'Blood Hunters' concerns the story of Gabriella, a tough survivalist who has sworn vengeance on the demons called ‘Aswang’ that murdered her family. After a skirmish with Naga (an Aswang hybrid named after my favourite curry dish), Gabriella is found and nursed back to health by The Blood Hunters, a secret sect of demon hunters that are locked in a mortal battle with The Aswang, The Hybrids and anything resembling story logic. The plot is more complex than this, as a 3-minute prologue with beyond-parody voiceover will attest, but if I tried to explain it, I may never recover.
Directed by Vincent Soberano and shot in The Philippines with an international cast, 'Blood Hunters' is a rollicking affair that combines fantasy with martial arts' tropes. The film is well shot and features some talented martial artists throughout the cast, in short, if anyone is looking to film in The Philippines, Soberano has assembled a ready-made second unit fight-scene team. The film’s aesthetic belies its STV credentials and cinematographers Miguel Cruz and Takeyushi Onishi have given the film a look of real quality, but the film’s real ace up its sleeve comes in the animation. Transitions between scenes take the form of freeze framing a shot, rotoscoping a graphic novel image over the shot and then scrolling through different graphic novel cells before resting on a new image, which dissolves into the filmed scene. It is stylish, slick and completely befitting the genre, implying a broader franchise beyond this effort. Praise must also go to the energetic and well-choreographed fight scenes that punctuate most scenes; even when the motivations are ludicrous (one fight ends after a minute or so with one of the fighters saying “Bolo. It’s me!”, which he hadn’t thought to say to what turns out to be his own brother when he entered the house to find said brother and found only one person in it… his brother.) or even when they become repetitive. So there is no denying that this film is entertaining.
However, my motivation to watch this film was to enjoy some wry snickering at its expense, and thanks to director and screenwriter Vincent Soberano, it really delivers. I am a teacher by trade and well versed in parents’ evenings, so if I were to meet Mr & Mrs Soberano, proudly awaiting news of little Vincent’s progress this term I would describe him as follows; “Vincent is very enthusiastic and has a unique talent. The way he directs his actors is very original and he has his own special way of writing dialogue for his screenplays.” Imagine their smiles.
One scene which seems to demonstrate Soberano’s gift for uninterpretable dialogue and likewise his cast’s gift in interpreting it comes when Gabriella, ably played by Sarah Chang, awakens from her ordeal to find herself in the Blood Hunters’ camp. She is joined by Max & Kali, the young lovers united by their mission to destroy the Aswang, who eye Gabriella confidently. Kali looks this new girl up and down and says “Good morning girl. Dammmn. Here is your shirt and booty shorts.” in a staccato Californian accent that made me wonder if I’d accidently agreed to review one of those mucky films I’ve heard so much about, but have definitely never ever seen – thankfully everyone remains appropriately attired and the scene goes on to deliver some absurd exposition about demons or something until Max says “you just dropped a bomb!”. Max & Kali are played by actors who are no doubt talented, but neither seem to be able to grasp the basic motivation of any individual line they utter, which makes them compelling viewing. One climactic scene has that moment when, having dispatched various underlings, Gabriella finally comes face-to-face with a big bad-guy (the prelude to ‘the boss-fight’) who says “At last we come to a head. We FINALLY meet again.” as though the actor was given a script page which included both options split by a forward-slash, but Soberano had forgotten to score the lesser of two statements out, so just let him say both. It’s wonderful.
These criticisms are of course mean-spirited and it would be remiss of me to emphasise these over the filmic quality, lively pace and furious fisticuffs that keep the film from descending into incomprehensibility. Soberano and his determined cast have pieced together a good looking, action packed and undeniably fun flick that has something for everyone to enjoy, whether your motivation is ironic or otherwise.
Reviewer - Ben Hassouna-Smith
on - 12/10/20
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