Sex and Xen II – review

Director: Man-Kei Chin

Release date: 1996

Contains spoilers

The second in the series of films, I have previously given an honourable mention to the third film, which contained a fleeting visitation of energy vampirism. The vampirism is the central point of this film, indeed the blurb of the 88 Films Blu-ray release suggests a succubus. Whilst that western creature is not mentioned in the dialogue, the central villain does act like the myth where the incubus and succubus are the same creature (albeit this is not based around semen harvesting and subsequent impregnation as the Western myth can be).

Loletta Lee as Yiau

The film itself is a sex comedy, certainly at the level of sexploitation movies, the softcore sex does not stray into pornography and the film is underscored with the aforementioned comedy (albeit the humour of the bedroom farce). Whilst the first and third films were based on Chinese erotic novels, from what I can tell this was an original story (despite the blurb suggesting is was based on a “(notoriously fruity) classic of Chinese erotica” and the film showing books at the head of the film, one being the Carnal Prayer-Mat, which the first film was based on). It did take some of its beats from a variety of sources, however.

Elvis Tsui as Kin

It centres on the Sai-mun family; dad Kin (Elvis Tsui, the Seventh Curse and Sex and Zen III) is known for his iron member, which he has trained (we see some of the training though not the member). His first wife died and he now has three concubines. He has two children. His son has a learning disability but his daughter, Yiau (Loletta Lee, Mr Vampire 4 & The Musical Vampire) is clever and wants an education. After she meets a scholar named Fa-tau (Tat-Wah Lok), who mistakes her for a boy, she determiners to run away to school.

Yiau and Fa-Tau at school

She is caught but her father relents and allows her to go to school, so long as she wears chastity armour. The armour is weaponised, with spinning blades over breasts and buttocks and a nasty guillotine covering the pudenda. She successfully enrols and shares a dormitory with Fa-tau, who still believes she is male. However, during the night she has an erotic dream about him, he sees her still dreaming when he awakes, trips and falls member first into the guillotine. Ruined, she helps him to a monastery where (having dismissed becoming a gay prostitute or having a full sex change) he is fitted with an artificial mechanical penis.

Shu Qi as Mirage Lady

The monastery is visited by Mirage Lady (Shu Qi, Resurrection) to acquire a pamphlet on a form of mysticism that teaches an energy sucking magic, amongst other things. Yiau soon learns that her father is marrying her brother off to a woman – and we discover she is Mirage Lady. When his son fails to perform his conjugal duties, Kin takes them on and starts a scandalous affair with his daughter-in-law. The son dies, clearly at her hand, and then she starts preying on Kin’s concubines – sucking their Yin energy. This includes pulling them into a magical dimension and a rather tentacley scene. I mentioned incubus and succubus. She is able to morph from male to female and when she has a surfeit of Yin energy she will balance it by feeding off male Yang energy, and vice versa. She will change sex during a single encounter.

in the male form

So, there you have it – an energy vampire that changes gender and will feed on both male and female energies. The film itself looks absolutely sumptuous (and the 88 Films print is particularly gorgeous). The story isn’t as convoluted as it might have been, the cast work very well although some of the comedy sinks to the puerile at times. This one is definitely worth a look and I’ll balance the more puerile aspects with its sumptuous side by giving it a score of 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Babanba BanBan Vampire – season 1 – review

Director: Itsurô Kawasaki

First Aired: 2025

Contain spoilers

I previously reviewed the live action version of this and this time it is the turn of the anime series. A note about the name, the construction of the name varies dependent on source and the name is not actually words in Japanese, more sounds playing against the word vampire. I have used the title as per the box of the Malaysian DVD set.

I should also say that the live action had an aspect that made me uncomfortable – the relationship between vampire Ranmaru Mori (Daisuke Namikawa) and fifteen-years old protagonist Rihito Tatsuno (Yûsuke Kobayashi) felt not unlike grooming. The vampire finds virgin blood of an eighteen-year-old boy tastes the best and has been working at the Tatsuno family’s bathhouse for a decade, after the boy helped him when close to death, with the intention of drinking from him when he turns eighteen.

Yûsuke Kobayashi as Rihito

From this derives the main plot, with Ranmaru trying to ensure Rihito remains pure and misreading those around them (so he decides that Rihito’s crush, Aoi Shinozuka (Mayuko Kazama), has a mutual crush on Rihito when she actually has fallen for the vampire, for instance). Whilst it was uncomfortable in the live action it was centred on blood. In this he repeatedly has a visceral sexual reaction when considering that moment, making this feel seedy and unsavoury in places. The making a joke of this reaction felt off as well, and served to undermine the general humour that worked well within it.

Akira Sekine as Kaoru

The basic storyline is virtually identical to the live action but it is enhanced with additional situations – though the gags through the series run very much at one level, Ranmaru’s misreading of situations and the impact on relationships. It also has an additional main character in the form of Kaoru Yamaba (Akira Sekine), a gyaru girl who seems generally aggressively misandrist (understandable given the portrayal of her father) who seems, to Ranmaru, to be bullying Rihito but actually is crushing on him and doesn’t know how to express it.

vampire fight

Towards the end the series brings in Nagayoshi (Yuichi Nakamura) – Ranmaru’s brother and fellow vampire, who is a violent, bloodthirsty vampire who hates his sibling. Though this is quickly resolved the additional lore aspects outlined are worth mentioning. Nagayoshi looks the same age as Rihito but he is the elder brother – abstaining from blood has caused Ranmaru to age to his early twenties appearance. The main lore aspects we get early on are the impact of direct sunlight, the need for invitation (breaking this to pull someone through a window causes Ranmaru’s arm to burn), a special poison that vampire hunters carry and a stake through the heart killing. Nagayoshi has consulted the internet and is repelled by garlic and crosses, having read that online, despite them not affecting Ranmaru – indeed Ranmaru holding his arms out to form an effective cross actually happens.

the euro-vampire

The only other lore to mention is, as in the live action, Ranmaru looses his arms in battle and they are able to act independently before reattaching. The animation style feels retro (kindly, some might say dated). Some of it is strangely “less anime” than the live action – when we meet Franken (Taku Yashiro) the imagery is much more normal than the very anime moment in the live action film. The end of the series has the European vampire who originally turned Ranmaru arrive in Japan again, indicating the direction for a second season. What pushes this down for me is the very sexual grooming element, which is simply uncomfortable and not really a suitable joke matter. I could get past it in the live action but the visceral character reaction made this less palatable. 5.5 out of 10 reflects that, despite this, there is still a watchable anime at the heart of the series.

The imdb page is here.

Honourable Mention: Futurama: Our Flag Means Medical Coverage

2026 saw the return of Futurama and the third episode of the season, directed by Peter Avanzino, Dwayne Carey-Hill and Ira Sherak, had vampires – at least in a Fleeting Visitation,

It starts at the DOOP headquarters and President Glab (Tress MacNeille, Tiny Toon Adventures – Stuff that goes Bump in the Night) is looking to encourage the Vampire Empire to join DOOP by gifting their Emperor (Maurice LaMarche) a fabulous jewel encrusted piano and, to get it to their planet, she entrusts Fry (Billy West, Futurama: I Dated a Robot, Futurama: Fry Am the Egg Man & Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island), Bender (John DiMaggio), Zapp Brannigan (also Billy West) and Kiff (also Maurice LaMarche) to deliver it (using a Doop vessel, rather than the Planet Express ship).

Admirella wields the cross

From there the episode becomes one of piracy and piano heist, that is until they return to DOOP Headquarters to outwit President Glab, who is using the Vampire Empire to sway the vote to allow her an unconstitutional third term in office. Before the Empire can join DOOP they must have their National Anthem played – on the piano, retrieved from the pirates and brought with them, which it transpires doubles as a weapon of mass destruction. As Bender starts the boogie-woogie anthem, two vampires emerge from their coffins and remove stakes from their chests to then flank the Emperor. They are chased off by Admirella (also Tress MacNeille) using a cross. And that’s it, a fleeting visitation by vampires from the Vampire Empire. Thanks to Jez who mentioned this one to me.

The episode's imdb page is here.

The House That Drinks – review

Author: Alex Alicea

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

The blurb: Marrow’s Point has a house everyone avoids and one ambitious investor is determined to monetize it anyway. When restoration consultant Evelyn Hart steps onto the fog-choked property, the mansion seems to notice her. Doors lock themselves. Sound dies in the halls. Blood does not spill, it sinks into marble and wood like the building is thirsty.

This is Gothic Horror with teeth: a living Victorian mansion that behaves like an organism, studying people, learning what they fear, and deciding what they’re worth. Locals warn that even if you leave, “part of you becomes a room,” and the house is patient enough to make that prophecy feel inevitable.

Evelyn is hired by Lila Voss, a desperate dealmaker who refuses to slow down even as the house’s “charm” turns predatory. When Evelyn pushes back on hosting guests, Lila’s answer is blunt: “Whatever it takes.” The house seems to like that.

Then Detective Mark Calder gets pulled into the nightmare as the mansion’s history snaps into focus and the town’s “luck” starts looking like a bargain paid in blood. The house whispers offers of protection in exchange for feeding, and Mark realizes the missing-persons story may include his own family.

As the mansion tightens control, Lila accelerates a preview event, funneling dozens of guests into a structure that herds them like prey. To survive, Evelyn and Mark are forced into an uneasy alliance with Silas Crowe, a contractor who knows too much about what’s under the house, and Rowan, an unnervingly calm figure who feels far older than he should.

If you want a Vampire Horror Mystery where the monster is the building, the secrets are structural, and every locked door is a decision the house is making, step inside The House That Drinks… and try not to give it anything it can keep.

The review: Some people are very traditionalist when it comes to vampire stories, they are looking for a member of the undead, they expect certain tropes. Others like a wider view of what constitutes a vampire and I am of the second camp, as regular readers will likely attest. I particularly like the idea of a vampiric building and indeed wrote a chapter on just that subject for the Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. I was therefore really excited when I spotted this book and there are conceptual aspects that I really enjoyed but other facets that are worryingly poor.

The book follows Evelyn Hart, a house restorer employed to assess the Varrick House (a building that had many names and uses over the years, but was built by immortality obsessed Elias Varrick in the nineteenth century). The house, however, is a living being and, as the book goes on, we find out about the predatory creature sealed in a foundation stone that acts almost as heart and brain, are told of the living wood used in construction and are introduced to a design that was meant to allow immortality and does, kind of. The house not only drinks blood but drinks in the person, taking the memories and personality, trapping the essence within its walls as it slowly grows and changes. This then feels like a culmination of certain vampiric house traits, whilst the stealing of memory and personality makes the house a repository of undead memory. In that sense it was a conceptually exciting read.

What went wrong was in the writing. There is inconsistency throughout the book and, as I read it, I gave that the benefit of the doubt as some of the inconsistencies, certainly around the passage of time, may have been deliberate to give the whole thing an Unheimlich essence. That might be true in places but, for instance, the time setting jumps between January in one place and October in another, which seems it might be a change in concept by the author and the editing of a redraft was poor…

However the errors in names were pretty bad, Evelyn Hart becomes Evelyn Thorne at one point. At the same time in the book Detective Mark Calder temporarily becomes Mark Chen. Chen, incidentally, is a name used for several background characters in the narrative. At the end of chapter 17 they are held in the house, with it locking them in place, at the start of chapter 18 Evelyn is outside in the nearby town – charitably, this could be nonlinear, though there is no indication of this, or deliberate but the author neglected to put anything in that would indicate that to the reader, likely it was just sloppy. On a positive note, it does jar the reader, and so inadvertently it does add to the uncanny.

Characters repeat plot points they have already established as though new – though perhaps this was meant to be the impact of memory being drunk and the characters losing their minds (literally) but if so the author never let the reader know this was what they were doing. Attitudes regress with characters resigning to the truth of the house and then deciding that can’t be the case despite seeing absolute proof. The house’s custodian, Rowan Hale, is met for the first time in the nearby town but later we are told his binding to the house is so strong he cannot cross beyond the house’s property line. He tells how his family were bound to the house, suggesting the responsibilities were inherited, and he has seen its actions by observing past family members but also that he is the one that made the original deal, was bound and has aged extremely slowly since. This might be an untrustworthy narrator, an error in drafting or an inability to keep motivations and backstories straight.

Another thing I noticed was the house using Evelyn to draft blueprints to allow it to reproduce, there are seventeen of them. However, at the end suddenly the house itself is blueprint 11 and it is strongly suggested that there were ten house before and likely out there (an idea that didn’t fit with the backstory and a single captured predator at the heart of the house) and seemed a fudge to open the pathway for a sequel.

I think all this could be one of three things: 

One, that the author deliberately made unreliable narrators and had things change or aspects repeat to build in that Unheimlich element and make the narration itself a liminal space between facts and falsehoods. If this is true, then the failing is on the author for not making this clear to the reader. I managed to convince myself this was true so as to stay with the narrative and finish the volume, and this was because I loved the central idea of the vampiric house, but I don’t truly think that was the case.

Secondly it might conceivably be errors created because the author used AI, to a greater or lesser extent, in the writing process. The inconsistencies and errors would then likely be AI hallucinations. I sincerely hope that isn’t the case, though I also note the, apparently, AI illustrations on the Amazon product page. A worse scenario is that the author is a pseudonym/invention that entirely AI generated books are being attached to – there is very little about the author online and he seems to have published a large number of books in an incredibly narrow space of time.

Lastly it is simply sloppy writing and redrafting, with ideas shifting, rushed changes, and very poor subsequent editing (or none at all).

As stands, if you like the idea of vampiric buildings and can overlook the issues with the narrative it may be worth a go, and that bolsters the score to 3 out of 10, which is generous given the issues but a tragedy given the concept.

On Kindle @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Red Days 2: Cecilia – review

Director: Brett William Mauser

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

Back to the communist People’s Monarchy of California that we looked at when I reviewed Red Days. Cecilia was the missing daughter of that film’s primary protagonist and revealed, when she returned to her family home, to be a vampire. In this actress Xiomara Bermudez has been replaced by Nicole Mattox as the titular character.

The start of the film sees her in her father’s (Sergio Cantu) garage, body parts litter the floor and she is distraught. However, as an indistinct loudhailer is heard she retrieves, with some difficulty, a blade from a head and walks out to face armed cops. They shoot but, of course, the wounds heal (this was a, I think, deliberately glossed over in a SFX way and could have looked better) and she says, “my turn”.

Nicole Mattox as Cecilia

The film cuts to Day 1 and the nuclear explosion in California – one of the seven sisters, seven nuclear bombs in different states. In California the explosion led to the takeover by the Monarchy but also Z particles – an airborne zombie plague, held off by alcohol. We see (reshot with Mattox) Cecilia’s fate, where she walks the streets dazed and is eventually got by… something.

vampire captor

When she wakes, she is chained, near bodies, and has both puncture wounds on her neck and amnesia. She has been taken by two vampires, one of whom is somewhat dismayed that the other didn’t drain her. This is something they need to do before the vampire virus takes hold. In quick succession she is threatened by a vampire, who is got himself by invading zombies. Cecilia plays dead but a zombie grabs her arm, ready to munch on it, when cops come in and kill them. They check Cecilia (and it is noted that the bite on her neck is not a zombie bite) but she plays possum and she has no pulse. When the cops are gone, she gets out of her irons by smearing zombie guts on her wrists.

invitation needed

The film follows her as she becomes used to what she is – for instance, her inability to enter homes that are occupied without an invite – there is an sfx for the barrier she comes across, her cross burning her, her need to feed on blood and the burning effects of the sun. She meets a Texas ranger (from the equally seceded Republic of Texas), Jim (Cliff Dean), who knows what she is, is able to incapacitate her and comes into the film again later. At her lowest ebb she is found trying (and failing) to commit suicide and is handed off to a representative of the Corporations.

the agents

She is put through her paces with other survivors, involving a test where they take on a zombie each. The other candidates turn against her when they realise she has does not appear on camera, however Cecilia is offered chance to use a serum that should remove her vampiric weaknesses. A similar super soldier serum is being offered to three other women, including Kim (Lisa Butala), but Cecilia’s serum is different as it is cut with Lycan DNA due to her vampirism. The serum is partially successful, she loses her need to drink blood, whether her strength and speed are enhanced is unclear, but all the other vampire weaknesses remain. Cecilia also has gone somewhat mad but is part of a four woman team of agents working for the Corporations…

fangs

The film concentrates less on the wider Monarchy of California and more narrowly at Cecilia and one specific conspiracy storyline and this works in its favour. However, the pacing might have gone wrong if it wasn’t for Nicole Mattox who plays both early, heartbroken and later madcap Cecilia brilliantly and with gusto – though I will say she is channelling her inner Harley Quinn in the latter half. One confusing thing was the suggestion at the end of the film that Cecilia would return in Knight Watchmen. Jim, when he returns, has become a Knight Watchman – a Texas PI and executioner combined. However, director Brett William Mauser had done a web-series entitled Knight Watchmen back in 2022, with Nicole Mattox playing Cecilia but without Cliff Dean. Whether the intertitle refers to that series or a new vehicle isn’t clear, at least as I write. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this, mostly down to Mattox’s performance in truth, and more than the first film. 6.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Axes and Os – review

Director: Trent Duncan

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

The slasher film is a genre all of its own and this starts off as a typical slasher, with stereotyped characters and a psychotic killer (an axeman in this case). However, the film hints occasionally at a different genre and that is, of course, the vampire genre. After all, I wouldn’t be reviewing this if it was something else.

So, it starts in a house, with a record playing and we see a man, later revealed as Luther Dremel (Brandon Krum), who puts a camo cloak over a chair (the camera is close, showing parts of him only). He is clearly a large gentleman, and he taps the blade of a small axe hung on his belt. There is blood on the banister and he goes upstairs, a shower can be heard but, as he walks past a cupboard, a gun is fired from within and he falls. The shooter, a woman, tries to get the other woman with her to move. She doesn’t see Dremel stand, he uses the axe and he removes her heart.

Olivia and Leah

Olivia (Madison M. Bowman) is in bed and her phone goes. Leah (Cass Huckabay) is calling and asks if she is ready, but Olivia has changed her mind… too late, Leah is in the house and pulls the covers off her. The backstory seems to be that Olivia (who is the nerdy one and reading Call of Cthulhu at times through the film) has been hurt by Josh (Jake Nuttall) two-timing her and so Leah is taking her to Valentine’s Lake for a Valentine’s getaway of a girly weekend (they dub it a Galentine's getaway). It seems like Leah is part of the family who adopted Olivia.

he removes the heart

In the jeep waiting for them is Abby (Jamie Bernadette, Midnight Texas & All Girls Weekend) who will drive them and is the hard drinking one of the group. We note that Olivia makes sure she has her pills – normally this will trope towards a mental health thing, but not here. They pick up Dawn (Sara Wimmer) enroute who is the slutty one. They have hired a cottage. Elsewhere a woman, Margot (Noemi Cabrera), is training, she gets a call to check her email and realises she’s got Catherine (Eileen Antonescu) – finds and confronts her suggesting the killer will be back. Out in the woods a pair of hikers are killed by Dremel and the woman’s heart removed.

Brandon Krum as Dremel

Caroline is renting the girls their cottage and the girls meet her, Margot and local sheriff Preston (Cheyenne Hess) in quick succession. They head to the lake. When Olivia is on her own and slightly drunk, Josh shows up and she manages to get away by way of a swift knee between his legs, but ends up dropping her meds and then, angry, crushing them on the floor. Dawn finds and shags Josh and they are killed by Dremel. Of course, he is now hunting the girls in the cottage (which is the same cottage as seen in the prologue) In the main any character that crosses his path doesn’t tend to last too long..

vampire eyes

So far, so slasher. However, Olivia is having disturbed first-person dreams that includes sharp nails and Leah is concerned when she discovers Olivia no longer has meds. As they end up lost downstream, whilst escaping Dremel, they have a conversation and Olivia says that Leah must run if she starts to change… This is our vampire bit. The pills are keeping her vampire nature at bay (how she ended up in hospital, treated for vampirism, on a prescription and placed with Leah’s family are plot points that are not addressed) and without them she will have changing eyes, claws, fangs, and be a feral hunter. The scene is set for the showdown between axeman and vampire…

fangs

It is a shift up in what has been a fairly derivative and standard slasher. The police’s shock at the ongoing events and who the killer might be is best ignored too. It is take-your-brain-out slasher fare, until it turns on its head, pivoting into a feral vampire flick, and that is in the last ten or so minutes. It doesn’t set the world on fire, but it isn’t awful either. 4.5 out of 10 overall is fair.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Blade Vol. 2: Evil Against Evil – review

Author: Bryan Edward Hill

Artists: Elena Casagrande & Valentina Pinti

First published: 2024 (TPB)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Blade learns lessons from the Incredible Hulk…and the infernal Dracula! Until the day-walking vampire hunter called Blade became sheriff of Vampire Nation, Dracula was his sworn enemy. Now Dracula is the only one who can teach Blade what he still needs to know about himself - and how to unlock new powers of vampirism Blade didn't even know he possessed! But in preparation to face the deadly Adana once more, Blade must confront the monster he fears he is - and who knows better what it's like to live with a dark side than Bruce Banner? Mustering all the power gained with Dracula's and Hulk's aid, Blade must gather knowledge about the Adana by going deep into the heart of enemy territory! A bloody rematch is coming. At stake? The fate of every soul on Earth!

The review: Part two of the limited story and it starts with Blade and the “unlikely ally” I mentioned in the previous review, revealed in the blurb above as Dracula. The fact that he would turn to Dracula for help didn’t phase me – though I will say I never felt the apocalyptic urgency coming through the narrative, generally, that would lead to such an alliance – but what did phase me was Blade’s apparent naivety. In volume 1 he blithely allows himself to make mistake after mistake. Here, Dracula says Blade has to drink his blood and we get a brief “no way”, and a too easily offered acceptance thereafter. This, I suspect, is down to the limited length but Blade was just not cynical enough generally.

The story came to a conclusion – with an aftermath that I am unsure as to if it was reflected across the Marvel universe thereafter. That said, it is a Blade adventure, which is always welcome, 6 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK