itself a filmed version of a manga. The story has a young Japanese schoolgirl travelling the world and battling an evil and sinister cult of vampires who intend to wipe out mankind. So far, so BLADE, but BLOOD manages to get by with serviceable scripting and a fast, no-nonsense approach to storytelling. Obviously this is an action vehicle with plenty of wirework and sword play influenced by Asian cinema, although they really do go overboard on the cartoonish CGI bloodshed which looks absolutely ridiculous throughout and has dated the production quite considerably. The most amusing part (for me) is the presence of numerous British actors playing Americans. EASTENDERS star Larry Lamb is a US general (!),Liam Cunningham a shady agent, and Colin Salmon a kendo instructor. Koyuki, of THE LAST SAMURAI, shows up and has great presence again, but the best part goes to the excellent and immortal Yasuaki Kurata, that Japanese henchman actor of old, who gets a nice meaty part shown entirely in flashback.

In 1970, the four hundred year-old skilled samurai Saya (Gianna Jun) is sent to the Kanto High School in an American military base in Tokyo by the Council, a secret society that has been hunting vampires for centuries. Saya has the appearance of a teenager but is the tormented half-breed creature with the soul of her human father and the powers and need of blood of her vampire mother. She is obsessed to face the powerful demon Onigen (Koyuki) that killed her father. In the base, Saya saves Alice McKee (Allison Miller),who is the daughter of General McKee (Larry Lamb) and commander of the base, from the attack of several vampires. When General McKee is killed by a member of the Council, Alice runs to the hotel where Saya is lodged. They join forces and go to the countryside to chase Onigen.

"Blood: The Last Vampire" is a highly entertaining adventure. The screenplay and the choreography of the fights blend many other movies and there is no originality. However, it works basically because of Gianna Jun and Allison Miller that perform very likable and charismatic characters. In the end, this film is not a masterpiece but I liked what I have seen. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Caçadores de Vampiros" ("Vampire Hunters")