You ever wonder what Blade would be like if you changed the titular character portrayed by everyone’s favorite tax evading action star Wesley Snipes, to be both female AND Irish? Then you take it one step further and shift the vampires to something a little more demonic in nature? Oh, and you moved the decimal point on the budget and dropped a few zeros. I think you’d end up with something pretty close to Demon Hunter. The movie isn’t great and I won’t blow smoke up your ass trying to convince you otherwise, but it IS pretty fun for the most part. There are some parts of the movie that will make you want to tear your own eyeballs out out of frustrated boredom at the lack of character development or story progression or pretty much anything other than hammy acting. I recommend using these sections to drink Thankfully, most of this happens early on in the the movie, and once the suffering is complete, there’s a bunch of bad kung fu and assorted other B-grade goodies to entertain you. You just need to slog through a bit of a swamp to get there.

Demon Hunter follows a woman decked out in stylish one legged pants and makeup some black metal acts would appreciate during and immediately following an encounter that ends in decapitation. We’re treated to a taste of the crappy kung-fu Demon Hunter offer in this first scene, but then it’s gone for a while, once we get through some less thrilling stuff. The police get involved (as they often do when heads are removed from bodies) and while attempting to apprehend the woman, are led on a chase that could only be described as “acceptable” as she just sort of runs straight down the street as the police follow her. It’s a good thing for the cops i guess; they need to put in no effort to catch her. Lady Blade is quickly apprehended and thrown into a room at the police station for questioning.

This is where the movie slows down to a crawl, and is a bit of a snooze but necessary to move along to the part we all signed up for, namely demon bunting and/or killing. Our heroine spends a good chunk of time being held and questioned by the police, which is about exciting to watch as it was to write about: not at all. It would be more interesting and way less forgettable if some of the back and forth dialogue in this section was even remotely grabbing. I’m not asking to be captivated here (I know what i signed up for), but throw me a bone; A little something to soothe the suffering. Thankfully, if you make it through here you’re mostly free and clear, barring a few straggling scenes of little interest.

The last act of the movie is what you’ve been waiting for, a low budget action and special effects extravaganza, full of high kicks to make up for the snails pace interrogation from before. The visual effects are exactly what one should expect going into a movie like this – cheap and cheesy – but that’s part of the fun and if you’re this far into the movie you shouldn’t be expecting anything else. Demon Hunter isn’t a bad time as long as you’re looking for something to watch with some friends while you drink some beers and not take things too seriously.

– Scott (@ScottFloronic)