12.7 C
New York
Monday, October 14, 2024
Advertisement

Higanjima: Escape from Vampire Island Blu-ray Review

  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  • Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
  • Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
  • Audio Codec: Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: A (Region-Locked)
  • Rating: TV-MA
  • Run Time: 123 Mins.
  • Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD)
  • Studio: Funimation
  • Blu-ray Release Date: October 4, 2011
  • List Price: $29.98

[amazon-product]B00576U9A8[/amazon-product]

BestBuy.com
Higanjima -

Purchase Higanjima:Escape from Vampire Island on Blu-ray+DVD at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0.5/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG  thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

The Film

[Rating:2/5]

This horror film is proof that absolutely everyone is into vampires these days, even the Japanese and Koreans. The live-action film that plays more like a comedic anime is about a teenager, Akira (Hideo Ishiguro) who leads his group of friends to an uncharted island occupied by vampires to rescue his missing brother at the urging of a beautiful, mysterious woman, Rei (Asami Mizukawa). Once there, Akira and his rag-tag group of friends are surrounded by sword wielding vampires, she-bats, and the lord of the vampires, a ghostly white vampire with an insatiable sexual appetite for Rei.

Sadly, this film fails as horror. It is full of overwrought melodrama, terribly cheesy special effects (the red-dyed corn syrup flows in overabundance) and a lack of character development. It’s not scary at all, just ridiculous.

Video Quality

[Rating:4.5/5]

It may be an awful film, but Higanjima: Escape from Vampire Island sure looks good on Blu-ray. The blacks are deep, detail is sharp and textured, and the image has great contrast.

Audio Quality

[Rating:5/5]

The sound design is also strong for this release. The Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is aggressive, but not mastered at an exceptionally loud level. There is a good dynamic range with strong discrete use of the surround channels and heavy directional use of the front channels. Dialogue doesn’t show any clipping and never gets buried in the mix while there is deep low frequency extension.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:0.5/5]

Supplements are weak on this release, with only a brief “making of” an original theatrical trailer and other Funimation trailers.

  • Making of Higanjima (1.78:1; 480i/60)
  • Original Trailer

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3/5]

As a campy, vampy romp, this may well work for the sheer humour of how bad it is, but as pure horror, Higanjima is a definite miss. No doubt the October release is timed for the Halloween festivities, but this is one you’ll want to skip in favor of better horror fare.

Additional Screen Captures

[amazon-product]B00576U9A8[/amazon-product]

BestBuy.com
Higanjima -

Purchase Higanjima:Escape from Vampire Island on Blu-ray+DVD at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0.5/5]

Join the Discussion on Our Forum

Advertisement

Related Articles

Join the Discussion on TheaterByte!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stay Connected

301FansLike
0FollowersFollow
184FollowersFollow
1,710FollowersFollow
- Advertisement -

Notice of Compliance with FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 16 CFR Part 255

In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR part 255 guidelines, this website hereby states that it receives free discs and other theatrical or home entertainment "screeners" and access to screening links from studios and/or PR firms, and is provided with consumer electronics devices on loan from hardware manufacturers and/or PR firms respectively for the purposes of evaluating the products and its content for editorial reviews. We receive no compensation from these companies for our opinions or for the writing of reviews or editorials.
Permission is sometimes granted to companies to quote our work and editorial reviews free of charge. Our website may contain affiliate marketing links, which means we may get paid commission on sales of those products or the services we write about. Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers or affiliate partnerships. This disclosure is provided in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR § 255.5: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Latest Articles