Ninjas vs. Vampires

If you're looking for a film that actually lives up to the promised glory of the title, please go elsewhere. But if you're looking for an undercover fan film presumably set in Joss Whedon's Buffyverse but with a tenth of the needed resources and 1/100th of Whedon's talent, you're in luck. The filmmakers have their heart in the right place but heart isn't enough, either for an independent film or even a fan film, because this has got to have some of the dodgiest production value this side of a Chris Seaver joint. At least on a technical level, earnestness isn't going to make the grade when you've got stuff like STAR WARS: REVELATIONS or STAR TREK PHASE 2 which are professionally mounted if nothing else. If all you've got is a copy of Adobe Premiere along with an off-the-shelf consumer camera,and a work light or two from Home Depot, it's not going to cut it, knowhutImsayin?

Now poor production value wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker, but there is no story and no craft to elevate this sorry work. It's just 90m of winking at the audience substituting for acting, half-as**ed, spastickly staged fights masquerading as action, and nerd references, stolen one-liners, and warmed over jokes pretending to be a script. If you want to see a undercover fan film that's done with actual panache and skill, try RECON 2022: THE MEZZO INCIDENT (please note I'm not saying its good, because dear God, it's not. It's just that they tried.)

The only thing that is admirable about NINJAS VS VAMPIRES is the marketing because, let's face it—it's a great title and they put together some great box art; it's slick, professional and puts you in the mood for some quality vampire-fu action--- and you will get that providedyou go watch Buffy, Angel, BLADE, any of the UNDERWORLD movies, or BLOODRAYNE even because you're sure as hell not going to get it from NINJAS VS VAMPIRES.

This "movie" was uncomfortable at best. The premise would allow for a fantastic thrill ride of adventure. Who doesn't like ninjas? At first I thought that this could have been a guilty pleasure or at least an over sexualized 90 minute romp with ninjas.

This is the movie equivalent of your creepy uncle making a sexual remark about his underage daughter at a family reunion.

From the casting to costumes to weird gimmicks like enchanted windows, this was a total flop.

The fight scenes alone express how stupid the director thinks the viewers are.

As others have already stated; the movie is not bad and does look like a bunch of friends made but they had FUN while doing it. The writing was well and the dialog was better and more on queue (ie natural)than a lot of high budget movies these days. Anyone remember the first season of Buffy? This is about on par except they didn't have that great of a camera. No knock against Joss Whedon, but the dialog, while having its over the top cheesy parts, was very natural. They act like people that have been around each other long enough to say the things they do. And yes, if you do not know a lot of popular culture references you may be lost, but much to your own detriment. For what it was and what they had to work with, I have enjoyed this much more than a lot of the newer movies produced by large production companies. The weapon usage was also better than most you see on TV in popular series today. If you like campy dialog, ie Army of Darkness, Buffy, etc. and just good old action, give this movie a shot, you may be pleasantly surprised.

The only complaint I had for ninja's vs Zombies was its slow pacing at times and being overly long. Both of these problems have been fixed in this film and its very apparent the director is growing.

It is still grade B horror, or indie as they are calling them these days, but it has a fun plot tons of great fight scenes and some good laughs.

I you are looking for big screen production values I am afraid you may need to look elsewhere as the money spent to make this is not massive, however if you give it a chance I think you will be very happy with it.

Be sure to keep an eye on both this series and the director as I expect one or the other to be making it to the big screen one day!

Ninjas battle Vampires for the fate of the world...

Let me be completely honest... this film arrived in my mailbox for review, and I shuddered in fear. Low budget, very cheesy premise... I figured there was no way this could possibly be good.

On the one hand, I was not all wrong. The low budget does hinder them a bit, making it appear like a group of friends with a camcorder running around in the neighborhood. Which is probably exactly what it is. Also, the costumes are really, really bad -- one in particular is awful (you judge for yourself).

But, the general concept comes off much less stupid when you see it in action, and had a bigger company tackled this and given it a better name, it may have a following. Where the film really excels is in the writing of jokes. They obviously knew they could not take themselves too seriously, so there is a joke every minute, often at the film's expense. One character is jokingly called "Destro" and "Doctor Doom" to heckle his cheesy mask.

If you do not know pop culture references, you may hate this. The story is good, but not great, and the acting is nothing special. Again, it is the jokes that sell, but if you do not know the movies and comics they reference, it may be over your head. Plenty of X-Men banter, and more than a few "Twilight" slams.

I cannot recommend this film to just anyone. The pampered viewer who needs the latest special effect and big names will hate this and turn it off after 5 minutes. Fans of the lower budget may find it to their liking. It is an ideal drinking film. Oh, and the rocking soundtrack deserves praise... that may have been the deciding factor between this film failing or succeeding. It succeeds, barely.