Everyone loves a good vampire story, right? I mean, vampires are all the rave these days. Thankfully FUNimation’s latest release doesn’t show glistening vampires wooing underage girls ala Twilight. Instead Higanjima: Escape from Vampire Island features a small Japanese island overrun by the blood-thirsty undead.

Taking place in modern day Japan, Higanjima: Escape from Vampire Island follows the life of Akira, a teenager who is a touch spineless when it comes to confrontation. He lives in the shadow of his missing older brother, the girl he likes has eyes for someone else, and his family’s business if failing miserably. Needless to say Akira isn’t exactly living the high life. When he meets a mysterious woman and discovers clues linking to the whereabouts of his brother, Atsushi, he simply has to find out more.

Another piece of the puzzle comes together as Akira and his friends are attacked by a vampire while following the mystery lady. Naturally the kids are freaked out, and when the woman explains that Atsushi is trapped on an island filled with vampires they tweak out even more. Akira is scared but the desire to save his brother outweighs his fear. Soon enough the gang heads off to Higanjima to butcher some undead and save Atsushi from a dark fate. I know, it’s standard horror movie plot fodder, but if it isn’t broke why bother fixing it?

Once Akira and company arrive on the island they are captured and tormented by the vampires. Naturally since this isn’t even the halfway point, they escape, and it’s not long before they meet up with Atsushi while on the lam. Akira’s brother is hardened and cold, but then again that would happen if you hunt vampires all day and night. Akira soon practices the ways of vampire slaying and eventually the two head off to confront the master vampire; an albino freak with very little panache as head villain.

Without giving much of the “plot” away, I will say that you get exactly what you were expecting to get with Higanjima: Escape from Vampire Island. The movie is popcorn-munching-Japanese-vampire-horror with a B-grade plot and mostly campy acting. It’s fun for what it is, but don’t look for it to be something more.

Higanjima is available at Amazon.com

FUNimation has released Higanjima: Escape from Vampire Island with a Blu-ray/DVD dual pack that features the film in both formats. For review purposes I naturally went with the Blu-ray and the film looked good for the most part. Black levels aren’t as rich as they should have been though, and considering this is a vampire movie, I don’t think I need to tell you how many shots were taken at night. Then again vampires roam during the day in this film too and those shots were significantly brighter and sharper. The audio came with English and Japanese TrueHD 5.1 tracks. Like the picture quality the sound was decent, but leaned towards serviceable rather than impressive.

Bonus features on this two-disc set are a bit light with trailers and a moderately worth while making of featurette.

Higanjima: Escape from Vampire Island is fun while it lasts, but it’s not something that’s worth a return trip. The vampire chopping action is goofy and the plot is riddled with problems, but should you really care? This one’s easily a rental but it’s still worth watching if you’re a fan of Japanese cinema. Just don’t come looking for the next big thing.

Rent it

Tags: DVD, FUNimation, Horror, Review