Synopsis: Since ancient times, in this seemingly ordinary human world, there has been a group of cohabitants—vampire zombies—living in secret. Young zombie hunter Aya (Jiang Luxia) lives alone in an abandoned slaughterhouse. He is good neighbors with the kind-hearted zombies A-Si (Chrissie Chau), Aaron (Chin Siu-ho), and Ah Lik (Kei Foon-bok) and his family. The mysterious giant zombie Ah Meng (Yuan Hua) suddenly appears in this once peaceful world. The fierce Ameng slaughtered his own zombie kin. Ah Ya's elder sister Ah So (Cheung Man Chi) and Ah Si's friend Ah Jia (Lo Sung Chi), Ah LIN (Fei Yin), and A Bi (Lam Hei Tung) were also successively killed by Ah Mang. The killing intent finally reached the abandoned slaughterhouse. Ah Meng first killed A Long and A Li, then pursued Aya and Ah Si. With no way out, Aya seeks revenge and kills Ah Meng, who harmed the human world. To fight Ah Meng to the death, Aya decided to sacrifice herself, willingly being bitten by Ah Si and turned into a corpse. In this ultimate battle between Aya and Ah Meng, they unleashed the 'true skills of the zombie world'!

Views: As with most of the titles released by this particular film-maker, fans and critics have never been fair to the efforts he produces – most of which try to bring back the former glory days of Hong Kong action cinema. With Vampire Warriors, he brings back the much loved Jiang Shi film that, although had been around for years prior, was made even more popular with the Ricky Lau directed Mr. Vampire. This, in turn, made a star out of it's leading man Lam Ching Ying, who would go onto be stereotyped as the ghost-busting priest for the rest of his career. Interestingly, in Vampire Warriors, that's the one obvious thing that seems to missing – a kick-ass priest. But we do get a female version of Blade instead, and I'm not complaining! It tells the tale of a fearless female vampire hunter, Ar, who teams up with a group of vegetarian vampires to stop a super vampire called Mung. Not only is he absorbing the souls of any bloodsucker he finds, but he has also enslaved her sister to help him. Together, they fight to take him down before he becomes undefeatable!

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Released back in 2010, it has taken me 16 years to finally see Vampire Warriors – and not for any particular reason. I've just never gotten around to it. But during that time, I've heard nothing but bad reports on the film and I guess, subconsciously, that supported my delay. Not only that, but when it got it's UK release as the unfortunately titled Lesbian Vampire Warriors, complete with god-awful unrelated cover art, I stalled yet again. Alas, in my latest order from the Hong Kong based online shop SHBD Movie Store, I now have this marmite film in my collection. Straight up, I'll lay the negatives out on the table: The younger cast members, many of whom are making their debut, aren't very appealing and hardly leave an impression. The costume designer, William Fung, has quite the CV behind him but dresses most characters like he's just been shopping in H&M or a fancy dress store. The use of digital FX isn't perfect, but it does the job. And while the script is just okay, the film could have definitely benefited from a good 10 minutes cut to tighten things up. But apart from that, I thought Vampire Warriors was pretty entertaining...

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The film is directed by the very underrated Dennis Law – a Hong Kong film journeyman who studied film-making in LA, but got into real estate on his return. It was only when actor/producer Charles Heung convinced him to get back into film and learn from the likes of Herman Yau, Law made a move, going onto become Johnnie To's friend and financial partner at Milkyway Image where he also held the position of chairman. In 2005, he produced To's highly regarded Election movie and it's sequel the following year, but also set up his own company, Point of View LTD, as a subsidiary of Milky Way and production partner of Charles Heung's China Star Entertainment Group. So, that same year, Law wrote and directed his first feature film The Unusual Youth, of which he also produced alongside Herman Yau who also doubled-up duties as the DOP – a role he would play on many of Law's films including this one. It would also be the first film that would see Jackie Chan Stunt Team member Nicky li, serve as the action-director which he would do for all of Law's films from there on. Following that, Law would direct the rom-com Love @ First Note starring Alex Fong, before giving us one of his finest and most solid martial-arts action flicks with Fatal Contact (2006). This hit film followed hot on the heels of Wilson Yip's blockbuster SPL (2005), and saw Wu Jing take the lead in a barrage of hard-hitting martial arts battles wonderfully directed by Nicky Li. After producing the black magic movie Gong Tau in 2007, he would next direct the star-studded Fatal Move (2008) would follow that saw Wu Jing return with the addition of Sammo Hung and Simon Yam, before Law changed direction in 2009 with the heavy child abuse drama A Very Short Life. The awesome and action-packed Bad Blood (2010) would follow, released in the West as King of Triads, along with horror films Womb Ghosts and Vampire Warriors, which would prove to be Dennis Law's busiest year yet. Unfortunately, only three more films have since followed – the brilliant action-drama The Constable (2013) starring Simon Yam, the LGBT-thriller Nights of a Shemale: A Mad Man Trilogy (2020), and crime-thriller A Murder Erased in 2022 which has, so far, been his last. Throughout the majority of his films, Law has always had many returning cast members – from Simon Yam to Lam Suet, Hung Yan Yan to Eddie Cheung, Ken Lo, Pinky Cheung and more – and while his films may never be perfect, they most certainly entertain.

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One of the big highlights for me with Vampire Warriors, is leading lady Jiang Luxia; perhaps one of the best martial artists of femme fatale cinema, robbed of a solid career although always there to impress as a bit-player or supporting character. Hailing from Inner Mongolia, the pint-sized powerhouse is genuinely amazing as an action star. Had she been around in the late 80s/early 90s, folk like Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima and Cynthia Khan, would have been nervous. Making her debut as a policewoman in the Chinese horror movie Midnight Taxi (2009), alongside Jordan Chan and Helena Law, Jiang was given her first leading role the Hung Yan Yan directed action-flick Coweb that same year. Although she was cast with favourites like Sam Lee, Eddie cheung, Kane Kosugi and the director himself, Coweb didn't break any records. Unfortunately, neither did her next one – her first film for Dennis Law and a favourite of mine – Bad Blood (2010). Starring alongside the great Simon Yam, Andy On, Ken Lo, Michael Chan Wai Man, Lam Suet, Hung Yan Yan and Eddie Cheung, Jiang was cast as a mute character, although totally stole the show with her ballistic martial-arts moves. This was also her first time working with Nicky Li who knew just how to make her move. While she would stick around with Law and Li for Vampire Warriors, Luxia caught the attention of the legendary Yuen Woo Ping who cast her in the fantastic wuxia epic, True Legend – which went onto become a global hit. While nothing massive ever came from it, the furious femme would follow-up with appearances with Sammo Hung in Naked Soldier (2012), Princess and the Seven Kung Fu Masters (2013), Once Upon a Time in Shanghai (2014) also with Andy on again, and God of War (2017) as well as films like Ip Ma: The Final Fight (2013), Sifu Vs Vampire (2014), Legend of the Naga Pearls (2017), Operation Red Sea (2018), Double World (2020) and more. But here, in Vampire Warriors, Jiang Luxia makes sure the audience knows just exactly what she can do – wire assisted or not, she is absolutely the real deal!

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Joining her is the legendary Yuen Wah, here starring Mung the ultimate vampire and big bad of the film. Of course, Wah played the original bloodsucker of the Sammo Hung produced Mr. Vampire (1985) alongside Lam Ching Ying, so it was great to see him return to a modernised version of such (although he has been in other vampire movies in between). Equally exciting was seeing his Mr. Vampire co-star, the handsome Chin Siu Ho, return as a supporting character here with both getting to trade blows in one of the (many) films' fight scenes. Like Yuen Wah, Chin starred in many vampire titles since the 1985 hit film, and would go onto find a career resurgence soon after this by playing a semi-version of himself in the fantastic Rigor Mortis (2013). Here though, he stars as one of the vegetarian vampires who is being hunted down by Mung and makes for a fun addition. While the busy and cute Chrissie Chau co-stars with Jiang as her close friend and kinda-love-interest, she didn't really deliver anything amazing to the role. This would also be her second horror movie for Dennis Law that year, after starring in Womb Ghosts. Other cast members include the often overlooked Pinky Cheung as Jiang's sister-turned-vampire slave, the great Hung Yan Yan/Xiong Xin Xin guest stars as a kick-ass vampire who gets to have a great showdown with Wah, while the rest of the younger, first-time cast are pretty forgettable for the most part. As mentioned, the amazing Herman Yau lenses the film, with Vampire Warriors offering some great cinematography, colourful visuals, and nice lighting throughout, while the talented Sunny Luk – director of hits like Cold War (2012) and it's sequels, Helios (2015), The Immortal Eight (2019), and assistant director of many Hong Kong greats – lends his talents here once again as Law's right-hand-man. And finally, in case I haven't said it enough: Nicky Li's fight choreography here is exceptional, delivering plenty of powerful fight scenes that utilises the best of his players, aided by unofficial Jackie Chan Stunt Team associate and equally talented stunt/fight director, Jack Wong. So yes, though hardly Oscar-worthy material, Vampire Warriors is yet another horribly underrated and highly entertaining piece from Dennis Law!

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Overall: A hidden gem of Hong Kong action cinema, this horror-comedy from Dennis Law may not be perfect but Vampire Warriors is a solid reminder of the good old days and a must for fight fans!

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Kam & Ronson DVD Extras: Making of Documentary, Interview, Trailers, Dennis Law Trailer Collection

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