# The Era of Vampires (Jiang shi da shi dai)
**The Era of Vampires** (殭屍大時代, *Jiang shi da shi dai*; also released as *Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters* and *千年殭屍王*) is a 2002 Hong Kong action-horror film directed by Wellson Chin Sing-Wai, written and produced by [Tsui Hark](https://www.edgepedia.org/tsui-hark), about a master and four disciples who battle hopping jiangshi vampires and a Vampire King in Qing-era China.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tsui_harks_vampire_hunters) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-era-of-vampires) It was a co-production of Hong Kong, Japan, and the Netherlands, made through Tsui Hark's company Film Workshop with Hark & Co Ltd and The Vampires Co Ltd, and shot in [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese).[3](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-era-of-vampires/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 殭屍大時代 (*Jiang shi da shi dai*); English releases as *The Era of Vampires* and *Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters*[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-era-of-vampires) |
| Director / producer | Wellson Chin Sing-Wai directed; Tsui Hark wrote and produced[4](https://moriareviews.com/fantasy/vampire-hunters-2002-era-of-vampire.htm) |
| Setting | 17th-century China, Qing dynasty, where jiangshi roam the countryside[5](https://www.moviemeter.com/movies/horror/the-era-of-vampires) • [6](https://kungfutube.info/25161) |
| Lead cast | Ken Chang, Michael Chow Man-Kin, Lam Suet, and Danny Chan Kwok-Kwan as the four disciples; Yu Rongguang, Ji Chunhua, Anya, and Chen Kuan-Tai in support[4](https://moriareviews.com/fantasy/vampire-hunters-2002-era-of-vampire.htm) |
| Runtime | 112 minutes in full-length listings; 86 minutes in the international cut; 108 minutes on Douban[5](https://www.moviemeter.com/movies/horror/the-era-of-vampires) • [3](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-era-of-vampires/) • [7](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1307864/) |
| Reception | Tomatometer 33% (5 fresh of 15 reviews); IMDb 4.7 from about 1,600 votes; Douban 6.8 from more than 10,000 users[8](https://tv.apple.com/fm/movie/the-era-of-vampires/umc.cmc.42dez8w4myljcnzayosuanqbd) • [9](https://www.moviemeter.nl/film/13705/info) • [7](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1307864/) |
| Release | Made in 2002; released theatrically in the United States in 2003, rated R[3](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-era-of-vampires/) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tsui_harks_vampire_hunters) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film is set in 17th-century Qing China, where zombies and vampires roam the land.[10](https://entertainment.ie/movies/where-to-watch/the-era-of-vampires-181095/) A Taoist master, Mao Shan (Ji Chunhua), and his four disciples, named Thunder, Rain, Wind, and [Lightning](https://www.edgepedia.org/lightning), hunt a King Vampire who has risen in the forest.[11](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-era-of-vampires/) After their pursuit ends in failure, the disciples lose their master and, while searching for both him and the vampire, take work as servants at the household of the wealthy Master Jiang (Yu Rongguang).[11](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-era-of-vampires/)
The Jiang household holds the film's central macabre idea: Master Jiang preserves his dead relatives in wax rather than burying them, a family tradition that leaves generations of potential zombies in his cellar.[10](https://entertainment.ie/movies/where-to-watch/the-era-of-vampires-181095/) A web of schemes surrounds the fortune hidden in the house. Sasa (Anya), the bride at the wedding of Master Jiang's son, is in fact working for her brother Dragon Tang (Horace Lee Wai-Shing), who wants the gold to pay his gambling debts; the young master dies of a snake bite on his wedding night.[11](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-era-of-vampires/) Dragon Tang hires a Zombie Wrangler (Chen Kuan-Tai) to reanimate the preserved corpses as a diversion, and the King Vampire makes his presence felt amid the chaos.[11](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-era-of-vampires/)
## Production and the version problem
Tsui Hark, one of the central figures of Hong Kong cinema, wrote and produced the film; directing duties went to Wellson Chin, previously known mostly for energetic Hong Kong comedy, whom a Senses of Cinema survey described as an odd choice for a hopping-vampire film.[4](https://moriareviews.com/fantasy/vampire-hunters-2002-era-of-vampire.htm) • [12](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/feature-articles/hong_kong_horror/) The action director was Tony Tam.[11](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-era-of-vampires/) A Chinese-language account of the production states that Columbia bankrolled the film and that shooting at Hengdian lasted a little over a month, with the winter cold visible as breath in scenes meant to be summer.[13](https://movie.douban.com/review/15759141/)
The film exists in markedly different cuts, which has shaped its reputation. Database listings vary between a full version of 112 minutes, an international cut of 86 minutes, and a 108-minute listing on Douban.[5](https://www.moviemeter.com/movies/horror/the-era-of-vampires) • [3](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-era-of-vampires/) • [7](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1307864/) Reviewers of the shorter cut complained that characters appear without backstory and that the plot seems to start midway through a story.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tsui_harks_vampire_hunters) Chinese commentary on the film's rediscovery describes the roughly 90-minute circulating version as heavily cut against an original close to 110 minutes, and notes that a restored Blu-ray was released in Hong Kong in July 2022, its first.[14](https://post.smzdm.com/p/axkl9lm4/)
## Place in the jiangshi genre
The film draws on the Hong Kong jiangshi (hopping vampire) tradition that flourished in the 1980s, most famously the *Mr. Vampire* series, and is described by reviewers as an attempt to revive that formula; one critic calls it a return to the well of the hopping vampire days of yore.[15](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/tsui_hark_vampire_hunters.htm) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tsui_harks_vampire_hunters) Where the classic comedies treated the creatures lightly, this film presents the hopping vampire as a deadly threat and borrows horror imagery from Western genre films; critics noted the Vampire King's design echoes *Aliens* and *Predator*, and the makeup effects supervisors were J.M. Logan and Michael Shelton.[9](https://www.moviemeter.nl/film/13705/info) • [4](https://moriareviews.com/fantasy/vampire-hunters-2002-era-of-vampire.htm) A Hong Kong film-history account notes the film uses orthodox Maoshan magic and "flying corpse"-level zombies, but removes them with purely physical methods, an odd hybrid for genre fans.[16](https://kknews.cc/entertainment/g49y458.html) Tsui's involvement was as writer and producer; the DVD cover emphasized his name while hiding the director's, which one review called a deliberate bid to sell the film as a Tsui Hark work.[4](https://moriareviews.com/fantasy/vampire-hunters-2002-era-of-vampire.htm)
## Release and reception
The film's release path was unusual: it opened first in Singapore, played briefly in Hong Kong, ran a few midnight shows in New York and Los Angeles, and went straight to video in the United States, arriving at the peak of Western appetite for Hong Kong martial-arts cinema after *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*.[12](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/feature-articles/hong_kong_horror/) • [3](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-era-of-vampires/) Databases give a US theatrical date of 23 May 2003 ([Letterboxd](https://www.edgepedia.org/letterboxd)) or 30 May 2003 wide (Rotten Tomatoes), with an R rating.[3](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-era-of-vampires/) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tsui_harks_vampire_hunters)
Western aggregation was poor: the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer stood at 33 percent from 15 reviews, and the film carries an IMDb score of 4.7.[8](https://tv.apple.com/fm/movie/the-era-of-vampires/umc.cmc.42dez8w4myljcnzayosuanqbd) • [9](https://www.moviemeter.nl/film/13705/info) Chinese audiences rated it higher, 6.8 on Douban from over 10,000 users, better than 88 percent of horror films on that site.[7](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1307864/) The critical consensus in both languages converges on the same diagnosis: strong, well-choreographed swordplay and effective spooky atmosphere, undermined by thin characterization, weak digital effects, and a story that only partially coheres.[12](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/feature-articles/hong_kong_horror/) • [11](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-era-of-vampires/) One commentator called it the closest thing to a good old-fashioned hopping vampire movie Hong Kong was likely to release, "almost" a good film.[12](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/feature-articles/hong_kong_horror/) Chinese critics have retrospectively described it as a rare post-2000 Hong Kong jiangshi film and, in one reading, the end of the genre's classic run.[14](https://post.smzdm.com/p/axkl9lm4/)
## References
1. [The Era of Vampires, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tsui_harks_vampire_hunters)
2. [Vampire Hunters (2003), JustWatch (US)](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-era-of-vampires)
3. [Vampire Hunters (殭屍大時代), Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-era-of-vampires/)
4. [Vampire Hunters (2002), Moria: The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review](https://moriareviews.com/fantasy/vampire-hunters-2002-era-of-vampire.htm)
5. [The Era of Vampires (2002), MovieMeter.com](https://www.moviemeter.com/movies/horror/the-era-of-vampires)
6. [ツイ・ハークの霊戦英雄伝／殭屍大時代（2002）, Kungfu Tube](https://kungfutube.info/25161)
7. [僵尸大时代 殭屍大時代 (2003), Douban](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1307864/)
8. [The Era of Vampires, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/fm/movie/the-era-of-vampires/umc.cmc.42dez8w4myljcnzayosuanqbd)
9. [The Era of Vampires (2002), MovieMeter.nl](https://www.moviemeter.nl/film/13705/info)
10. [The Era of Vampires, Entertainment.ie](https://entertainment.ie/movies/where-to-watch/the-era-of-vampires-181095/)
11. [The Era Of Vampires (2002) Review, Far East Films](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-era-of-vampires/)
12. [Hong Kong Horror – The '90s and Beyond, Senses of Cinema](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/feature-articles/hong_kong_horror/)
13. [到底有几成是徐克 (僵尸大时代) 影评, Douban](https://movie.douban.com/review/15759141/)
14. [《僵尸大时代》翻红：被误会24年的"徐克僵尸片"，最大的坑其实是版本, 什么值得买](https://post.smzdm.com/p/axkl9lm4/)
15. [Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters, LoveHKFilm](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/tsui_hark_vampire_hunters.htm)
16. [香港「殭屍電影」的前世今生, 每日頭條](https://kknews.cc/entertainment/g49y458.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Vampire and werewolf films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license