Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9368 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-09-17
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Animated, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Subtitled in: Japanese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 69 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Blood the Last Vampire brings a moody atmospheric quality all of its own to the Japanese animated film tradition. In a few short enigmatic scenes, we learn of the young girl Saya who is working for nameless government agencies and is sent, after one of her killings, to pose as a new pupil at an American school on an air force base. The Vietnam War is underway, but this does not concern her--she is involved with a far older war. All we ever find out is that she is not quite human, and that two of her schoolmates (and a whore in the mean streets adjacent to the base) are something yet again. Much of what ensues--gore and metamorphosis and nightmare chases--is all the more confusing for being seen through the eyes of a schoolteacher who never learns very much. This is a dreamlike film which does not have to make entirely literal sense, far more so than the creator's more famous Ghost in the Shell. It is also a memorable stage in the development of digitised animation. --Roz Kaveny

Special Features
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
English
Japanese
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround English Japanese
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Original Japanese Trailers
Image Gallery
DVD ROM
Manga Previews
Web Links
Danish\English\Finnish\Norwegian\Portuguese\Swedish

Synopsis
On an American military base in Japan, a new kind of vampire emerges: Teropterids. They are monstrous shape-shifting creatures that can only be killed with special swords. A mysterious girl named Saya is the last "original," the only person capable of dealing with the menace of these monsters. Posing as a student at the base's school, Saya races to hunt down the beasts before they turn an ordinary Halloween bash into a bloody massacre. Production IG, known for their pioneering digital effects, describes BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE as a full digital animation movie, which means that even though many sequences were animated using pencil and paper, the artwork was digitally scanned. Inking and coloring were completed by computer, as were several other special effects. Hiroyuki Kitakubo was chosen to direct the project because of his digital experience (he oversaw the movie sequences in the GHOST IN THE SHELL game for the Sony PlayStation.) The film is also notable for the participation of screenwriter Mamoru Oshii, who helmed GHOST IN THE SHELL and has written a novel that takes place in BLOOD's universe. Despite its resemblance to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, BLOOD succeeds in creating its own gloomy, chiaroscuro world.

Customer Reviews

meaty but not mighty
Beautiful, stylish but it feels like a build up to a good story which ends way too soon.

Give the new revamped anime Blood+ a go instead.

Dull
I owned this DVD briefly, but only watched it once & then got rid of it because I really couldn't forsee myself wanting to watch it again. It'd just dull - unengaging, unoriginal, unentertaining. The animation in it is supposed to be a big deal, but since there's nothing to grab you in the plot or characters, it does not help to salvage this very lacklustre film. In vampire fiction terms it's also disappointing, as there are no real vampires in the conventional sense: the enemy is more of a giant flying demon bat thingy. For fans of vampire anime, I would suggest you don't bother with this one - go for Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust for an engaging fantasy yarn, or Hellsing for some cheesy blood & guts fun.

Good but HOW long?
Let's start on a positive note. This film looks great, is interesting, dark and broody, and makes good use of what it's got. But let us not beat around the bush about the problem with this film. It is short. VERY short. The product description lists the film as having a 69 minute run time but I put this on at 11.30 last night and it was over by 12.15.

I'd hate to tell people not to watch this, because it really is a good movie, but be aware that when I say it's short, it is indeed short.