On the verge of a global apocalypse, a clan of vampires lures a crowd of humans into a glamorous hotel to turn it into their own private blood farm unaware one of the victims is descended from vampire hunters at war with the clan and starts a bloody war to free everybody.
From the beginning, this one was quite enjoyable. One of the more appreciable aspects of this one is that the convoluted storyline does work in its favor, setting this one up rather nicely. There are a lot of beats here as the adaptation from the miniseries is obvious here with the use of prophecies, sacrifice and different rivalries between the two families of vampires. It's all quite detailed and unique by mixing together the European and Asian families as there are numerous fun elements brought out with the European side detailed in the first hour and why it means so much to fight them for the Japanese side all comes from the main series as nothing is really lost. Equally as impressive is the dynamic visual flourishes where everything here is striking in a grandiose manner, starting with the main hotel. Given a large Gothic sheen in the old-school architecture, garish colors and overtly impressive design, these radiate with visual flourishes that add a fantasy element alongside the Gothic tropes. As well, the quirky sense of humor on display here gives this even more of a strong visual sense. The sight of the aging vampire who needs blood to stay youthful and full-size or else will shrink down to a doll is a prime example, as well as the old mother vampire in the basement that they feed. The games the evil vampires play with the human guests makes for exceptionally goofy times as well as the action is another major factor. Starting with the opening assault in the diner, this one manages an impressive overall pace that has plenty of stellar sequences here. From the numerous chases through the city to capture her, the first meetings with the evil vampires and the initial gunfights in the hotel, the action here is quite enjoyable. The entire hotel sequence in the last hour plus features far more action as this goes for the entire clan war throughout here. Both sides tear into each other here, from the gun-battles to the sword slashing and ripping people and vampires to pieces, this manages to feature all manner of crazy vampire action. Filled with the vampires' impressive make-up effects, this stands out more offering plenty of impressive elements all around. There isn't a whole lot to dislike with this one. The obvious feature here is the overlong running time. The fact that this one came from a miniseries becomes apparent with the convoluted storyline that packs in a lot of plot-points into the story. With the extended setup that has the introduction of their history and the bloodline of both families, the extended time cramming this into the film drags this out. The jumps in the timelines going from Romania to Tokyo are done quite haphazardly and makes the story even harder to follow in terms of how to solve the identities of each family. It all just gives this one a much longer running time than needed filling this storyline and gives this it's only flaw.
Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity.
