Baban Baban Ban Vampire – review

Director: Shinji Hamasaki

Release date: 2025

Contains spoiler

This is a live action version of a manga that has also been an anime series and is part of the Yaoi manga type (sometimes referred to as Boys Love, or BL). The primary character in this is Ranmaru Mori (Ryô Yoshizawa) – a historical figure who was a retainer to daimyo Nobunaga Oda in the 16th century. Ranmaru is famous for his loyalty and died with the daimyo. In Edo era literature it was common to connect them sexually and the inference in the flashback scenes, within this, is that there was a romantic bond between them.

in the alley

It starts, however, in an alley. A radio speaks about the heat wave as a figure pulls himself along, his breath laboured, dragging a foot. As we get a closer look at him we see that his ear has a point to it. He collapses and then manages to pull himself to a sitting position. A little boy is playing ball and finds him, smiling he asks if he wants to go to his home and the man, who is Ranmaru, agrees, we see he has a red pupil. The year is 2015 and we see the seasons rapidly change by the Koinoba Hot springs, a bathhouse, until we get to 2025.

Ryô Yoshizawa as Ranmaru

Ranmaru is scrubbing the bathhouse tiles with a broom, and occasionally mimicking playing guitar. Rihito (Rihito Itagaki) comes in with a tomato juice for Ranmaru. Rihito was the little boy and is now 15, his family own the bathhouse and Ranmaru has lived with them and worked there since the incident 10-years before. The next day Rihito is to start High School and is nervous. Once the household is asleep the vampire flies off into the night.

cross doesn't work

Before he flies out, we discover that he finds Rihito’s innocence intoxicating but has not preyed on the boy as the optimum blood is that of an 18-year old virgin – I’ll come back to this. Several of the characters get a song introducing them and their backstory – Ranmaru's is the first song. In it we get part of the past with Nobunaga, we also get the idea that, since his Lord died, he sees humans as nothing but food – but he does seem to prey on ne’er do wells and we see a victim hold up a cross. It has no effect.

Rihito Itagaki as Rihito

At breakfast (with Rihito’s dad, mom and grandpa) there are jokes from his dad about young High School boys falling in love when they meet girls at school, a joke that does not go down well with Ranmaru, who has dragged himself down to breakfast to see Rihito off, especially as dad mentions using protection. Ranmaru, of course, wants the boy to stay virginal but comes off as prudish. He is open about being a vampire with the family, they think he has committed to a persona.

the main characters

On the way to school Rihito literally bumps into a girl called Aoi (Nanoka Hara) and falls in love with her immediately. Ranmaru flies to her home to scare her off but she is not interested in Rihito but is a massive vampire genre fan and immediately falls for Ranmaru. Later, we meet her brother Franken (Mandy Sekiguchi) a body builder who becomes (non-romantically) besotted with Ranmaru. We also discover the homeroom teacher, Umetaro Sakamoto (Shinnosuke Mitsushima), is a vampire hunter and was the one that nearly killed Ranmaru (but has now fallen in love with him). As well as this there is another vampire (Gordon Maeda) in the area who may well have a grudge to settle.

vampire attack

So there is a lot of romantic farce flying around and this is where we get to where this was a tad difficult. The relationship between Ranmaru and Rihito is not presented as romantic, though at a non-verbal level there is some display of chemistry, rather he is dedicated to Operation Virginity Protection. Certainly, for the older vampire (450 but turned at 25 – the historic figure died at between 16-17) the attraction is of blood, he wants to drink the lad but seems genuinely fond of him also. However, whether sexually or to devour, there is an uncomfortable layer of grooming implied. It should be noted that the actors are 31 (rather than 25) and 23 (rather than 15).

animated arm

Beyond this, however, the film is genuinely funny, the farce works well. Despite the feel that there is grooming, Ranmaru is an endearing character, is far from the wise person he thinks he is, thus creating the farce, and the film is as much about him overcoming a broken heart that his exposure to humans allows. There is a cracking moment with the other vampire who is scared of crosses as he read that he must be, in the forbidden book – Wikipedia. Another great bit is where Ranmaru has his arms chopped off and they come alive, scuttling to find him and fighting the other vampire before reattaching. There are some very anime moments – Franken working out and leaving a huge pile of bodies was not a moment grounded in reality. Despite an uneasy feeling as laid out, this is a well made and well-acted film – 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Dracula’s Sorority Sisters – review

Release date: 2014*

Director: Jeff Leroy

Contains spoilers

From the director who brought us Dracula in a Women’s Prison this is a throwback to those heady 80s and 90s and perhaps mentioning it owing a little something to the likes of Fred Olen Ray will give an idea of what we are getting. However, first a note about the date.

*The IMDb page said still in production when I wrote this, with no date. I stumbled over it on Fawesome, watched and screenshotted it for review, but when I went back later to check a detail it was no longer available. Whether it will return to the platform I couldn’t say. But whilst posting I noticed it is now on Amazon with a 2014 date, unusually Amazon seems to have it right on this occasion. It also needs to be said that, despite the title, there is no Dracula in this film.

getting home

It starts in Black and White (in the 50s) and Ward (Robert Rhine, Dracula in a Women’s Prison) is getting home from work. A woman (Kelly Erin Decker, Also Dracula in a Women’s Prison & Bloodsucka Jones vs. The Creeping Death) stands in the street, looking oddly at him, but he shrugs any bad feeling away and goes in the house. He is met by his wife, Eva (Nicole Laino), and reveals he picked up a home shot film reel on the way home. Eva sees the woman staring through a window and there is a knock at the door.

attack

Opening it they see the woman, she seems injured and says she hurt herself and then repeating that she can’t find her way home. The phone is out (and the phone seemed anachronistic, but not as much as the keypad by the door) and Ward goes to call an ambulance from a neighbour’s house. Alone with Eva, the woman vamps out and attacks and then attacks Ward when he gets home. Eva manages to take her out with a shotgun but, when their daughter gets home, she has turned, is feeding off Ward’s corpse and tells her daughter to run.

playing with the spark

Cut to the modern day and Murdock (Michael Beardsley) has been daydrinking and been picked up by sorority members Annabel (Missy Martinez) and Scarlet (Jacqueline Fae, Erotic Vampires of Beverley Hills & Haunted Hotties). They get him back to the house, strip, tease and then start sucking the life out of him, which causes a physical decline and eventually they pull something glowing out of him - I assume an essential spark – and take turns running it over their bodies. Once it burns out, Eva comes in – she runs the sorority from her old home, and the energy vampirism is described as cleaner than the traditional way.

Alejandra Morin as Holly

Eva wants to get new pledges and Holly (Alejandra Morin) has tried the other sororities and found them to be too “trust-fund”. Her friend, Lilith (Antoinette Mia Pettis), is not as interested but is going along with her. When Eva meets her she realises that there is something special about Holly's blood – Eva’s blood was special and she evolved as a vampire, for instance she can stand sunlight. Holly’s blood could propel them to the next evolution. There is still the hazing though, plus Annabel is wanting to set up her own sorority and concentrate on hot boys. Plus, Holly’s boyfriend happens to be friends with Murdock and another friend, Felix (Michael Dougherty), has had a run in with Annabel and Scarlet before…

through a camera

Other interesting lore, beyond Eva's daywalking, includes seeing Annabel bite a wound and then sniff blood from a distance, and looking at the vampires through a phone camera makes them show as skeletons (and silicon breasts show up too). This does things as the title would indicate; there is plenty of topless nudity, the plot is secondary to this in many respects and the practical effects show their budget – including the CGI blood spatter, which looks bad as per normal. And yet, there was something about this that kept my attention. Perhaps it was the 80s throwback and like Leroy’s previous vampire flick it doesn’t have pretension to be anything else. 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Vampires a Gothic Compendium – review

Like the Cinecrypt edition of Nosferatu, this volume does not have an artist or writer credit (I assume it is Ash Redburn) and has no publication date (the kickstarter for it was completed in 2024). Indeed, the body of the Cinecrypt Nosferatu is in this volume. Hardback and, at over 400 pages, the volume takes from several films and weaves them into a centuries long story, loosely stitched together.

It bookends with scenes from Last Man On Earth and moves through Nosferatu into a world where we meet the Man in the Beaver Hat and the Phantom of the Opera (the latter meeting Kinski’s Nosferatu/Dracula and controlling Cesare from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). Other vampire films that are used are used are Vampyr, Count Dracula’s Great Love, Slaughter of the Vampires and Playgirls and the Vampire.

The art is lovely and it was nice to see classic (and not so classic) vampire films repurposed this way. I linked the Cinecrypt website at the head of the review but to get the volume you will have to go to Etsy - it isn’t cheap, but it is a massive tome and I think deserving of a place in vampire fans’ collections. 7 out of 10.

Short Film: Mosquito Lady

Using the folklore of the Philippines and the manananggal, this 2023 short film comes in at around thirteen minutes and was directed by Kristine Gerolaga.

It follows Gemma (Hanna Lorica) who, as we meet her, is in her room and is clearly pregnant. She takes a covering from a cross and prays for help but it falls, the figure of Christ breaking and bleeding – though when she looks again the blood is gone.

She calls her cousin Sophia (voiced by Kristine Gerolaga) as she looks at abortions (she will, of course, have been too far gone) but State law requires permission from her parents. Memories come of her mother (Ina Dahilig) and father (Rhandy Torres) lecturing her on promiscuity but also suggesting that the unkempt house down the road contained a woman (Maria Lingbanan) who is rumoured to be a manananggal, they called her mosquito lady.

the manananggal

She has looked at the legend of the manananggal online – we see a thing that says if she is touched by sunlight whilst disconnected from her legs she’ll die – and we also get memories of them saying that Sophia had been attacked by her and nearly died (and that the creature tried to get Gemma whilst her mother carried her). Nevertheless, desperate, Gemma leaves her house and heads to the house down the street…

ripped wings

What occurs in their interaction is for you to discover through the short but I wanted to mention the blood graffiti that begs for forgiveness, by her wings that have been ripped off and stuck to the wall (presumably self-inflicted). I thought that was an interesting touch that I would really have enjoyed learning more about. However, this is a great little short and worth your time.

The imdb page is here.

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest: Season 2 – review

Director: Various

First aired: 2022

Contains spoilers

I have already looked at Season 1 of this iseka anime and I noted that the opening episodes carried a darkness that was perhaps toned down from the mid-season point but adding harem, chibi and comedy elements. This season continues with the mixed tone.

The harem aspects are interesting as the subject of the attention, main character Hajime (Toshinari Fukamachi/Matt Shipman) is openly interested only in vampire character Yue (Yûki Kuwahara/Tia Lynn Ballard). That does not stop jealous aspects from her (as well as the other female characters crowding him for his attention). However, Hajime is also only a teen and, through his trials, somewhat unhinged.

Toshinari Fukamachi voices Hajime

The story continues with Hajime looking for dungeons built by the Liberators to gain their powers. His aim is not to take on the god of the world – who manipulates humans, monsters and demons in an endless war between each other for his amusement – but to get back to Japan where he and other classmates were taken from to this fantasy world. That said he will fight any who get in his way and is lured into the conflict.

The apostle of God

This includes demons actively hunting him, the apostle of God (an angel essentially) and becoming involved in an insider threat within the human capital despite them declaring him a heretic. And whilst there was more going on in a wider vista, and the action was as good as in the previous season, I felt that this carried me a little less. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it but not quite as much. 6.5 out of 10.

The episode's imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Azrael – review

Director: E.L. Katz

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

In a post-apocalyptic setting, Azrael is a film that has attracted some mixed reviews and was one I hadn’t got around to – but when I did, I was both impressed and realised there were vampiric monsters in it that might be read as vampires, perhaps zompires. Credited as the “burnt” on IMDb (for they are burnt) the film itself doesn’t tell us as the film is, for the most part, silent – with a touch of untranslated Esperanto at one particular point in the film.

after the Rapture

Set years after the Rapture has happened, within woods. There are little oddities throughout, but it aims mostly at a sect or cult where they have taken a vow of silence to the furthest degree by cutting the voice boxes (leaving scars in a cross shape on the throat). We first meet Azrael (Samara Weaving) – interestingly, of course, named for the Angel of Death. She is making a bracelet of twigs and berries.

Azrael and Kenan

She sees a campfire burning and goes to it, urgently putting it out and hitting Kenan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Dracula) for doing something that can draw attention. She quickly forgives him and gives him the bracelet. Whistles in the trees indicate they are being hunted and they run, separated but both quickly captured. The hunters are from the silent cult and, it is implied (given their scars), Azrael and Kenan had run away and so are apostate.

sacrifice

We see Azrael taken deeper into the woods and strapped to a chair. One of her captors, Josefine (Katariina Unt), pulls Azrael’s trouser leg up and slashes her flesh with a blade and the wind seems to pick up through the trees. The three cultists stand away, backs turned and begin to make ritualistic heavy breaths as a creature approaches. This is one of the burnt, spindly creatures, flesh charred and moving almost zombie-like.

attacking the cultist

Azrael struggles and manages to break the arm of the chair, pulling away a shard of wood still strapped to her arm. One of the cultists has looked back and sees this and so goes to intervene and Azrael manages to stab him in the neck. The burnt can be rather nippy and agile and it grabs the cultist, ripping into the wound and lapping blood. Azrael manages to unbuckle herself from the chair and get away. When the other cultists eventually turn the burnt is dragging the corpse of their compatriot into the trees.

truck

So, Azrael binds her wound (the burnt can smell blood it seems, attracted to it like sharks) and heads to the cultist camp to try and rescue Kenan and we get a back and forth of being captured and escaping with a dose of the revenge flick, which is the majority of the film. I mentioned oddities. This includes automobiles. The cult have a couple of beat up cars that they used when capturing the pair. Later Azrael is almost knocked down by a truck driven by a man who speaks Esperanto and which exudes bright illumination. One might question where the fuel is coming from (and indeed where the Esperanto man is from and where he is going to).

Vic Carmen Sonne as Miriam

The cult have a heavily pregnant priestess, Miriam (Vic Carmen Sonne), who seems to listen to the murmur of wind through a hole in their wooden church’s wall. As for the burnt – the wind connects them and Miriam (in that it picks up when Azrael is cut, and it seems indicative of some higher power) and at one point Azrael has some of Miriam’s blood on her and a burnt backs away from her. What they are – dammed souls following the rapture, demons, vampires or zombies – is not answered, but Azrael manages to hang one so they can be killed. Of course, the burnts' look gives a feel of a vampire that’s been in the sun (though there doesn’t seem to be an issue with daylight) but it is their attraction to blood – one licking it from a surface – that makes them vampiric enough for me.

one of the burnt

This film excels in tension, the back and forth to the camp and the handy positioning of people in the vast woods, so that the story moves on, might seem contrived but, when taken in the context of the denouement of the film (which I won’t spoil) actually reads more fated or even supernaturally manipulated. For a film with virtually no dialogue – from what I can ascertain the Esperanto is mostly general concern – it manages to tell a lot of story but, of course, leaves much to the imagination and interpretation of the viewer. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Dracula: A Modern Adaptation

Directed by Stephen Nicksic, and coming in at under 5-minutes, I can’t find an IMDb page. This looks to retell a snippet of Dracula in the modern day and feels more a proof of concept than anything, which is fair as I understand it was shot as part of a Fiction into Film Course in 2014.

Mina and Johnathan

It starts in London, outside a church where Jonathan (Joshua Klingseisen) and Mina (Maridee Mund) have just attended Hawkins’ funeral. They walk and get a bus to Piccadilly. In a park Jonathan sees a man (Nathan Holter) and declares it is Dracula but grown young. Unlike the novel, the Count sees them as he is alone (and not fixated on his prey).

Nathan Holter as Dracula

There are flashes of imagery and Jonathan comes round on a park bench with Mina – he passed out, she says. They have a long walk ahead of them. Night has fallen when they reach an alley and, unbeknown to them, Dracula steps from out of the shadows.

And that’s it, short and sweet and a project that underlines that even the shortest snippet of Stoker’s novel can get some love.