Until recently, writer-director Nick Murphy’s credits mostly included a few episodes of the odd TV series or documentary. He’s now starting to make a big name for himself with his first feature film, The Awakening, starring Rebecca Hall and Dominic West, due out in November.

Murphy is now set to go behind the camera again for another feature, Blood, which is to be an adaptation of the Bill Gallagher’s TV series, Conviction, which Gallagher will himself adapt, ScreenDaily report.

The project is already taking shape nicely, with three fantastic lead actors attached in the form of Paul Bettany (Priest), Brian Cox (X-Men 2), and Stephen Graham (Snatch), the last of which Murphy has already worked with on the 2009 TV series, Occupation.

Neal Street Productions, whose credits include Jarhead, Starter For 10, The Kite Runner, and Revolutionary Road, has already secured funding from BBC Films and the BFI, which is terrific news, and production is scheduled to begin in January next year.

Blood will be,

“about two policemen who kill a murder suspect and are then plunged into chaos when they are forced to investigate their own crime.”

Those two roles of the policeman, who are brothers, will presumably be filled by the awesome Bettany and Graham, both absolutely fantastic actors, and Cox will likely be playing their father, who, according to Wikipedia, in the original series is fighting a losing battle with Alzheimer’s.

I missed the original TV series when it was shown back in 2004, but I’m definitely tempted to hunt it down and watch it soon, because it sounds pretty awesome. As much as I tend to watch American television and films more than I do British, I must admit that the BBC often gets it so right when it comes to making good television.

Just from that basic premise, I can already see Bettany, who is by far one of my favourite British actors working at the moment, being beyond amazing in this role, and it really can’t come to the big screen fast enough for me. Hopefully with production already scheduled for the start of next year, I won’t have to wait too long to see the final product. This is going to be something to look forward to for sure.

I’ve seen quite a few different reviews of this movie before I watched it and it’s difficult when you’re in that situation as you go into it with pre-coceived ideas. My expectations were very low because I hadn’t heard an awful lot of good things about the movie but, I think because of that, it turned out to be a little better than I expected.

Blood: The Last Vampire is directed by Chris Nahon and stars Gianna Jun, Allison Miller, Liam Cunningham, JJ Feild, Koyuki and, believe it or not, Larry Lamb who you’ll recognise from Eastenders and Gavin and Stacey. It’s a story about a young half-vampire, half-human (Jun), left to fight the demons that have invaded the earth. On the surface, Saya is a beautiful 16-year-old, but underneath that youthful exterior hides a tormented soul. When her human father was brutally murdered by Onigen, the evil lord of all vampires, when she was just a child Saya was bound by an oath to avenge his death.

After joining forces with a shadowy society known only as the Council, the troubled young halfling is dispatched to an American military base in Tokyo. In exchange for help in tracking down her arch nemesis Onigen, Saya goes undercover at the local high school to seek out and destroy her demon classmates”¦ but gets drawn into an unexpected and unlikely friendship with a human in the process.

I struggled with parts of this movie but then really enjoyed others. The fight choreography was excellent my favourite fight sequence becoming more like a cleverly thought out dance. There are similarities with the Blade movies in this respect and rather than coming up with a new script, they focus on the half vampire, half human side of the characters.

The effects weren’t the best you’ll see but i think that’s the look they were trying to go for. Whenever a samurai sword was used to kill an enemy, huge blobs of fake blood would be used to emphasize the death. I think these were added in post production and were made to give the movie a slightly humerous edge, it is called ‘Blood’ after all! What made it most amusing me for was watching Larry Lamb appear as a US General when I just couldn’t get past seeing him as Gavin’s dad from Gavin and Stacey!

Allison Miller plays the daughter of the General and looks like a mix between Kate Beckinsale and Kristen Stewart but she played her part of running away scared pretty well! Some of the acting from all the cast was a little dodgy but I think this movie was more about the effects and the choreography than it was the acting. The problem was that some of the bad performances leaked into scenes that were supposed to be serious and you’re left shaking your head in dis-belief.

Blood The Last Vampire is never going to be a best seller but if you like action movies that feature vampires being slain in multiple different ways, either buy Blade or Blood: The Last Vampire!

Blood: The Last Vampire is out on DVD and Blu Ray now!

Blood: The Last Vampire fights its way to Blu-ray and DVD November 2. The movie is a slick and stylised English adaptation of the hugely popular cult hit anime series of the same name. The movie is full of blood and gore, so in celebration of this release, we have compiled a short list of some of the bloodiest films to date. Chances are, if you loved these films and relished the blood, then you will love Blood: The Last Vampire. The name speaks for itself!

Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

It is clear to see that Blood: The Last Vampire sticks true to its gory genre. In many of the scenes, Saya is surrounded by a group of demons. The creativity of their deaths is the winning factor here, for example in one scene she decapitates a demon by throwing a metal grate at it, and slices another in half to create an upward blood fountain, always escaping the blood spurts after killing someone. Ultimate gore!

The Shining (1980)

In The Shining Wendy sees blood rushing out of elevator doors which sloshes down the hallway. What puts this scene onto our list is the sheer amount of blood on display! It is a sea of blood. It flows like a river and encapsulates the viewer. It’s pretty shocking for a film of its time, and a timeless classic to this day. Not to mention the rest of the films climatic expertise and creepiness.

Blade (1998)

Perhaps one of the most creative uses of blood is seen in Blade. Picture the scene ““ clubbers dancing away at a night club, when blood starts spraying out of the fire sprinklers all over the patrons below. To your typical clubber, it’s pretty sick. However, naturally there are some vampires in the club, who are thrown into ecstasy, and start to gyrate with each other under the slick red rain. Enter Blade, who proceeds to kill the instantly identifiable vampires by shooting and stabbing them. Lots and lots of blood, in a contemporary setting, what more could a horror fan want?

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

In A Nightmare on Elm Street we witness an unbelievable amount of blood in a very familiar place- one’s bed. Dragged into the middle of his bed by the infamous Freddy, Glenn is literally sucked into the underworld. Following his being dragged down into the depths, copious amounts of blood then spray aggressively onto the ceiling. The Blood shoots out of it like a geyser, or a high powered pressure washer. It’s all pretty surreal and strangely amusing to watch. His screaming mother only adds to the dark humour.

Kill Bill (2003)

When one thinks of bloody films, of course Kill Bill comes to mind. Specifically the scenes from The Bride where “˜88′ crazy suited men try to kill her, but get a little more than they have bargained for. And the highlight of this bloody battle? When The Bride kills one of the 88′s by pulling his eye out completely. She also does a break dance move and cuts the shins, ankles, and legs of the 88′s, spraying their blood everywhere. That girl can move, and it is mesmerising yet stimulating to watch!

Saw (2004)

Another high contender in the gore stakes is the Saw collection. In one particular scene in the first Saw, Amanda’s head is in a reverse bear trap. There is a key to unlock it, but it’s buried in the guts of her seemingly dead roommate. In true Saw fashion, Amanda is expected to use a knife to retrieve the key from his stomach. The next few minutes see her riffling through his liver, intestine and other organs. As one can imagine, this is quite a messy job and she ends up covered in his blood and guts. Several points for creativity!

Scream (1996)

No horror movie list would be complete without reference to the ultimate classic, Scream. Let’s take the Casey Becker scene. She is running from the killer and, well, she doesn’t get very far. He stabs her in the chest, slits her throat, and then continues to stab away until she couldn’t be any deader, and his knife couldn’t be any redder. He kills her brutally with a kitchen knife! Lovely and lots of blood for good measure too.

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Final Destination 2- or actually any of the Final Destination collection- wins where gore is concerned. In this particular scene we see another incredibly gruesome and original death take place. A woman is involved in a car accident that causes a piece of pipe to break in her car. Whilst fire fighters use machinery to free her from the mangled car, the airbag goes off and the back of her head is thrown onto the broken pipe. Her death is unexpected and sudden, leaving her with a pipe coming out her forehead, with brain matter and a pool of blood streaming down her face.

Hannibal (2001)

Another master of creativity would be Mr. Hannibal Lecter. Remember the scene where he tied up Detective Pazzi with duct tape in Hannibal? Having secured one end of a rope round the detective and the other around a separate chair, he sliced his abdomen and threw him off a balcony. The rope around the chair stopped Pazzi mid fall, but not his guts. These kept falling, out through the hole in his stomach, and spilled onto the ground below as the force of gravity took its toll. What an ingenious, blood-thirsty, gory way to kill.

Carrie (1976)

Carrie takes blood to the high school movie. A geek that falls victim of the bitchy girls at school thinks she has finally overcome it all when she wins the coveted title of prom queen. Unfortunately for her, some of her tormentors manage to tip a bucket of pigs over her whilst on stage, in front of the entire student body. The neat thing about this scene is the realism, the fact that it could actually happen. As Carrie stands dripping in blood, the scene is compounded by the awkward silence that follows and the true horror of her situation comes to light.

Blood: The Last Vampire is out on Blu-ray and DVD November 2

http://www.bloodthelastvampire.co.uk/