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review archives -> ZenStarReviewsArchives review 6: vampire hunter d (anime movie)date: 17 june 2003 vampires rule the night, but their numbers are dwindeling. a new class of hunter has emerged: bounty hunters. the best among these is vampire hunter d. well... that's pretty much the intro. d (just d) is a vampire hunter (duh), but he's also a dunpeel: a half-vampire. he's hired to find a vampire who has taken his employer's daughter and return her if she's alive, and kill her swiftly if she's changed, but he's not the only one they've hired so whoever gets her back get the reward. that's pretty much the setup of the movie. the plot is very typically anime with lots of action, an entwined love story, strange monsters, and hidden messages. the characters are also very anime: d is very cool, skilled, and quiet. the other group of vampire hunters are made of a mix of people including a hulking brute with a sharpened hammer, a cool leader with a cigar and a arm mounted crossbow, a woman with a past and a big gun, and a couple of others. their enemies include a host of strange creatures and the ultimate bad guy/vampire (in typical anime fashion) leaves you thinking maybe he's not bad at all. the fight scenes are all well done and add nicely to the movie. the animation is very good and the sound really works well in the movie. get a stereo copy to watch and you'll see what i mean in the opening cemetry scene with graves whizzing past on either side. the animation style works well with the movie and i get the feel lots of money was spent on the movie. there's also a nice rich background feel to the movie like everything was well designed and prepared before the movie was started, things like general beliefs and superstitions, how the cities and towns look, what was the history and what parts of the history will crop up in the movie. overall the story is enjoyable, the characters exciting, the scenes well thought out, and the animation/sound well implemented. i give the movie 4 stars: well worth watching (especially if you can organise some surround sound and a big screen). review 7: return of the living dead (book by john russo - provided for review by dave sharpe)date: 29 july 2003 horrible. if you don't read further then remeber the first sentence. the plot is extremely thin and predictable except for the end which you'd never believe to be as lame and anti-climactic as it truly is. the pages are rife with spelling errors that really shouldn't appear in a novel. things like 'th' instead of 'the' and the misspelling of a major character's name. not enough attention was paid to the main attraction of the book: the zombies. no sense of dread came from them. this book couldn't give you shivers if you were naked, while being snowed on, while sitting on a block of ice that's decided to attatch itself to your respective genetalia, in the antarctic! there's the occasional sense of loss of continuity as the book jumps between different characters or when characters suddenly have unexplained flashlights etc... it's also not helped by the fact that the zombies pendulum between being intellegent and cunning creatures, and moronic monsters that can barely say brains while shuffling along in mobs. on top of all this there's a pointless sex scene in a graveyard that could have been cut out completely as it doesn't add to any of the characters, doesn't further the plot, and isn't even sexy... it's bland and a waste of trees. this book claims "now a major film" on the cover, but on the inside it states: "(this book is) based on the film of the same name, and is markedly different from the earlier novel of the same title by (the same guy and printing press)." i really cannot understand why they would do this. the original cannot be worse than this version. the only plus side of this book (besides seing that it cost only 6 rand from wherever dave found it) is that it is a short and light read. overall i'd suggest not bothering to read it. i give it 1 star. review 8: the thing (book by alan dean foster - provided for review by dave sharpe)date: 06 august 2003 based on the screenplay by bill lancaster, this book is basically the same as the movie of the same name except now you get a little more insight into what each character is thinking and feeling. the plot remains quite true to the movie (with a couple of minor changes which make a better book). for those who haven't seen the movie (which you should) the story is set in a research station in the antarctic. it begins with a strange incident: a helicopter trying to catch and kill a husky with wild gunshots threatening the researchers. the dog is saved and the pilots crash and die. it is discovered that the helicopter passangers are from a norwegian camp and a visit brings up some bizarre clues. all the norwegians are dead and no-one can really tell what happened until it is discovered that the husky is really some sort of shape-changing thing that can steal bodies. suddenly everyone is paranoid and you can't tell who can be trusted. the tension level is maintained very well throughout the book and the characters are decently portrayed as real people. the only slight annoyance is that for the first few chapters of the book it's a little difficult to follow all the team members until you learn all their names and positions in the camp. it's not a very long book (just shy of 200 pages) and you should be able to finish it fairly quickly. i really enjoyed the movie and the book didn't let my expectations down. i give it 4 stars, an excellent read especially if you're inbetween heavier reads. review 9: the new guy (movie)date: 06 august 2003 funny. it's basically your standard teen, geek-wants-to-be-cool-at-school, feel good film with a lot of laughs. when i got it out i was unsure if it was going to be good or if it was going to suck. to my surprise it was hugely funny. dizzy is a geek in a funk band and is unhappy about his life so he gets a crazy con to teach him how to be cool. soon he's changed his name to gil and has been kicked out of school. his new school is really rough and he soon makes a name for himself and the head cheerleader catches his eye. the plot is fairly simple and isn't greatly original but that's not the aim of the film, it's all about the laughs and there are many of those (anyone whose seen it will crack up at the mention of crazy eyes especially if you make a whipping sound at the same time). basically if you want a movie that doesn't require much thought but will evoke many laughs this is just what you want. i give it 4.4 stars. back to ZenStar |