The Twins Effect (2003) User Reviews

Silly, But Also Funny Vampire Adventure / Comedy Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 7 May 2005]

In Hong Kong, Reeve (Ekin Cheng) is a vampire slayer, who belongs to a league that fights against vampires, living with his sister Helen (Charlene Choi). When his partner dies, killed by the powerful vampire Duke Dekotes (Mickey Hardt), Gypsy (Gillian Chung), who has a crush on Reeve, is assigned as a replacement to work with him. Meanwhile Helen falls in love for Kasaf (Edison Chen), a vampire that belongs to a royal family and does not attack human beings. However, the powerful Duke Dekotes is chasing Kasaf to increase his powers.

"Chin Gei Bin" is a silly, but also funny vampire adventure / comedy movie. Showing many special effects and a nice cast, the story is not so bad, following basically the idea of Buffy, being watchable and forgettable. I regret only that "Universal" cheats the Brazilian consumers with a huge picture and the name of Jackie Chan on the cover of the DVD released in Brazil. I expected to see a Jackie Chan movie, and in the end his participation is limited to two scenes to give his name to the credits, being the first one of his wedding totally ridiculous. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Liga Contra o Mal" ("The League Against Evil")

It had Potential

[biohazard12589 · 5/10 · 2 June 2005]

I rented this movie without any real knowledge of what it is about. I had no expectations about a kung-fu vampire movie, so there was pretty much no bias at all.

The very beginning is pretty cool. It has a very serious, dark, well thought out intro. It can be compared to Blade in the sense of intense action against vampires early on. There wasn't the excessive gore factor, which I believe ruins some films.

For most of the film, through the middle, it slacks off quite a bit. It is written into too much as a love story, and the jokes fall pretty flat.

At one point in the film (after the ambulance scene) I became excessively frustrated with trying to take this seriously.

The last twenty minutes or so really pick it up. The fighting is well choreographed, and the CGI was used well, not to an excess.

The beginning and end really assist the film. A rewrite of the middle could create a very strong movie that could set its place near Blade.

Still, it's better than Vampire in Brooklyn.

cheesy teen flick not to be taken seriously

[lionel2 · 6/10 · 13 July 2003]

i don't hate it but it is just too cheesy. pay attention to one of the twins scream and two vampires do moon-dancing. jackie chan doesn't help this movie because he is a wrinkled butt.

5 of 10 not recommended.

US VS Asian Releases!

[kav2001c · 14 September 2004]

One comment I have to post for this movie: Make sure you buy the Asian (not US) version of this film! Like many big name HK films (eg Iron Monkey, Drunken Master etc) the version sold by the big retailers (WalMart, Amazon etc) is cut to ribbons! About 20 minutes have been removed from the film! (Some of which are major plot points for later)

This film is pretty much a HK version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Take some very popular HK idols & throw them into a vampire story. Jackie Chan even has a cameo (& his son ends up getting a role in Part 2... hmm...) Its a quite good film & is recommended. 4 out of 5 stars. Oh & the teddy bear fight scene is a classic :)

A poor film in many respects

[NIXFLIX-DOT-COM · 3/10 · 26 August 2003]

TWINS EFFECT is a poor film in so many respects. The only good element is that it doesn't take itself seriously. Other than that, this is not really a movie, but rather a merchandising tool for the film's two stars, popular pop idols in their native Hong Kong.

The film itself is poorly constructed and acted. The direction offers up some silly martial arts, which is odd since the action director (and supposedly co-director) is Donnie Yen. Like many Hong Kong films geared for the teen audience, the major fanbase of "actors" like the Twins (the two girls who stars in this film) and Ekin Cheng, there is so much bad music to prod the audience into believing certain scenes are funny, clever, etc.

The final conclusion: It's all for naught. Even as a fan of Hong Kong movies, this is a poor film. Not funny enough, not serious enough, and just generally too bubble gum fake for its own good.

3 out of 10.

(Go to http://www.nixflix.com for a more in-depth review of this movie and other foreign films)

A fun Eastern twist on a Buffy/Angel theme

[ivanm-5 · 7/10 · 12 July 2005]

A vampire prince falls for a human girl, unaware that her brother is a famous vampire hunter. That's the underlying theme of this martial arts romp which borrows ideas from "Underworld" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" but manages to maintain a style of its own. I was bemused by the UK and Hong Kong title "The Twins Effect" as there are no twins involved in the story. It turns out that the two main female characters are played by Hong Kong pop stars who perform as "The Twins". Don't let this put you off. These girls can act (at least well enough for this type of film) and add a lot of charm to the proceedings. Jackie Chan turns up for a couple of cameo appearances adding a dash of his own brand of slapstick mayhem to the proceedings. All in all this is great fun for those who like their vampires served up with a helping of tongue-in-cheek humour.

Why did I buy this movie? Doh!

[olsonmike2000 · 1/10 · 29 December 2004]

I saw this movie in Blockbuster and thought it might be a good Sunday evening movie when there is nothing else to do. So I bought it used, 3 DVDs for $25. Although it was cheap, my money would have been better spent on a nail to drive through my foot.

The film started out nicely. Kinda Dark and mysterious. I was always enthralled with vampire and samurai movies as a kid. I thought the combo would be really cool. The first fight scene was pretty cool. I was excited for the rest of the movie. Then the movie took a serious nose dive.

I understand that this was a big hit in the east. I guess because of the twins. I don't see it though. This movie, aside from the first 10 minutes, was absolutely horrible. So many movies in this genre have the potential to be great, and blow it terribly. This is just another casualty.

Jacki Chan's role in this film doesn't make any sense at all. Whyyyyyyyy? Complete silliness. He probably made a few bucks off it though.

The only cool thing in this movie are the swords they use. Nice idea.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.

entertaining nonsense

[cherold · 7/10 · 1 August 2005]

Fun mix of vampires and martial arts is a bit of a mess plot-wise and the acting of those who dubbed the voices is almost universally bad, but the premise is engaging, the fight scenes are fast and flashy and the movie is often quite amusing. It's a shame the story is such a wreck. There are a couple of places where I had no idea what just happened, it was almost as though five minutes had just been cut out and you were suddenly at the next scene without knowing how you'd got there. The movie is poor at explaining things and some things don't make a lot of sense, but the movie moves along breezily so its flaws barely register. Not a great movie by any means, but definitely a fun one.

Fell a sleep 3 times at this movie

[tzeusd · 1/10 · 4 October 2006]

Now really can u call that a movie. I knew some of the movies that Japanese people do are good for nothing but this bad? I mean com'om i fell a sleep three times at this movie. No horror at all, some tiny percent (0.2-0.5) comedy. Action let's just admit that it has some but the scenes are poorly filmed, the actors are pathetic. None of the actors did a good job in it's own role. The were not convincing. The script is also awful. I mean this movie may be great, REALLY, but for the 60's(in not 100% sure.) I recommend NOT to see it, unless you want to get so bored as i did. I can't quite figure hot this movie got it's rating. It's OVER, OVER, OVER RATED!!!. This is a PERSONAL opinion of course. I don want to offend anyone but who could like this crap? So i hope this helps someone NOT to loose some time "enjoying" this movie. Nevertheless it's your choice!

Pretty Decent Fun Film

[cdp181 · 7/10 · 26 November 2004]

Well don't expect anything deep an meaningful. Most of the fight scenes are pretty decent. The two leading ladies are quite endearing but their lack of HK action background shows at times. The ending maybe lacks something but I quite enjoyed it none the less. The cheesy humour isn't probably going to appeal to anyone who hasn't watched a bunch of HK films but if your down with that sort of thing and have a couple of hours to fill with something meaningless you could do a lot worse than this. (OK so you could do better but.......)

Certainly on a par with most of the Hollywood blockbuster action drivel.

7/10

terrible, over hyped

[sijing226 · 1/10 · 10 May 2004]

at first i thought it was bad because i had great expectations for this movie, but after giving some thought it IS that bad. i was almost caught up in hk's promotion of bad stars in bad movies. hk's new generation of actors and actresses not to mention bad script writers are bringing the industry down. at the moment im still trying to figure out how it gross so high. normally you cant lose in a movie with donnie yen and ekin (forget jackie, he's past his peak). but then i shouldve figure it out when twins was on the cover. it is cheesy, campy, very corny, i try to laugh from some of the jokes, but not only is the effect very minimal but the jokes are very recycled and not funny. im sorry i bought the movie. the only reason why some people think it is so good is because they are brainwashed into the hype that the twins are cute, and everybody likes them, and that everything they make is good and funny. and that if you like twins, then you are up to date...

sigh... i miss the good hk movie days when jet li and stephen chow movies dominated the box office...

movies from mainland china are much better than this, and they are shot for lower budgets.

Maybe not a movie for the HK purist, but still pretty fun.

[Zombified_660 · 8/10 · 2 August 2005]

If you go into the Twins Effect looking for a pure Hong Kong movie experience you will be disappointed. This is not to say it is bad, but it is NOT a traditional Hong Kong action movie, running in a similar vein to Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. It's resolutely silly and juvenile, so if you want a good bit of serious Hong Kong action, look to a John Woo or Yuen Woo Ping movie. This movie's got a lot of flak for it's silliness and I thought the first thing I should do would be to explain what you're getting into, as it's disappointed a lot of purists.

For the non-purists and those with more forgiving tastes though, Twins Effect is a delightfully silly kung-fu comedy. I liked it a lot for a variety of reasons, not least it's wonderful female leads who spark off each other in a thoroughly entertaining comedy double act. I believe this is the first movie of it's type they've been in, but they hop, kick and fly about like seasoned pros.

The patently ridiculous plot is handled with a great deal of care and attention, and the movie is quite knowingly written, making a lot of the movie laugh out loud. The comedy really is the most prominent thing here, and it's a subtle, gentle comedy as reliant on words as inanimate objects going flying a la Stephen Chow. It has to be said the slapstick is immense fun too. The sequence with the disco-dancing vampires is a total classic.

The action is a blend of two genres really. It falls between the 'period drama' wire-and-sword fighting (which comes in more toward the end) and the comedy fighting style of Jackie Chan, coming out with a blend that though a little derivative at times is always exciting to watch and occasionally throws up some genuinely innovative encounters.

All this is great, and the movie is tremendous fun all the way through. Despite this, it does have a few sticking points. For instance, Twins Effect is in many ways much more westernised than kung-fu fans are perhaps used to, the inevitable comparison to the Blade series is definitely sound as an example, though Twins Effect is honestly much better than Blade ever managed, especially for fighting action. Personally, it was also a bit of a shame to see the excellent Anthony Wong (the hissable villain from John Woo's classic Hard Boiled) so underused, but the younger audience this is aimed at are unlikely to notice this or indeed know about Hard Boiled or his other movies, so this is only really a personal gripe.

If you watch this with an open mind, you'll probably enjoy it greatly like I did, but you must be firmly aware it is a COMEDY, not a balls to the wall kung-fu movie. Keep that in mind and you'll be fine.

A thrilling kung fu/vampire romp!

[sarastro7 · 6/10 · 19 November 2004]

Again a film that divides the audience. I can't think why.

This is one heck of a roller-coaster ride! Incredible action, really cool-looking vampires, neat special effects, lots of comedy, *and* some delicious-looking chicks in the lead roles! Oh, and a decent story, too. What's not to like? This movie is a thrilling marriage of all the best action/adventure type of stories from both Western and Hong Kong movie traditions. I went in to see this movie with very high hopes, and for once my wildest hopes were gratifyingly fulfilled! This movie is nothing less than one of the best-looking and most entertaining Hong Kong movies ever.

Of course, it helped that I find Gillian Chung one of the best-looking Asians I've ever seen. Damn, I gotta get a poster of her... I didn't know the Twins pop duo until I saw this film, and I still haven't heard any of their music, but, hot damn, that Gillian is a looker!

Now I'm just jazzed about the sequel... :-)

Later edit (2009): Having seen this movie again, I can't say I'm still as enthusiastic about it. It doesn't have that much substance, so I'm lowering my rating from 9 to 6.

6 out of 10.

One of the worst films I've seen yet...

[Kelli_Xiongstyle · 1/10 · 15 February 2004]

"The Twins Effect" is the worst movie I've seen! Not only is the support weak, but the characters as well. I'm sorry to say to you Edison fans, but Kazaf is by far the weakest Vampire I've seen in my life. I'm sorry Edison; your role in this movie was disappointing. Edison does not fight whatsoever in this movie and I'm sure if they didn't have Kazaf in the movie, the plot wouldn't be much different. The main plot in the movie is not explained nearly enough and the entire movie focused too much on Helen and Kazaf's growing relationship. I mean, who the hell was Kazaf and why did they need his blood? Yeah, he's the prince right? So what!

Certain scenes in this movie were just plain stupid. Yeah, the action was great but the entire outline of it was stupid. In one scene towards the end, Duke Dekotes says that Kazaf is the strongest of his brothers... yeah it would seem so now that he's full grown. Why would you wait until he's grown up to attack? Another scene was with Jackie Chan, one of my personal favorites. In the scene, Jackie asked Helen who were the creatures that persistently followed them. How can you be so naive as to not know that they are vampires? People are dying around them with bite marks on their necks; surely the NEWS would be on it faster than you can say "Vampire."

The characters were yet another mistake in the movie. Helen, played by Charlene Choi, is the girlfriend of Kazaf. What kind of girl would not be scared of Vampires, especially if it is your brother's job to kill them? I can bet you that you would not find such a brave girl as Helen if you searched your whole life. Helen is annoying, bitchy, and is a total drama queen in the movie. She tries too hard to be different and in the end fails miserably. One of the weirdest and most disturbing characters I've seen in any movie. Why would you bite someone's neck especially if you're not a vampire? It's very odd that her reaction to Kazaf's confession doesn't turn him off. Kazaf, played by Edison Chen, is another stupid character in the story. How degrading for a young actor as himself to play in a movie with such a poorly constructed role. He does not stand up for himself throughout the movie and does not fight. Although I'm a fan of Edison, I wouldn't want a man who lies on the ground the whole time. Gypsy and Reeve are my favorite characters in the movie. Their love is pure and sweet. Gypsy is gorgeous and does not try too hard like Helen. Reeve, played by Ekin Cheng, is wise and seems to be the only person that makes sense in the movie. A plot failure was the death of Reeve. The movie had absolutely no substance yet it doomed itself by removing one of the only likable characters. Another character was Duke Dekotes. The story didn't focus much on him and therefore made his desire to obtain Kazaf's "rock" seem irrelevant.

It's very sad because towards the end of the movie, I was forcing myself to watch because I so desperately wanted to see Kazaf fight. The end was so abrupt because the whole time I was expecting so great to happen. Kazaf, who's the supposed Vampire Prince, does nothing for the movie and I'm sure if he were taken out, the movie wouldn't be much different. I highly recommend you to NOT waste your time on this movie as I have. I was greatly disappointed. If you're in search of a great movie, why not watch "Lord of the Rings" or "Pirates of the Caribbean?" Likeable characters with a well-written plot.

Fun, but cheesy

[zengbo1234 · 1 March 2004]

The first time I saw Twins Effect, I was stunned. I bought it because the case (lovingly Pirated in China) was a picture of Jackie Chan and one of my favorite pop duos Twins. I thought I had to see it. I didn't know whether to love it or hate it. The character development is slow, but quite interesting. You really have to love the personality that each of the girls brings in.

Gypsy (Ah-Jiao) Really makes her mark as a possible action or drama hero. Her acting is very skillful, and thankfully not over-done. Helen (Ah-Sa) also brings charm to the screen but more in a quite concious over-acting (Which though sometimes annoying, is also quite endearing).

The Vampires are scary, funny and different at the same time. The film pulls elements from Buffy the Vampire slayer, as well as kind of a euro-coolness for the Vamps. It is a crazy mix and doesn't exactly pull me into the film, but it pushes the plot through and, though not convincing, they are fun.

Obviously some of the draw to the movie is the great ensemble cast which includes several Hong Kong stars and starlets. Jackie Chan and Karen Mok bring some of the funniest and most endearing scenes in the movie. Karen, as a booze-loving bride steals the scene in her short cameo.

Action, Romance, Vampires, and cool stunts really make this a good all around movie. It can be a date movie, or an action flick, or just a fun mindless movie. In the beginning I said that when I saw it I didn't know whether to love it or hate it. Well, now I've seen it about 12 times and I love it more with each viewing. My recommendation is give it a chance, you may like it.

BY the way the opening song done by Jackie and Twins is really cool, if you want to hear it with the vocals look it up: The song's name is "Bian Bian Bian" It really is a good piece of HK Pop.

I give this movie an 8 out of 10

Ugh!

[Plaidster · 1/10 · 8 July 2004]

To identify this movie as a vampire movie would be technically correct. Simply because it will suck the life right out of you.

Vampire Effect is an insult to movie-buffs everywhere. The plot is almost non-existent. The make-up is just plain awful. And the acting is just not there.

I have to wonder if Jackie Chan owed someone a huge favor to be convinced to appear in this film.

My wife picked up the movie at the rental store because it had a picture of Jackie Chan on the front (as though he was playing the lead) and thought that a good JC flick would be fun to watch. This movie was interesting to watch in the same way that you can't help staring at the car wreck when you drive by. You realize very quickly the movie isn't going to get any better but, you keep watching wonder just how bad it will get.

I was expecting something more in the line of "Versus".

[Aaron1375 · 7/10 · 6 June 2007]

I enjoyed this movie okay, it just could have been so much better. I was expecting more action than what I got...which was more of a comedy than anything else. Granted, it was serious in parts and it had a good fight scene here and there for the most part it was more romance and comedy with some action and no horror at all. Which is hard to do with a vampire movie. A vampire hunter loses his partner and must train another, his sister is going through a difficult break up, but she is being pursued by a vampire of all things. Granted, this vampire is rather nice and not into sucking blood. So that is all there is really to it except for a plot of another vampire after certain royal vampires so he can gain ultimate power. Some of the problems with this movie is that its plot went here and there and the movie had a very uneven flow to it, that and it seemed to shift genres a bit much too. One minute action, the next pure comedy. However, the girls were cute, there is good action, the comedy was worthy of a chuckle or two and Jackie Chan makes a rather energetic appearance or two. This movie probably just needed more development in some areas such as the villain who is basically not really explored at all. So for a movie with a few good fights and a chuckle or two this is rather good...though why was it rated R? I have seen stuff we have made that is PG-13 that is a lot worse than this.

Not effective at all

[KineticSeoul · 3/10 · 25 May 2011]

This is a really cheesy movie with vampires and martial arts mixed into one movie. The movie was cheesy in the beginning to the point, I thought it would completely suck. This is a very low budget with cheap set pieces and cinematography. This is a very goofy vampire flick and not just because it has hunters that do kung-fu in a lame manner with lame props to hunt them either. The premise is just uber lame and kinda dull at times, the acting is especially bad. Some scenes though are so random and unbelievable that it's actually sort of funny though. Also the random slapstick humor just worsens things. This movie doesn't take itself serious at all, but it's still not a effective movie. It can even get a bit annoying at times to watch.

3.5/10

Great action with a decent storyline! 6/10

[leonblackwood · 6/10 · 17 December 2015]

Review: I'm not usually one for vampire movies, but this one was actually not that bad. Its about a top vampire killer, Reeves (Ekin Cheng), who fights against a powerful enemy, The Duke (Mickey Hardt), who is on the hunt for the Royal Prince, Kazaf (Edison Chen), for his blood, so he can become the ultimate vampire with a new kind of power that can take over earth. After losing his partner to the Duke, he takes on a new apprentice, Gypsy (Gillian Chung) who ends up falling for the impressive vampire slayer. Reeves sister, Helen (Charlene Choi), also falls for Kazaf who never drinks blood from humans and only drinks blood from a bottle but when his bottles start to run out, Helen helps him to survive by supplying him with blood from different sources. When Reeves finds out about Helen's new boyfriend, he tries to stop there relationship going any further but Gypsy convinces him about there true love for each other. The Duke then captures Reeves and Kazaf tries to rescue him to prove his love Helen but the Duke uses his powers to get Kazaf's blood and he attempts to become the Overlord. After an epic battle to kill the Duke, Gypsy manages to equal the Dukes powers by swallowing what he has swallowed and they end up in a battle to the death. Graphically, this movie looked great and the fighting scenes were brilliant. The comedic content was also quite funny, especially from Charlene Choi but I wasn't that impressed with the whole vampire element of the film. They looked quite tacky with not that much attention to detail but the main vampire, The Duke, didn't look that bad. As for entertainment, there was enough elements to keep it interesting throughout and I didn't lose the plot, even though I had to read subtitles. In all, it's a watchable movie that has some decent action scenes along with a interesting storyline. Watchable!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by Donnie Yen, 52, has only directed 6 movies in career but he has supplied the stunts for over 40 movies, which include Highlander: Endgame, the Blade franchise, Alex Rider: Stormbreaker and the IP Man franchise. The speed of the action in this movie is extremely fast so the choreography was spot on, especially the sword action. I did prefer Blade of Kings, which is supposed to be Twins Effect II but there story lines were completely different. Jackie Chan does supply some of his action skills during an ambulance car chase but he doesn't have that much to do with the main concept. Personally, I wasn't really into the vampire side of the movie but with that aside, it's still worth a watch.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/martial arts/adventure/comedies starring Jackie Chan, Ekin Cheng, Charlene Choi, Gillian Chung and Edison Chen. 6/10

Silly

[kneiss1 · 2/10 · 8 September 2010]

Silly humor, silly story, silly conversations, silly everything. The only good thing about this movie are the fighting scenes. If you are a fan of those, and a fan of silly humor, you might have fun spending... ehm, wasting your time on this movie.

This movie was a torture to me. Not even Jackie Chan was able to save this movie - and I really, really like that guy. Maybe some of the humor would have actually been funny without the awful English dubs. Those dubs really destroyed everything good that was left inside of the movie. I am never going to watch a dubbed Hong Kong movie again.

If you are a fan of modern vampire movies, like Blade and love martial arts, this might be the perfect movie for you. But try hard to look for the original version, because, not only are the dubs awful, there is also a half hour cut away from the original version. - And it really feels like some parts are missing.

I give it 2 points. Uncut, with the original language, I might have rated this a bit higher.

Chinese melange of vampires, romantic comedy and kung fu

[siderite · 6/10 · 26 October 2005]

I couldn't watch more than half an hour of this film. It starts with vampire bats from another planet, continues with a vampire prince that falls in love with a human and continues with romantic and wedding jokes (at Jackie Chan's wedding anniversary) that are so puerile that you can't even bring yourself to laugh.

If you can imagine an Ed Wood horror film made by the Chinese with some ridiculous kung-fu scenes in it, then you have already seen this movie.

What I can't really understand is this: is the bad quality of Asian humor my own personal problem that I don't understand it? is it bad translation? or is it that they are so isolated that they don't know any better?

Run - don't look back!

[baku_yaku · 1/10 · 18 August 2003]

Stay the hell away from this one... No, really I'm serious - I know you might think this is a fun, campy, cheesy Hong Kong action style B movie. I did, but trust me, it's not. In fact, the only thing accurate about that description would be the words Hong Kong, and then only used in a strictly geographical sense.

Yes, Donnie Yen has co-directed it. Jackie Chan has a cameo. The guy Ekin Cheng, from Storm Riders plays the lead. It got vampires. It should be good - or at least fun, charming and action packed. Once again - it's not.

I could digress on why this movie sucks - I could dissect it, hack it to tiny, shivering pieces. But where to start? There's so much to hate...

To make it easier, and to give this hate-fest some credability, let me say that I'm usually a big fan of Hog Kong cinema. The heavier drama stuff as well as the more lighthearted action and/or comedy.The really good movies as well as the really cheesy ones. I can sit through hours of bad subtitling, jokes lame enough to make first graders roll their eyes. I can handle lovers as chaste and celibate as a convention of nuns, that and pretty much anything else the average film goer would bang their metaphorical toes against on their way between action sequences. Also, Hong Kong or any other origin - I love it when a movie goes from just being bad to bad enough to be good.

But this - Arrgh! It's just horrible, STUPID, unwatchable garbage. So far from being funny or charming it's actually painful. So derived of action it makes a Bergman movie look like the Texas chainsaw massacre.

Why?! Why waste such an opportunity?! This could have been so much fun!

an even blend of Chinese and European vampire killing action

[crunch-o-matic · 8/10 · 23 November 2003]

Like a very expensive Buffy episode peppered with plenty of humor. Lots of wire and stunt kung fu. The Twins Effect goes on the list of classic must see HK films. The vampires have a cool blend of hopping ghost type and the pretty boy European style. If you get the opportunity to see this one in the theatre it is worth a 30 minute drive, otherwise buy the import DVD before someone screws it up by giving it a bad dub.

Just because you drink blood doesn't mean you should hang onto the past

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 6/10 · 13 February 2010]

I happened to see that this was going to be on TV, and after looking it up, I instantly wanted to catch it. While arguably not a masterpiece, this definitely is an enjoyable, lighthearted ride. I don't know which version I saw, other than that it was subbed, not dubbed(frankly, I might have skipped it if I had found it to be the other way around), so apart from the little bit of English, the language spoken is Cantonese. This is about vampires and two partners who hunt them. The plot is engaging and interesting enough, and this is actually almost moving at one point. It holds surprises, and I certainly hadn't guessed the ending. The martial arts are awesome, amazing choreography(and I swear, they throw a few tricks in there that I haven't seen anywhere else), and the use of props(not to mention that kick-ass stick) is really good. I enjoyed Chan in this(note that he isn't the lead). The cinematography and editing are marvelous, apart from the occasional shot that is awkwardly close. They create a nifty visual style that doesn't seem flashy, and I did not at any time feel like I was just viewing a "show", nothing is gratuitous. The music is great, and fits. This has fairly well-done and well-integrated effects. The acting isn't bad(if they aren't asked to do an awful lot). This has what has to be the most shrill and screeching young woman ever in a film, but she isn't terribly obnoxious, no, instead, she's funny(as are the jokes and gags in this, with a couple of exceptions). The sense of humor leans towards the silly and goofy, with a tad quirkiness, and I did not find it irritating, as I usually do with such. The females are cute and charming(and hot), and the characters in general aren't annoying. If I get a chance, I'll probably watch the sequel. There is some strong violence and blood in this. I recommend this to any fan of fast-paced, cool action that doesn't take itself too seriously. 6/10

Silly, dumb fun

[Vartiainen · 5/10 · 21 January 2018]

There are vampires in the world and there are those who hunt them. In order to be able to do this they must ingest the blood of a vampire to momentarily gain their strength. But when a vampire prince arrives in Japan, being hunted by another vampire for his bloodline, the stars start to align for a final confrontation.

Vampire Effect, or the alternatively The Twins Effect, is just the right mixture of silly humour and high octane action set pieces. The very first action scene in the beginning sets the tone, allowing you to lean back and take it in with a smile on your face.

And sure, the characters are clichéd, the vampires even more so. The plot is derivative, predictable and unoriginal. The locations could have been better chosen. There are plot holes.

On the other hand we have a Jackie Chan cameo. We have weird sound effects. We have good fight scenes. And we have good humour. I'm willing to let most of the faults of this movie fly. Live and let live.

Is it a good movie? Of course not. Is it worth a watch? If you're in the right mood... absolutely!