A rich Chinatown merchant gets murdered by a pernicious street gang. However, the merchant returns to life as a lethal and vengeful vampire. Director John Fasano, working from an off the wall inventive script by Sonoko Kondo and Jeff McKay, cranks the deliciously loopy kitschiness to the delightfully goofy ninth degree: The campy villains, the crazy fight scenes, the clumsy use of strenuous slow motion, some gnarly'n'gloppy gore, the amiable lighthearted tone, the equally engaging sense of blithely silly humor, the priceless ending credits theme song, and, best of all, those hysterical hopping vampires all merge together to make this dippy doozy an infectiously nutty riot from start to finish. Moreover, it's acted with considerable zest by an enthusiastic cast: Sal Viviano and Marilyn Tokuda make for appealing leads, Doug Silberstein hams it up with enjoyably unrestrained lip-licking brio as nefarious main bad guy Leach, and familiar veteran character actor James Hong has an absolute field day as sage magician Tony Yang Sr. Paul Mitchnick's sharp cinematography vividly captures the glittery neon shine of the urban locations. The energetic syncopated score by Tom Borton and Daniel Linck hits the spirited spot. Moreover, it's impossible to dislike a flick in which Hong gets to bust a few martial arts moves on the bad guys. Good flaky fun.
Review of The Jitters
