Finally, a zombie-vampire martial arts movie set in Tokyo during the Vietnam War. And they said it couldn't be done.

"Blood: The Last Vampire" is based on anime that predates the two "Kill Bill" movies and "Sin City," but this live-action version sucks elements from all those films: deadly Japanese schoolgirl types, salivating red-eyed demons, film-noirish CIA spooks.

There's a legend, or something, behind the story of "Blood," but who cares? We get the scoop before the credits: Something happened in the 16th century with a bunch of demons, and there was some kind of war in Japan, and maybe the humans won, and now it's 1970 and the demons are preparing for a comeback. The demons are vampires. Or zombies. They kill people! And maybe drink their blood. There's a shadowy government operation called the Council, and they clean up the gore whenever a demon is dispatched by Saya, a half-human, half-demon assassin with pigtails who looks like jailbait but is 500 years old.

Saya gets involved with the daughter of a general on a U.S. military base outside Tokyo. The daughter, Alice, is almost killed by two demons after gym class. Saya steps in, slaughters the demons and the two stick together for the sake of the narrative. The powerful demon leader is getting ready to rumble, so Saya and her sword must be prepared for all-out war.

The first third of "Blood" shows promise because of its hodgepodge of clashing tones. There's something delightfully kitschy about placing a Japanese sword fighting story on and around an American military base in Tokyo in 1970, with Edwin Starr's "War (What Is It Good For)" on the soundtrack and demons assailing humanity for its "pretentious moral high ground."

But when Alice and Saya start to bond, director Chris Nahon loses control of his tones. A flashback goes on too long in a feeble attempt to give the movie an emotional backbone. The peculiar, comic-book-like computer graphics -- artful at first -- finally overtake "Blood" and make it look like a video game instead of a graceful, graphic martial arts movie.

-- Dan Zak (July 10, 2009)

Contains buckets of cartoonish blood and gore.