Fortean Times 270
Based on a Japanese graphic novel, this largely forgettable effort fails to rise as successfully from its manga origins as do its titular bloodsuckers from their mossy graves. The standard-issue plot sees spunky student Akira pursue a mysterious woman to an uncharted Japanese island in search of his missing brother – who he finds is busy massacring the local undead population. The cast is as typically Japanese as the plot, populated by the standard portly perverts, bat-wielding pseudo-greasers and shy, bespectacled young men with pudding-bowl haircuts who presumably roam the Nipponese landscape en masse. The acting is passable, if mannered, while the effects are predominantly titter-inducing. Ultimately, this is a flabby, overlong dollop of nonsense, whose relatively accomplished direction is undermined by a complete lack of scares.
2/5
A Study in Charlatan 