This is a 1998 comic book movie about the half-vampire Blade (Wesley Snipes) kicking the (un)living shit out of some vamps. And by vamps I mean vampires, not the British pop group. Though they could certainly use a beating by Wesley Snipes.

Snipes is instantly iconic and completely hilarious as Blade, or Eric to his friends (the second superhero called Eric after Bananaman). He’s actually glaringly uncool, more a sort of Schwarzenegger figure who tempers his muscular combat with bizarre kiss-off lines. Eric Blade is joined by N’Bushe Wright, Stephen Dorff and Kris Kristofferson as fellow vampire slayer Abraham Whistler (the third vampire hunter called Abraham after Van Helsing and Lincoln).

Wesley Snipes: Vampire Hunter is (very) bloody good fun. It’s all techno music (including the brilliant DJ Krush), martial arts and dark glasses, Matrix-style. But without the style. The action is insane and the stunts ridiculous, making the bits of “plot” in between feel lacklustre. A little less exposition, a little more exploding vampire heads.

Fortunately, there’s never long to wait before the next fangtastically violent fight scene. That director Stephen Norrington started out in special effects (including films like Aliens) is not surprising given the film’s demented comic book visuals, hammered home like a boot to the face.

Screenwriter David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) serves up a techno-vampire thrill-ride, less stake-through-the-heart and more shotgun-to-the-brain. It delivers post-Buffy vampires, pre-Matrix action and enough blood to fill a swimming pool. Twilight fans need not apply.