Blood: The Last Vampire sets its sights on logic and restraint and promptly obliterates them with stupidity and bombast. I mean that in the best possible way. There is no way that the creative team looked at this movie and thought they were making anything good. Then again, it is possible that director Chris Nahon recognized fairly early on what type of movie this was and decided to infuse it with as much craziness as he could. That is likely to be the reason why this movie is the way it is. It fits squarely within the definition of "guilty pleasure." This is the kind of movie you put on for a diversion, something to take you on a wild wide. If you like schoolgirls with samurai swords and gangs of bloodsuckers with the barest of background information, this is it
Based on an anime released back in 2000, Blood: The Last Vampire tells the story of a centuries old half-vampire who works with a mysterious Council to kill demons that have infested Japan. This particular part of her tale finds her embedded on an American military base that has shown a high amount of demon activity. Our hero, Saya (Gianna), poses as a student to gain access to the base and before you know it, she is saving the General's daughter, Alice (Allison Miller), killing demon students, and roaming the streets looking for more.
Now, while the mysterious Council is dead set on stopping the demon menace, Saya has a smaller, more focused goal. Saya wants to kill the head demon, Onigen (Koyuki). To that end, she will not let anything get in her way. Along this path we see flashbacks to Saya's childhood, her training and the important events that led her to be in this position. However, they are mere speed bumps on the very linear path the story takes.
There are scenes that exist purely for exposition. We are told some back story about Onigen, the demons, and Saya. What we do not get are the smaller details that bring everything together. Now, if the movie had taken itself seriously, this would be an issue. Fortunately, this is the kind of movie that strings together a thin plot as a means to get us from one action set piece to the next.
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