Lesbian Vampire Warriors (DVD)

Starring: Jiang Lu-Xia, Chrissie Chau Sau-Na, Yuen Wah, Chin Sui-Ho
Director: Dennis Law
Running Time: 100 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: June 25th, 2012

Lesbian Vampire Warriors would more accurately be titles Vampire Warriors Including Some Of Indeterminate Sexuality, but that would be quite tough to fit on the DVD box. Ar is a vampire hunter, dedicated to taking down the worst bloodsucking scum around – of which there isn’t a lack. However things are slightly complicated by the fact she hangs around with a bunch of ‘vegetarian’ vampires, who don’t drink human blood, and so instead survive on animals.

Events take a serious turn when an ancient, evil vampire called Mung arrives in town who is a cannibal, intent on killing other vamps, sucking the life out of them and stealing their power. With her friend’s life under threat, Ar must make the ultimate decision – is the only way to defeat Mung for her to become a vampire herself?

There’s also some vaguely Lesbian things going on, but to tell the truth, in that respect it’s kind of like a 1950s movie, where there’s vague homoeroticism but nothing too overt. Indeed, the movie was originally called Vampire Warriors, with the Lesbian presumably added in the hope horny straight men might think they’d get gratuitous girl-on-girl action. Well horny straight men, and indeed lesbians hoping for some full-on Sapphic content, you’d better look elsewhere.

The movie has a bit of a TV movie feel to it, both in terms of the action and the look. There’s some decent fighting, and there’s plenty of wirework jumping and floating going on, which is kind of fun but not up to the best wire-fu efforts from Hong Kong. The movie is passably entertaining but eminently forgettable. Lesbian Vampire Warriors ultimately has quite a fun attitude, and the camaraderie between the veggie vamps works extremely well, but it doesn’t really add up to an awful lot.

Overall Verdict: The action is fun and the film makes for a decent watch, but it’s certainly not the best of Hong Kong action – plus the word Lesbian in the title is more theoretical than actual.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac