Vampire Clay (2017) Arrow Player Review

Vampire Clay (2017) Arrow Player Review

On a quest to gain a coveted place at one of the prestigious art schools in Japan, a group of students attend prep school in a decrepit rural art studio.

Whilst honing their skills, star student Kaori (Kyoka Takeda) is entrusted with a bundle of discarded art supplies from the studio’s mysterious previous owner to work with. However, when Kaori cuts herself on a razor blade buried in one of her projects, the fresh drops of blood awakens an insatiable form of evil hidden within the clay! As the body count begins to rise, the students realise these bloodsucking clay-mutations won’t go down without a fight!

Directed by Japanese special effects maestro Sôichi Umezawa (PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, THE ABCs OF DEATH 2), VAMPIRE CLAY is an off-kilter exercise in Japanese schlock combining stop-motion animation and Cronenbergian body horror with hilarious (and bloody) results!

Director Sôichi Umezawa’s feature film debut is a unique and curious hybrid of body-horror and slasher flicks. Unique is not a word that one often uses when reviewing a film in today’s generic landscape but that is exactly what VAMPIRE CLAY is and it should be applauded for that. That said, it does not always hit the mark but for those of you looking for something more ‘off-the-wall’ to get their teeth in to then this is for you.

Unsettling and flawed, the pacing occasionally sag and there are the occasional inconsistencies that jar and take you out of the viewing experience. However, the stop-motion animation is on point and blends well with the computer-generated detail, and Kou Nakagawa’s retro synth score is a delight. VAMPIRE CLAY can often make for bewildering viewing and consequently it becomes less of a film that one enjoys fully but instead a film where you appreciate its boldness to do something new.

Vampire Clay is available on ARROW Player from 27th September