Synopsis

Reeve the Vampire Hunter (Ekin Cheng) and his partner (Josie Ho) are tracking Duke Dekotes (Mickey Harte). In order to fight the vampires, the vampire hunter and his partner must temporarily become vampires themselves in order to have enough strength. Once the fight is over an antidote is taken to return them to their human form.

Catching up with the Duke in a railway station the two set about dispatching him. Although they manage to deal with his minions, the Duke proves to be extremely powerful. In the ensuing battle Reeve's partner is killed by the Duke.

The Duke heads for Hong Kong looking for Prince Kazaf (Edison Chen) the 5th prince of the Vampire Nation. The Duke needs blood from each of the Vampire royal family in order to open the Vampire Bible and make a new Vampiric order with himself as the head. the Prince does not pray on the living preferring instead to obtain blood from other sources. He meets Reeve's younger sister Helen in a restaurant, where she has been jilted by her boyfriend. Enamored with her Kazaf pursues the relationship.

Reeve also returns to Hong Kong where he is assigned a new partner Gypsy (Gillian Chung). Gypsy is beautiful, feisty and extremely inexperienced. Reeve works to teach her, but she makes mistakes letting vampires escape, to Reeves annoyance. She also makes a mistake with the antidote, which leaves Reeve in the Vampiric state. Knowing what will happen Reeve gives her his sword just in case.

Returning to the house they realize that muffins have been made with the antidote instead of syrup. While Gypsy tries to feed him the muffins she cuts her finger. The blood drives Reeve into a frenzy and Gypsy has no choice but to stab him with the sword. Once she has returned him to his human form she has to take care of the wounded Vampire Hunter. Guilt ridden she finds herself caring deeply about him.

Helen and Gypsy do not initially like each other and after a battle over a teddy bear on the roof keep a discrete distance from one another. However, as Helen's relationship with Kazaf develops, she realizes that her brother is not going to accept it. She goes to Gypsy to ask her help in distracting her brother away from the relationship.

Gypsy dresses up to try to get Reeve's notice but he is more interested in pursuing the Vampires. At a fairground he notices Kazaf. Gypsy desperately tries to distract him but he realizes that it is his sister Helen who is with the Vampire Prince

Reeve heads for Kazaf's home knowing that it is only a matter of time before the Duke turns up. He is annoyed with Gypsy for deceiving him and heads into the church, that Kazaf uses as his hide out, alone.

Inside the Duke is waiting for him. Distracted by the Dukes Vampire hoards, Reeve is easily taken by the Duke. This time the antidote is not sufficient and Reeve descends into a vampiric state. Waiting outside Gypsy realizes that something has gone very wrong and heads home to find Helen and Kazaf there.

Kazaf knows that he will have to confront the Duke and he tries to maneuver the situation to his advantage. While he and the Duke are occupied, Helen and Gypsy search for Reeve. Coming down the stairs Gypsy sees the broken antidote bottle and knows that things will not be good.

Reeve by now is a vampire and his sisters pleas are insufficient to reach him. He is beyond recall and when he attacks them his apprentice has no choice but to kill him. Determined to take revenge for him the two of them head up to challenge the Duke.

The Duke has already opened the Vampire Bible and is on the way to becoming more powerful than ever. Things are going badly until Gypsy manages to obtain a piece of the bibles power. With these new found powers she is able to defeat the Duke and save Kazaf. Miraculously as the Duke dies Gypsy is returned to her human form. Leaving with Helen and Kazaf, it is clear that Gypsy is now the new Vampire hunter.

Review

EEG's summer blockbuster was not as great as they had hoped. A cameo appearance from Jackie Chan, which was intended to elevate the movie and heighten it's appeal, will likely leave Jackie's fans cold, as his performance is less than spectacular and bordering on the idiotic.

Ekin Cheng as Reeve the Vampire Hunter is suave and was a good choice for this role. His martial arts skills are adequate and with careful coaching from the action director Donnie Yen was able to complete most of the action himself. Sadly, because EEG wanted the movie to be a Twin's vehicle, Ekin's role was downplayed. However his considerable on screen charisma shone through and he eclipsed both the Twins and Edison Chen. The initial scenes in the movie with Josie Ho are among the best action scenes in the movie.

Charlene Choi is truly annoying as Helen. Her screaming at encountering Gillian is piercing. She gets a terrific amount of screen time, especially with her vampire lover Edison Chen who also seems to get downplayed for the benefit of the Twins. Charlene is also the one to have the encounter with Jackie Chan in the ambulance, who is left to battle vampires while the Prince of the Vampire Nation seems totally ineffectual as a vampire.

Gillian as Gypsy is the better actress of the two, however their fight with poles, despite Donnie Yen's careful coaching, it doesn't ring true. Her attempt at a relationship with Reeve could have been better, but she does at least try to give some emotion. Gillian was at least able to cry with genuine feeling when she has to kill Ekin. Charlene didn't seem to be able to muster up a tear on the two occasions she was called upon to be upset. Ekin as a veteran actor was able to help Gillian make the best of her talents.

Edison Chen looks good as a Vampire Prince but the prize has to go to Anthony Wong as his valet. Wong is an excellent supporting actor and allowed Edison to act against a veteran actor. Edison and Charlene's skills are as inexeperienced as each other and although Jackie Chan worked in several scenes with them that inexperience showed.

The movie is put out by Emperor Entertainment and has a Cantonese and Mandarin track. There are English and Chinese subtitles.

Copyright © 2002

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