The Jitters

The 'hopping vampire' genre is uniquely Chinese, so this Canadian/Japanese co-production feels altogether wrong. Set in Chinatown (New York?), the film sees a vicious street gang causing trouble for Frank Lee, the elderly owner of a really crap looking gift store. Somehow, the old man has amassed a small fortune and the gang wants to get their hands on it.

When Frank is killed by the thugs, his daughter Alice (Marilyn Tokuda) vows to keep the shop open with the help of her boyfriend Michael (Sal Viviano); however, matters take an unexpected turn when Frank returns from the dead as a 'Jiangshi' (hopping vampire)...

My god, I thought some of the Hong Kong hopping vampire films I had seen were bad, but this one really scrapes the barrel. The acting is atrocious and the action is pathetic. At least the genuine articles have a degree of charm about them - this one is bad in almost every way, the one redeeming feature being a special make up effects sequence that deserves to be in a better movie. The plot is extremely slim and the whole thing is wrapped up with a terrible showdown in an alleyway that is so dark that it's hard to see what is happening (not that I could really give a damn - I was just happy that the end of the film was in sight!).