Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl   Starring: Yukie Kawamura, Eri Otoguro and Takumi Saito Arias UK RRP: £15.99 ASIA3804 Certificate: 18 Available 15 March 2010

Monami is a new and quiet exchange student. For Valentine's Day she gives classmate Mizushima a chocolate to confess her love. However, inside the chocolate is her blood. Monami, it seems, is a long-lived vampire. Mizushima undergoes an immediate change, becoming a half-vampire. Meanwhile, Keiko, a jealous competitor for Mizushima's affections, sees them kissing on the school roof, and attempts to push Monami off, instead falling to her own death. Keiko's father. Kenji Furano, is a teacher but also a mad scientist, intent on bringing body parts to life. When a drop of blood from Monami comes into his possession, the special properties enable him to return Keiko to life - with a few added improvements. Get ready for the ultimate showdown between vampire and animated corpse...

The title of this film is somewhat reminiscent of the black and white Universal horror flicks. Japan, and indeed East Asia as a whole, has released some very professional, classy and frightening supernatural chillers over the last fifteen years or so. But comparing this to those would be like comparing ice-cream with a nuclear reactor... just mad.

The most adept description of Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl is bizarre. Take a cauldron of boiling water, add some Twilight teen vampire, a large helping of Re-Animator body horror, sprinkle on some Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon martial arts, and mix with a little organic Transformers. Then allow to cool, because as we all know revenge is a dish best served cold.

In truth, I really can't decide if this film is clever or just plain bonkers. It gets silly and zany to the point of aggravation on a regular basis, but then suddenly plays out a scene that is inspired. For example, an early victim of Monami (who is, incidentally, portrayed as the force of good - or at least is less evil than Keiko and her father) is cut and Monami seems in ecstasy as she savours the rainfall of blood. Shown in slow motion it comes across as a twisted work of art. Whether by accident or design, the film seems unbalanced. It's no surprise that the director, Yoshihiro Nishimura, was also responsible for The Machine Girl.

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Ty Power