Columbia Tri Star UKDVD Synopsis: In 19th century China, an evil monk awakes a nest of ghoulish vampires hell-bent on devouring human life. Now, a quarter of heroes trained in the Taoist Mao Shan school of magic and their master must use their unique powers to destroy the Vampire King and its lethal coven before it's too late. Masters of the martial arts, each of the four heroes specialise in controlling the element of the namesake: Rain, Lightning, Wind and Thunder! From critically acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark (Black Mask 2, Once Upon A Time In China, Double Team), Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters is an action-packed thrill ride destined to become a martial arts/horror classic.

​

Views: Prolific Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark writes and produces this modern take on the classic Chinese vampire tale that sees a Taoist master and his students on a mission to take down the king of vampires. They soon realise that they have underestimated the power of this soul-sucking undead enemy and after a fierce battle, find themselves rendered unconscious for three whole months. Not knowing what time has passed and believing that their master was lost in battle, his 4 top students Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Lightning continue their mission with the use of their undead-tracking compass. It soon brings them to the stately home of Jiang, where a wedding is taking place and the warriors very quickly find themselves hired for kitchen work – renamed as Kung, Hei, Fat, and Choi by the boss. As it turns out, the Jiang mansion is heavily haunted with the mysterious Master Jiang continuing on the family tradition as a wax artisan – his home packed with ancestors preserved in wax. After marrying the beautiful Sasa, Master Jiang's son is bitten by a poisonous snake and dies. Now, the 4 vampire hunters are given the job of finding the creature but soon find themselves fighting for their lives against the powerful Vampire King, Master Jiang himself, and Sasa's greedy brother, Dragon, who is intent on stealing the Jiang's family treasures!

​

I have to admit, when I first saw Vampire Hunters upon its initial (UK) release, I wasn't a huge fan. I had been so hooked on Mr. Vampire and many other Sammo Hung/Lam Ching Ying horror comedies for so long that this new take (aided with some dodgy CGI) just didn't do it for me. Now, almost 20 years later, I can totally appreciate it for what it is and actually really enjoyed watching it again. The film is packed with plenty of great martial arts action, nice moments of horror, a fun cast, and some gorgeous cinematography courtesy of the wonderful Herman Yau who worked with Tsui on films such as The Legend Of Zu, XanDa, Time And Tide, and Seven Swords. Herman is joined by cinematographers Joe Chan, who has actually helmed many of Yau's very own (directed) films such as his Troublesome Night titles, The Woman Knight Of Mirror Lake, Turning Point, and Shock Wave 1 & 2 – and Sunny Tsang who worked the lens of films such as XanDa, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon, A Fighters Blues, and Dragon Blade, as well as a number of Wellson Chin's movies. I am surprised that Hark himself didn't take the reigns of such a project considering his love for horror movies from his debut film The Butterfly Murders to We're Going To Eat You, and The Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy to the awesome Wicked City adaptation. Instead, he handed directional duties to Wellson Chin – a popular actor and director who has starred in classics such as Warriors Two, The Magnificent Butcher, Encounters Of A Spooky Kind, The Dead And The Deadly (many of which he also worked as an assistant director on), and a number of the Inspector Wears Skirts films. This Jackie Chan produced series was probably one of his bigger successes as a director along with Naughty Boys, fun Prince Of The Sun, Ghostly Vixen, and Cynthia Khan's wild Super Lady Cop. Vampire Hunters would be one of his final films before directing The Extreme Fox over a decade later, which would be his last to date as I write. Personally, I think this was a great effort from Chin and I'm quite surprised we didn't see a sequel or two from it...

​

I'm sure had the incredible Lam Ching Ying been alive at the time of this production, we would have seen him star as the master of this rag-tag bunch of warriors. But alas, it was not meant to be but Vampire Hunters still has a strong enough cast to keep Hong Kong film fans excited. The powerful Ji Chun Hwa from the Shaolin Temple Trilogy steps into the role as Master Mao Shan, and does a great job at it as well as getting to kick-ass a number of times throughout. Ji became a regular face of Hong Kong cinema, often hired as the villain of the piece in films like Red Fists, Fong Sai Yuk 2, New Legend Of Shaolin, Tai Chi Boxer (Tai Chi 2), and Deadend Of Besiegers. I've always enjoyed seeing him on-screen and though he pulled off the bad guy persona brilliantly, so his role in Vampire Hunters was a nice change. His last feature role came in 2015 in the Chinese film Gun Transit before he unfortunately passed away in July of 2018. Michael Chow Man Kin stars as Thunder in yet another exciting role to add to his resume. I'm a big fan of Chow's and have long been entertained by him in films such as The Inspector Wears Skirts (aka Top Squad), Police Story 2, The Big Heat, Miracles, Asian Connection and many more. In Vampire Hunters, the funny man gets to deliver a few laughs but also dives right in with the action, once again impressing as a leading man and martial arts star. The wonderful Lam Suet stars as Rain, and gets to shed his usual Johnnie To persona for an exciting part as one of the vampire slayers. Much like Chow, I always enjoy seeing Suet pop up in any film. He's such an odd actor, but after 260+ roles, you can't help but like the guy. Making his feature film debut in Andy Lau's Proud & Confident, Suet went on to appear in many classic hits from Story Of Ricky to God Of Cookery, and soon became a steadfast actor for director Johnnie To in many of his amazing films. While shooting Vampire Hunters, Lam Suet went on to star in a further 12 productions the very same year and has continued to be one of Hong Kong's busiest actors to date. Bruce Lee lookalike Danny Chan Kwok Kwan stars as the 3rd brother, Lightning and gets to kick ass a number of times and looks like he's having a lot of fun doing it. Although known more globally as the Bruce Lee of Stephen Chow Sing Chi's wonderful Shaolin Soccer from just a year before, Danny had been on the scene since the mid-90s with smaller roles in films like Young & Dangerous 3, Sealed With A Kiss, The Legend Of Speed, and Jiang Hu: The Triad Zone. The brilliant Kung Fu Hustle soon followed which has seen Danny Chow go onto many great titles including Ip Man 3 & 4, Just Another Pandora's Box, Kung Fu League, The Rookies, and the television series, The Legend Of Bruce Lee. And Ken Cheung, of Sunshine Cops, Extreme Challenge, and SPL fame, stars as the final hunter, Wind, getting to win the heart of Sasa by the end of the story and delivering some great martial arts action throughout. Taiwanese actress Anya, who made a bigger splash in Naked Weapon the same year, plays the maiden in distress although doesn't have too much to do really, and Horace Lee Wai Shing stars as her brother Dragon, who delivers some pretty sweet moves as the brutal and greedy sibling. The great Chen Kuan Tai also pops-up for a fun appearance and the awesome Yu Rong Kwong stars as Master Jiang, the wax artisan and secret kung fu master. Although he is made-up to look a lot more aged than he really is, Kwong still gets the chance to go up against the most of the aforementioned stars in a host of amazing moves and fight scenes - and it was also nice to see him share the screen once again with Ji Chun Hua, his co-star from Red Fists and Deadend Of Besiegers. 

​

With a legendary producer behind him and a host of great cinematographers, Wellson Chin also had the talents of director Marco Mak in the editing room and Tony Tam Chun To as the action director. Starting of in the industry as an actor in the Shaw Brothers film, Shaolin Temple, Tam went onto star in 80 features – many of which were for the studio from Crippled Avengers to The Flag Of Iron, and Two Champions Of Shaolin to Martial Club, and other classics such as The Prodigal Son, Shaolin Drunkard, The Champions, Tiger On The Beat, and so much more. Around this time, Tony also started to make a career as a fight choreographer on titles such as Fury, Bloody Brotherhood, and Holy Robe Of Shaolin Temple, as well as Donnie Yen's Crystal Hunt, Cheetah On Fire, and Legend Of The Wolf, and has since gone on to work on more of his titles including Wu Xia, The Monkey King, Dragon Tiger Gate, Legend Of The Fist, and The Lost Bladesman. In Vampire Hunters, Tam delivers some of his finest wire-fu and martial arts choreography, making everyone on-screen look pretty amazing when in battle and directing some exciting fight scenes. Many have compared it to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon due to its time of release and because of a few scenes of tree and rooftop hopping – but I thought it impressed on its own merits!

​

I'd love to get my hands on the Singapore release of Vampire Hunters as it offers an extra 15-20 minutes of footage, most of which would probably explain a few of the more questionable moments throughout this release and apparently, makes for a much better film. Regardless, this release still offers up an exciting film with great picture quality and original language options, and I'll not be leaving it so long again before popping it back in the player for another watch!

​

Overall: Stylish, gory, and action-packed, Vampire Hunters is another great film from Tsui Hark that offers plenty of exciting moments!

​

DVD Extras: Trailer