The First Five Minutes Of Blood: The Last Vampire

Just ahead of the film's release in Japan, Yahoo are hosting an online preview of the first five minutes and some seconds of Blood: The Last Vampire. You can see the full video below the break.

This live-action incarnation has been directed by Chris Nahon, and with no small amount of flair it would seem. Whether or not he has invested the film with anything beyond action kinetics, basic suspense and broad atmospherics isn't clear from this first scene, but this is still a fine way to kick a picture off.

There's a text scroll at the start of the clip which sets the scene:

In the 16th Century, the savage Onin War reduced Japan to a massive feeding ground. Assuming human forms, demons settled in among mortals to prey on the bloodshed.

A fearless Samurai named Kiyomasa rose from the heart of evil and became the most revered demon hunter, only yo be brutally slain by the oldest, vilest of all demons: Onigen.

Centuries passed. Darkness reigns on. Then, a mysterious hunter emerged, joining forces with a shadow society known as The Council, she sets out to face her ultimate foe... Onigen.

Surely nothing else in the film can be so badly written? That stuff's all over the place.

Here's the full opening scene. I wish they'd encoded the video more nicely – but it still works.

Nahon previously directed Kiss of the Dragon and Empire of the Wolves. Several British character actors have roles in the film, which is fun. They include Liam Cunningham of Dog Soldiers and Murphy's Law; Larry Lamb of Gavin and Stacy and, again, Murphy's Law; and Colin Salmon of the Brosnan era Bonds and Murphy's Law.

This is clearly a low budget production and the FX may obviously have suffered from this in places, but there seems to be enough gusto to guarantee at least a rollicking diversion while the reels are unspooling.