The Era of Vampires (2003)

Hopping Vampires!

I thought that I’d been led astray in my research of hopping vampire movies when I began Era of Vampires aka Vampire Hunters. The first creature of the night was a super powered blood sucking vampire that did not so much as hop, jump, or skip. Later on, my patience was rewarded when a whole herd of hoppers appeared. This was a low budget Hark Tsui produced film of which I expected more yet still found enough to keep my attention.

Be very, very quiet for Wind, Rain, Lightning, Thunder and their sifu Mao Shan are hunting a vampire. This mostly dead ex-general was juiced up and took exception to the vampire hunters. Many of the red shirt hunters were killed and Mao Shan was feared dead as well. Three months later the weather crew followed their vampire compass to the Jiang residence on the day of a wedding. The Jiangs were experts in making and using wax which led to some uber creepy goings on in a house where things didn’t just go bump in the night but also hopped and slithered. A secret stache of gold, a greedy brother-in-law, the Vampire King, the hunters, and the macabre household would all eventually collide in one gory mess.

This film had a very low budget look to it. The sets were simple but made to appear frightening with blue lighting and copious amounts of smoke masquerading as fog. The Vampire King was gruesome and buggy, no sexy fang banger here. Two of the humans did have time for some romance while running away from and fighting vampires. Even though there was some gore, the special effects were extremely low tech which took away much of the fear factor.

I didn’t recognize the Phoenix from Eternal Love TMOP at first. A young Ken Chang played Thunder and had the most screen time. Old martial arts movie star Chen Kuan Tai showed up as a Taoist corpse wrangler and set the hoppers loose at one point to distract the hunters while thieves sought out the golden treasure. He was even able to show his kung fu stuff in a short fight with one of the baddies. There were several wire-fu fights in dim lighting that weren’t as creative as I would have liked but were okay for this film.

Era of Vampires was more reminiscent of early kung fu films than films from the same timeframe. It had some intriguing moments and for this bargain basement niche mixed genre of martial arts and vampires it held its own.

30 September 2024

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The way they jump! "jump around. jump around... jump up, jump up, and get down!"

To start this off, I have a question: how come no one has reviewed this YET?!
(because it's old C-production, over-the-top acting Hong Kong lame movie)
I LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT.

Firstly, I have to admit: I have first seen it when it came out (being that old and all) :)
Secondly, my review is heavily influenced by my personal preference in horror-comedy and all thing weird,
Thirdly, it's the fact that this is sorta film you better watch with a buddy - to enhance the giggle factor.
Lastly, if you can: watch with Cantonese audio and not the dubbed versions.

WHERE, you ask: It's been on YouTube for the past 10+ years.

We found it funny. Not only the first time we saw it.
We came back to watch it again.. and as time passes, we come back for it as it provides the type of joy we need: IT'S A SILLY master & disciples (Nightwish, anyone?) vampire fighting story with a lot of hissing. (no, not KISSING, hissing)

What is this about, as the opening screen on flm itself will tell you:
"In 17th century rural China during Ching Dynasty, Zombies roamed the land feeding on human flesh, a nasty habit that turned them into vampires. Only a handful of skilled warriors dared to challenge these mythical demons of the night. this is their story"
(no spoilers: but there's ROMANCE and the second couple is hilarious)
To put it as simply as possible: there's a New Bride in red, there's melting vax (you've been warned), there's kung fu, there's quirky humor, there's eye-sucking demon power (you've been warned), there's bad blood between family members and a great brotherhood.
It feels old-school cool, like those old time kung-fu master kind of films (which makes sense).

What I liked (despite being BIASED) is the fact that the story is balanced in a perfect way: sure, there's gore and horror, with lot of night scenes, but it's mixed in with some wonderful shots of daylight (coming through the slightly opened door thus illuminating the viewers screen only partially, leaving the image light & dark in a diagonal cut - we liked that detail!). What we also liked it is the mystery enhanced by fog , giving a possible shapes to things that moat possibly aren't there (as viewers we just expected something to jump out of.. anything, and it felt thrilling). and the fight scenes are choreographed PERFECTLY. They dance on screen, I tell you.

Biased as I am (hence writing this review) I can't say that I dislike anything.
I prefer old school film, with less CGI and dance-like combat, but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.

If nothing: watch it for the fight with Final Boss
...and maybe for the fact that not all zombies run for you: some HOP AROUND.

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