Witches Hammer

Amber Pictures

UK Release

Web: http://www.amberpictures.co.uk/

Witches Hammer is a different sort of vampire film. It opens with Rebecca’s death via vampire bite and a series of medical procedures via which she is moulded into some sort of vampire assassin under the ownership of a corporation or perhaps a secret agency.

Three weeks later, she is being questioned and we come to realize that she has been recruited by Project 571 to work as a genetically enhanced vampire assassin. It seems only a vampire can successfully fight other vampires and she is the one chosen for the task. She has lost her family and while she is free to leave she realizes that to have any real contact leaves them at risk due to her new “tastes”. This reoccurring theme is a nice “human” touch throughout the film and hence takes to the task at hand.

While she has greatly superior abilities, she still needs lots of martial arts and weapons training and must avoid decapitation, heart piercing and too much sunlight.

This new approach to the vampire legend has a lot of potential, crossing genres and exploring new territory by mixing horror, spy and assassin stories and martial arts. This is certainly an interesting mix which is easy on the eye and jam packed with action. There is lots of hand to hand combat, weapons, vampires against vampires and, of course, the righteous vampire babe !

While Witches Hammer is a relatively moderate budget film and at times some of the special effects and CGI could have done with some extra funds, what has been achieved is really quite outstanding. The acting is reasonable, the plot is intriguing and the sheer creativity of the ideas behind the Witches Hammer and the way it crosses genres makes it n enjoyable and action filled romp.

The various missions that Rebecca undertakes are a mix between super assassin “Jane” Bond and vampire martial arts warrior and they work exceptionally well. The fact that they used UK Premier martial artist Kris Tanaka shows, the action looks real and really makes these scenes convincing. At the same time there is a sense of “play” it is a film that doesn’t attempt to take itself “too seriously”, it does not rely on heavy sex, gore and nudity but uses a good old action formula mixed with updated vampire lore and humour to boot !

The story moves into all sorts of unusual directions with the murder of Rebecca’s team and her recruitment to Project 572 which has a focus on dealing in Witches. We end up with all sorts of conspiracies, sorcery, occult texts and spells. All these various elements are nicely interwoven and create quite a layered plot.

The comedy elements work well and The Witches Hammer does have a dry sense of wit and humour. There is also some amusing slapstick and many of the fight scenes, such as the frying pan scene are impressive, offering humour as well as head to head combat.

Witches Hammer is an ambitious film, working cross genres and in different moods. It is a comedy, a horror and an assassin action film with martial art elements. This is an adventurous and creative approach to the vampire tale and one which I think shows a lot of creativity. It is certainly worth watching and offers a fun and entertaining new approach to an old tale.