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Robo Vampire (1988)
Robo Vampire (1988)
1988 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
6
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
Drug baron Mr Young is fed up with Narcotics agent Tom Wilde interfering with his plans so he hires a Taoist monk to train a vampire to kill him. After his death Tom is rebuilt as an Android Robot and sent on a mission to help rescue a captured officer.
The cover/poster art would have us believe that this is a Robocop vs vampire movie and I suppose that it is in the looses possible sense. First off this is low budget Hong Kong Jiangshi (rotting corpse) movie with added cyborg (Sorry Android Robot) so the vampires are of the hopping type not the western 'gentleman'.
I've given this film a 6 on the basis that it's so bad it's good. Most of the vampires are ok and look like the standard hopping type but the lead vampire seems to be wearing a gorilla mask to make it look rotten. No one bleeds when shot and it's obvious when dummies are used instead of stun doubles . Even taking this into account I would have given Robo Vampire a higher rating but it gets hard to follow. There are two story-lines to follow, the rescue of Sophie, an undercover agent that has been kidnapped and the Tom-robot vs the vampire's and ghost. And this is the first confusing part of the plot. Tom's creators say that he is to be sent on the rescue mission but he is never with the rescue party. Instead he goes off to fight the vampire. So the film switches between the rescue and Tom vs the vampires. Even this wouldn't be a problem except that the story-lines seem to continue even when we're not watching. For example, the rescue party are heading towards the camp with baddies jumping out at them from all directions. The we switch to Robo and when we switch back to the rescue two of the party are swimming in a lake with no sign of any of the others and end up getting captured, then back to Robo, then back the rest of the rescue party who don't even acknowledged that two of their party are missing but aren't surprised when they see them as prisoners. This sort of thing happens a lot, it's almost as if some one just cut out random scenes. Characters also just seem to appear with no introduction and switch sides with no seeming reason.
  
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Merissa (11869 KP) rated Wounded Soul in Books

May 10, 2019  
Wounded Soul
Wounded Soul
Annabelle Jacobs | 2019 | LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wounded Soul by Annabelle Jacobs
Wounded Soul involves a human unaware of vampires, and a vampire smitten with insta-lust for said human. Of course, if it was left like that, it would be too easy, so throw into the a mix a psychotic vampire, a best friend working for the human/vampire police, another best friend terrified of the thought of vampires, and a coven leader you respect and don't want to insult. Sounding good yet?

This book a really good read, from the first steamy hot meeting, to the intensity of the psychotic, to the nerve-jangling will he/won't he live (and that's not the 'he' you're thinking of!) Annabelle Jacobs is one of my favourite paranormal romance writers, if only for the fact they are not automatically based in America. I loved her Regent's Park series, and I loved this one just as much. I would love to read more about the characters mentioned in this story, but I have no idea if there is a sequel or series planned.

Either way, this was really well-written, with no editing or grammatical errors that I noticed. The pacing was good, and the connection between the characters was intense. And don't forget the bad guy you love to hate. Definitely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Mr. Vampire (1985)
Mr. Vampire (1985)
1985 | Action, International, Comedy
9
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
When a 20 year old corpse is exhumed for a re burial Master Gau and his two students find that the body hasn't rotted. When the corpse re animates as a vampire the trio have to protect the vampires family and find a way to stop the monster.

Mr vampire is a Chinese horror/comedy and a breakthrough 'Jiangshi' (Rotting Copse) movie due it's mixing of slapstick comedy, kung-fu, Chinese folklore and western vampire myth and has a number of sequels.

The humour is very slapstick, with people getting hit with furniture or getting their head stuck in prison cell bars and the horror level is quite low and most of the effects are quite cheesy.

The Kung-Fu aspect makes the fight scenes entertaining and both the vampire and the ghost have to be dealt with slightly differently..
The image of the living corpse, be it vampire or zombie, being controlled by a yellow paper talisman stuck to it's head is though to have come from Mr Vampire and has been used in many subsequent Jiangshi film as well as many other shows, including the recent Netflix show 'Kingdom' where we see a scene of villagers selling the talismans when the zombies are threatening their village.

Mr Vampire manages to pull off Horror comedy in a way that is watchable by almost anyone. The film has a 15 (UK) rating and does contain vampires and ghosts but neither are overly frighting, partly due to the effects of the time.
  
Clan of the Jersey Boys (Fangsters #1)
Clan of the Jersey Boys (Fangsters #1)
Ryan Field | 2013
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
DNF

I hate DNF’s. I always feel bad for not finishing them but sometimes I just cant get into a story. I stopped at 38%.

Right. Well, I expected this to be better–that sounds bad I know–but I was expecting them to be these tough vampires who kicked arse while running an illegal empire. In a way it was, but it didn’t seem bad-arse enough for me. Sure there were a few scenes with retribution/warnings handed out to people but I didn’t feel it.

Another thing that got me was all the mention of family and it’s many members. Yeah I know families are important in Italian/Sicilian cultures but more people kept getting mentioned and I found myself getting confused. What with Anton and someone else being turned by one person and his dad and uncle turned by someone else and this guy turned by the brother of that guy making them cousins…I got lost. It was a little too much for me to keep up with.

The relationship between Anton and Leo happened a little too fast for me to believe. Not the sex–he’s an attractive guy after all–but the “love you’s” and how strong their feelings were after the one night they spent together. Or maybe I just missed something?

It’s not a bad story, it was just a little different to what I normally read; the mobster/gangster bit anyway. If you like vampires, mobsters and m/m stories then you will probably like this.