The tyranist's thoughts
I was completely unacquainted with the world of Hong Kong cinema as recently as five years ago. Fortunately, a little exposure was all that was needed. We haven't reviewed much in the way of cross-overs between the world of Asian cinema and the horror genre, but perhaps today is your lucky day. Not only is Vampire Hunters a classic Hong Kong martial arts fantasy, but it's also horror. Hmm. Maybe 'classic' is too strong a term.
A band of vampire hunters has at last tracked a vampire to its origin. They apparently lack what it takes to do their job, however, because it promptly kicks their collective ass. A while later, four of the original band are seeking their master from whom they were separated during the fleeing part of their last battle. They stumble upon a marriage that ends up having consequences on more than one level.
I like the vampire mythology of this one. First, there are dead people. Then there are the corpses of dead people animated into a zombie state (they like to hop in this state for some reason--sometimes it's a little creepy, mostly it's kinda funny). Those zombies develop a taste for blood (and apparently some intelligence) and become vampires. They also don't bite to suck blood, preferring instead to make like a vacuum and literally suck the flessh and blood off of the skeleton from a short distance.
There are moments of pure genre film from all of the genres that this one mixes, but in the end it is exactly what is promised, a martial-arts fantasy/horror flick. For that reason it is easy to enjoy if it is your type of movie already. On the other hand, I can see a lot of people walking away from this one too. You probably already know which category you will fall into.