Hellsing Ultimate: Volume 1 (Limited Edition Two-Disc)
TheUltimateOVA series (2006) continues the popular vampire hunter broadcast seriesHellsing(2001), both of which were based on the manga by Kouta Hirano. Vampires are stalking England, which means Sir Integra Hellsing must take them out. Most of this 50-minute segment is devoted to a duel between Hellsing's super-vampire Arucard and Father Alexander Anderson, a bio-engineered vampire in the service of the Vatican's murderous Iscariot Organization. It's a veritable gorefest, but not a particularly original one: the shooting effects are copied fromT2, while the ghouls recallThe Night of the Living Dead. The dialogue is often unintentionally hilarious: "It's been a while since I had my head cut off." Viewers may be repulsed by the endless sprays of blood, the leering sadism, and misappropriation of religious symbols. The tin-boxed Limited Edition comes with a second disc of extras that includes staff interviews and a promotional music video. (Rated 16 and older, but more appropriate for 18 and older: graphic violence, violence against women, sadism, sexual situations, grotesque imagery, offensive religious imagery, tobacco use)--Charles Solomon