Two hunters are alone at a dark train station. A train arrives. The man, Reeve, tells his
assistant to stay put and he drinks blood before jumping down from the place where he is at. He
goes into the train. He walks back to one of the train cars to find dead bodies. The dead bodies move and
he starts fighting them. They have been turned into vampires by a European vampire. Reeve is a vampire
hunter for the Anti-Vampire Federation. His fight has only begun against the vampires.
VAMPIRE EFFECT has many things going for it, but the energetic fights are the most amazing thing about it. It has
one of the best scores I have heard on an Asian movie (compared to some of the cheesy scores on some other Hong Kong action
movies). Some comedy is in the movie including a couple of funny scenes featuring Jackie Chan (getting married
to Ivy (Karen Mok) in one and fighting vampires in the other). VAMPIRE EFFECT is the type of movie that will
appeal to fans of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. The movie does have something for everyone.
The plot of VAMPIRE EFFECT- It's said a vampire that absorbs the blood of all six Vampire Princes' opens the dark bible
"Day For Night", and it can control the human world. Ace vampire slayer Reese's younger sister Helen falls in love with the
fifth prince Kazaf, who is a gentle vampire who never hurt humans. The Duke leads many vampires to kill Reese, and Kazaf's
the last one on his killing list.
Yet the movie isn't quite as simple as that as it deals more with Helen (sister of vampire Hunter Reeve) who falls in love
with vampire Prince Kazaf and Gypsy (Reeve's new assistant) who falls for Reeve. Also this movie will be remembered as a screwy
vampire movie with some of the best fight scnes ever filmed (thanks to fight choreographer Donnie Yen). VAMPIRE EFFECT is
known in Hong Kong as The Twins Effect. This movie was made to captialize on the popularity of the Asian pop duo known as
The Twins (Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung), and it was a big hit in Hong Kong with a sequel in production.
The movie is presented in 1.85:1 anamoprhic widescreen. The picture is clear with some slight grain. The details are sharp
on the faces. The flesh tones are very warm. The image is a little soft in one of the effects scenes towards the end of the
movie. Ther is some slight grain, but you won't notice it unless you go looking for it. The audio is good. It's not a bad
mix.
The movie can be viewed in Cantonese 5.1 or English 5.1 (Dolby Digital) with the option of subtitles in English,
French, or Spanish. The English dub is OK, but it is not the best dub I have heard. The Catonese flows much better with the
lip movement, but it doesn't matter where you view this win English or Cantonese with English subtitles since the action scenes
have very little dialogue.
The only extras are trailers for the following movies: MEDALLION, UNDERWORLD, RETURNER, TOKYO GODFATHERS, and TSUI HARK'S
VAMPIRE HUNTERS.
The problem with this DVD is that it features an edited version of the movie since it was released as 88 minutes in the
United States where the Hong Kong cut is 107 minutes. I wish Columbia hadn't edited the movie, or they should have included
the longer cut on the DVD with the edited US cut.
However, VAMPIRE EFFECT is the best version of the movie available on DVD since there has been reports that the DVD (released
by Universe) in Hong Kong has been known to lock up on several different DVD players. The Hong Knong version does have some
extras and a DTS soundtrack, but the faults with the DVD is a big mark against it. VAMPIRE EFFECT is worth a rental, but I
hope Columbia does release a better version that fans of this movie will be proud of (or release the sequel unedited at least).
MOVIE INFO:
Also known as Chin gei bin aka The Twins Effect
starring Ekin Cheng (Reeve), Charlene Choi (Helen), Gillian Chung (Gypsy), Mickey Hardt (Duke Dekktoes), Edison Chen (Kazaf)
with cameos by Jackie Chan and Karen Mok
88 minutes (edited down from 107 min Hong Kong version)
There are some outtakes playing during the end credits which suggests many scnes have been cut from the movie (besides
what was cut for the US cut).
TWINS EFFECT website: http://twinseffect.emg.com.hk/
this review is (c)3-17-2004 David Blackwell and this review cannot be reprinted without the permission of the writer. send
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