Reviews

I've now seen three versions of this story.

The manga series that covers about three years of the lives of Momo and Sumire, the Japanese TV series "Kimi wa petto," and then an English translation of this Korean film.

The TV series is much closer to the manga in terms of character but I actually preferred the ending to the TV series because it leaves room for more advancement and development. That Sumire, the female lead, is more active in the TV series is very important to the story because the tale is more cultural commentary than romantic comedy.

The Korean movie continues the story further into the manga series but mixed up scenes out of order. The translation I saw was also very poorly done and many sentences made no sense at all. If you didn't know the story, you'd be lost in the translation.

The greatest different in the Korean is what made me like these least of the three version. The movie is very much a romantic comedy; the manga and the TV series are cultural commentary first and foremost. While there are certainly differences between Japan and Korean, this film never focused on the challenges that our female lead faces or the difficulties her human pet faces simply because they are not comfortable being the "man" and "woman" their society says they should be.

I don't want to spoil any of the versions though with more detail. Read and watch them all and I think you will see what I'm writing about.

When people focus on the character of Vanessa in this movie, they are actually missing the point of the film. This isn't about vampires, this isn't about sex or gore, this is about what it is like to become the enslaved servant of a vampire.

The main male character Raymond, is the owner and operator of a wax museum preparing for a new display about Dracula and vampire in folktales, legends, and popular culture. He accepts an extra shipment of boxes and soon finds himself in the thrall of Dracula's wife, Vanessa. Played by Lenny von Dohlen, Raymond is confused, enchanted, terrified, aroused, and even giddy at various times in the movie. He clings to his humanity by clinging to love of his girlfriend, Jenny, as he struggles in pure Renfield fashion to resist his own blood lust.

With so much romance about vampires in our literature and films, it was a nice change to see a truly horrific vampiric creature and her nevertheless strong hold over a main character. Too often female vampires are belittled as sexy or subordinate but Vanessa is a real monster and she holds Raymond in her hand, using mental powers on him even while she sleeps, and forcing him to witness her murderous rampages.

While not the best vampire film ever, this hardly qualifies as one of the worst either. If you step back and look at Raymond in the film you may appreciate it on a new level.

This isn't the worst vampire movie I've ever seen, I've seen much, much worse. However, given the cast I was expecting more of the acting but perhaps some of that fault must lie in the hands of the director. The story itself seems spotty, problem with the script or the editing, I can't say, but it seems to be both a case of too many subplots -- vampire romance, vampire rivalries, murder investigation, secret society, and mismatched human lovers. The subordinate vampires in a strange little coven that has odd "living" habits, know far too much compared to their leader. Thus mismatch if knowledge is only added to by a mismatch of language and behavior that varies most gravely in the character of Alex, the vampire leader. At least the horror of vampire attacks is a nice change from a string of angst ridden, romantic subtle killings that seem to be pervading our movies and television show. While I have no problem with romance and even humanity in vampires, I think we should never forget that they are, first and foremost, monsters.

This movie was an amazing vision of the novel. Wonderful, funny, intense, and very much like during Substance D yourself. While all of the actors did a good job, Robert Downey Jr's performance took the show. For those who think its boring, have you read the book? For those who think the animation is over the top, have you read the book? The only way it could have been better was to always have the animation only for those doing the drugs and the rest be straight film but as it is, you feel like you've been doing the drugs yourself and it isn't a good experience, it makes you feel like Substance D is a bad thing; those who make it are even worse. It could be today sadly.