I had seen Ninjas vs Vampires on the “coming soon” portion of DVDs on Amazon and was contemplating buying it. Ironically, I received a screener for the film in the mail yesterday, compliments of HorrorSociety’s Dr. Gore. I bet you’re wondering about the about of cheesy-ness in a film called Ninjas vs Vampires, but surprisingly there isn’t any. Also surprisingly, this film was pretty good!
Ninjas vs Vampires is an action/horror film mixed with some supernatural/comedic elements. In this film, a couple is attacked by vampires, only to be saved by a group of men and women. They disappear right after, and of course, the couple can’t walk away with no questions asked. Sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, Aaron winds up in the middle of the battle between Ninjas and the vampires who wish to destroy them.
What really shocked me is that the ninjas in this film aren’t the stereotypical ninjas you see a lot. While they’re dubbed “ninjas,” the only things they have that resembles traits of a ninja are their advanced fighting skills, wearing black, and some of their weaponry. Mostly they just resemble bad ass 30-year-olds. The vampires aren’t stereotypical vampires either. I think they’re a decent mix of legendary Dracula-esque vampires and Lost Boys vampires. Although, they all burst into a mix of dust and flames when they die, just like Buffy vampires.
Let me go into the production value of Ninjas vs Vampires for a second. This is an indie film, made on a budget of $15,000 according to IMDB. However, the sound is really good. The picture is really good too, especially at night, which could be chopped up to innovative film making or just a really good lighting tech. The script is funny, too. At parts, it’s really cheesy, but aside from those few times, it’s good. One of the funniest parts, to me atleast, was when Aaron is approached by Kyle outside the house. In terms of CGI, the effects are very good, but I would have suggested making them a little duller, if possible. I say this because they stand out so much against the background of the film that they almost look plastic.
Other things that I liked: The film almost seemed like I was watching the theatrical version of Hunter: The Reckoning, video games for PS2 and XBOX with roughly the same plot. So, from a gamer’s standpoint, this movie was great. I liked that there were a couple jab at the Twilight series. For some reason I thought the fact that the vampire’s hideout was a mansion and not a cave or something was cool. I thought it was funny when the one girl runs and leaves her best friend behind at the beginning of the film. On the flip side, the main vampire chick in this film – I thought she was just there to be pretty, but would ultimately be vanquished easily. This was not the case. Shocking to see tough eye-candy!
I really liked Ninjas vs Vampires. The only thing negative I can say about this film is the budget. There were a couple times I wanted the film to…go there!…or I felt like I knew what they were trying to do but they couldn’t because of the budget. I wish that the creators of Ninjas vs Vampires could have had a much bigger budget, but stuck to their routes, because it would have been epic. Apparently, Ninjas vs Vampires is a sequel to Ninjas vs Zombies and I will definitely have to check that out.
