Reviewed by: Hyomil Date: 04/07/2011 Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: cal42 Date: 10/11/2008 Summary: Fun and undemanding Duke Dekotes and his band of European vampires come to Hong Kong in search of the unholy grail: a tome called “Day for Night”, which will make him all but invincible to his human prey. Reeve (Ekin Cheng), a vampire hunter, and his new assistant Gypsy (Gillian Chung) set out to stop them. Meanwhile, Reeve’s sister Helen (Charlene Choi) befriends a small cult of “new age” vampires, including their leader Kazaf (Edison Cheng), a move not looked upon favourably by her sibling... Vampires are the most overused horror monster, and it’s hard to come up with something using them that’s going to be genuinely scary these days (take the recent 30 DAYS OF NIGHT) and TWINS EFFECT adds nothing new to the genre at all. Viewers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will recognise many of the themes and devices of the film, and this often feels like a Hong Kong version of the popular US show but without the unique wit and infectious flippancy. But Buffy’s appeal lay more in the characters and the humour rather than the rather uninventive monsters she and her friends fought on a weekly basis for nine years, and TWINS EFFECT diverts itself from the horror element so often you sometimes forget quite what everyone’s doing. The film doesn’t quite pan out like you’d imagine it to – for one thing, the Twins don’t actually team up until very late in the movie – and this works in the film’s favour, I feel. The main plotline of the evil vampire Dekotes (Mickey Hardt – not to be confused with the Grateful Dead drummer!) killing princes and becoming all-powerful disappears for so long you really could have done with a refresher by the end of the film. In between the action packed opening where Reeve attacks a battalion of the undead (including Bey Logan – so THAT'S where he went!) and the special effects-heavy climax, we get a collection of comedy skits, action set pieces, tense drama and romantic scenes. Some scenes work better than others, but surprisingly none of them are awful. I once tried to listen to a Twins song, but discovered 15 seconds into it that I hated their music. They sounded pouty even in an upbeat saccharin pop song. Their appearance in an updated TV version of JOURNEY TO THE WEST (the title of which escapes me) made me want to throw things at the screen – mainly because they were being pouty. Charlene, the most talented, acting-wise, of the pair is quite pouty in places but otherwise this is an annoyance-free appearance for the Twins. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that they gave stellar performances that brought a tear to my eye, but the fact that I didn’t want them to become vampire fodder is quite a progression. I don’t think anyone will strongly object to me calling Edison Chen vile (gee, I hope he doesn’t get gangsta on my ass for saying so), but he reins in his immense foulness to give quite a passable performance of a “nice” vampire. These “new age” vampires (headed by Chen and Anthony Wong) are somewhat similar to those in George RR Martin’s novel Fevre Dream in that they have stopped sucking blood from human victims in favour of drinking a bottled variety, but this is not expanded upon in any great detail, which is a pity. Instead we get a couple of cameos. Jackie Chan appears in two scenes, and seems out of place in both. In the first he’s getting married to Karen Mok, in what the opening titles refer to as a “special friendly appearance” (?), who is a raging alcoholic. In the second, he has a small action scene and a bit of stuntwork (although he’s clearly wired when he climbs a pole, a la PROJECT A). Although a fan of Chan, I feel his appearances kind of detract from the feel of the film as, let’s face it, his presence does tent to overshadow things. TWINS EFFECT is quite like a visit to the dentist where discover you don’t need any work doing and all of the assistants are pretty. I ended up quite enjoying it, actually. Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: dandan Date: 03/16/2007 Summary: they're not really twins... kazaf (edison chen), a vampire prince, has recently relocated to hong kong, along with his right-hand man, prada (anthony wong). gypsy (gillian cheung) has also come to hong kong, she is reeve's (ekin cheng) new partner; they are vampire hunters. trouble is on the horizon, though, as kazaf and helen (charlene choi), reeve's sister, are falling in love. this pales next to the trouble that duke dekotes (micky hardt), an evil euro-vampire, is about to cause; he's after a vampire bible, which has the power to make him immune to the sun's, otherwise deadly, rays... first things first: gillian, she's cuter, has supreme fighting ability and better hair. this was never going to be the new 'citizen kane' but, thanks to dante lam's direction and donnie yen's choreography, it is a lot of fun. it is a pretty silly film, which is a good thing, although the narrative slowly comes together and holds one's attention. the twins do a reasonable job, ekin and edison seem to slot nicely into their roles and with support from anthony wong and a scene stealing cameos from jackie chan and karen mok, the cast ain't too shabby. fluff, but fun fluff...

Reviewed by: Anticlimacus Date: 05/28/2006 Summary: A Classic The Twins Effect Chinese Action/Comedy Charlene Choi, Gillian Chung This vampire action comedy is one of my favorites for the very fact that I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire movie. First of all, the characters are memorable, contributing a myriad of classic scenes. Charlene and Gillian are naturally cute, charismatic, and humorous. This movie was my first exposure to them, and all I wanted to do was reach through my television screen and give them a REALLY BIG HUG. The remaining cast did well in their supporting roles, including Jackie Chan, Karen Mok, “The Duke”, Josie Ho, Edison Chen, Anthony Wong, and the vampire bad guys (one of which looks eerily familiar to Will Ferrell). Even the abominably horrible Ekin Cheng was good in this one. Good characters are important, of course, because they avoid the feeling of boredom by keeping things interesting between action sequences. And speaking of action, this film has plenty of it. More importantly, there is an emphasis of quality in the fight choreography. One aspect that helped in this regard is the featured weapon of the protagonists – a sword with a retractable spear-ended rope. This weapon, in and of itself, opened up a variety of moves that would have been otherwise impossible. Josie Ho and Gillian Chung, in particular, perform some wicked aerial maneuvers using these devices. In addition, the swordplay is superb, and is highlighted by two great sword fights – one taking place during the opening train station sequence and the other occurring in the church finale. In fact, the blade-wielding maneuvers showcased in this film put some other highly overrated fan favorites to great shame, and I truly feel sorry for those who would cite the horribly choreographed garbage seen in Ashes of Time, Storm Riders, or A Man Called Hero with the well-planned, precisely executed sequences seen in The Twins Effect. It’s not even close. This film was so good that it actually set me up for being disappointed at other Chinese movies with the same actors and actresses. This especially applies to Ekin Cheng, whose other films almost always suck – and yes, this includes the obscenely overrated and exploitative wuxia crap mentioned in the previous paragraph. Even The Twins have never been able to match the value of this movie when both were lead actresses in a film, although they have managed to hit some good films when either one or the other takes the leading role (e.g., Beyond Our Ken, Good Times Bed Times, House of Fury) or when one or both are in supporting roles (e.g., Colour of the Truth, New Police Story, Just One Look). The Twins Effect 2 should have been a direct sequel, instead of a family fantasy. I am still yearning to see Charlene and Gillian team up and kick some butt in another movie, but the fact remains that The Twins Effect hits on all cylinders, optimizing their charisma while avoiding a descent into annoyance (as in Protégé de la Rose Noire). All in all, this film has everything one needs to be entertained. And may I remind the reader that it is precisely this – ENTERTAINMENT – that judges the greatness of a movie, more so than artsy dramatic elements or meaningless awards from established academies of critics who usually have no idea what they are talking about. In the end, the Twins Effect is a CLASSIC not to be missed. Rating = 5/5 stars P.S. – The Hollywood execs decided to slaughter this film when it was released in the U.S. by renaming it The Vampire Effect and cutting out 20 minutes of footage, which includes parts of the action scenes. However, the final fight of the U.S. version does have a better soundtrack than the original version. Therefore, I purchased both versions, which allows me to first watch the original until about the 1:20 mark, and then swap discs to watch the final fight on the U.S. version. Reviewer Score: 10

Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 07/16/2005 Summary: Jumbles genres and pop stars with mixed results. Hong Kong summer box office blockbuster jumbles genres and pop stars with mixed results. Co-directors Dante Lam and Donnie Yen manage to turn pop music sensations Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi into action movie stars. Pairing the 2 young stars with pop music idol turned action movie star Ekin Cheng is a stroke of sheer genius. Donnie Yen's action direction is very good, adding to this viewers enjoyment. CGI special effects achieve mixed results, at best. Best part is Edison Chen and Anthony Wong playing conventional Western style vampire story characters. The hardest thing to get my mind around in this film was the idea that Karen Mok could possibly fall for Jackie Chan. Bring an extra packet of suspension of disbelief and you will enjoy the film. copyright 2005 j.crawford Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 10/23/2004 Summary: Boring!! The only good thing in the movie is Jackie Chan, apart from that i wasted my time watching this. The charcters are cardboard, the action is nothing new and it only occurs at the beginning and end of the film, i wasted my time watching this!! 3/10 only because of Jackie Chan!!

Reviewed by: mehaul Date: 09/11/2004 Lite action-vampire movie. The twins are cute, but subpar acting and action detract from the experience; however the special effects are decent. Jackie Chan's apperance was initially fun, but had way too much screen time. Ekin Cheng is starting to look old. 7/10

Reviewed by: PAUL MARTINEZ Date: 09/02/2004 Summary: Brainless in a good way. The summer blockbuster of 2003 is a light, simple and sometimes silly ride. Which is exactly what makes it work. Ekin Cheng's acting prowess or lack there of is perfect for this vehicle. It's obviously just a project to cash in on the popularity of the Twins. Unlike hollywood films which try to cash in on their popstars, this was actually enjoyable as long as you don 't take it too serious. Anthony Wong has a small role in the film but I felt he stole every scene he was in. He showed his comedic skills which I have felt have been overlooked by many. Good action scenes throughout. Jackie Chan's cameos were a bit contrived but its better than seeing him in another of those awful movies he made out west. I will not disect this movie as it doesn't warrant such a review IMO. This is pretty much a brainless action-comedy done the right way. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: SLed Date: 11/04/2003 Summary: Not too bad film. The TWINS EFFECT wasn't a bad movie but I have to say the casting was terrible. Everything else was overall acceptable, the casting was the worst. How could Anthony Wong being placed in a role that can't show his great acting potentials; the twins leading the film was ok, but in my opinion, I would've enjoyed the film more if it was Edison falling in love with Gillian. Charlene is funny but she overdoes it sometimes. I even found some moments annoying. Apart from that, I really liked the story line, characters, it all went quite well with Jackie Chan's stunts. Last thing, the "special effect" in this film wasn't as good as I expected it to be. Like some of the fight scenes were just so fake. Overall, THE TWINS EFFECT wasn't quite as good and worth - watching as I expected. 7/10 Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: SteelwireMantis Date: 10/23/2003 Summary: Entertaining kung fu actioner blending 'Blade', 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'The Matrix' The Hong Kong Blockbuster of 2003 seems to entertain as it's suppose to and provides Ekin Cheng finally with a hit movie. Reeve (Ekin Cheng) and his lovely girlfriend (Josie Ho) are partners in killing vampires. During a battle with a powerful European vampire Duke, Reeve's girlfriend loses her life. His new partner Gypsy (Gillian Chung) arrives and works with him to find Duke. Gypsy does not get a long with Helen (Charlene Choi), Reeve's sister who is dating a vampire prince (Edison Chen - 'Gen-X Cops') that Duke is after to gain power and complete a ritual that'll make him the most pwoerful vampire ever. (I think you know how it will end). The storyline for this film is not so original, in fact it is quite predictable. But the key elements remain the excellently choreographed fight scenes, light hearted humour and cool special effects. Ekin Cheng gets to show off his kung-fu skills best during a quick fight with a vampire in an alleyway. The fights were filmed well as they are meant to be with few cuts and long shots like old-school flicks. I think this movie proves a point to film makers like Andrew Lau: You don't need to have less choreographed fight scenes with quick editing if you use special effects. The Jackie Chan cameo is also a highlight as he plays the worrying groom of Karen Mok and takes on vampires during a chase in an ambulance. Not the greatest Hong Kong movie ever, but it is very entertaining, you're bound to have a good time if you watch this movie, because Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung prove to be female slayers that'll teach Buffy how to kill properly. ****/***** Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: magic-8 Date: 09/25/2003 Summary: Come On--It's a Twins Flick There isn't much more that I can add that hasn't already been said. "The Twins Effect" is an entertaining movie. It is a family-oriented flick, featuring the Twins, Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi. The use of Eastern European vampires and Chinese vampire hunters was the plot device to add some action to a family picture. It almost seemed as if the use of vampires was an after thought since the vampires only appear when the movie needed to pick up the pacing. The only thing missing is a battle between European and Chinese vampires. Now that would be something. The film is worth viewing if only for the Jackie Chan and Karen Mok cameos. Jackie almost steals the film. Donnie Yen's choreography, for once, was quite good with energetic, acrobatic tumbling and flying around. Dante Lam was smart enough top use wide angle lenses for the fights instead of Yen's penchant for tight, cramped shots. The film had just enough cuteness without overdoing it. "The Twins Effect" is an enjoyable light weight romp.

Reviewed by: YutGouHoYun Date: 09/20/2003 Summary: Worth Viewing Get with the times, watch this now. If you enjoy Hong Kong popular culture, Twins Effect is worth watching. Its not the most significant film ever or even at all nor will it put anything in perspective. This is basically another one of your typical no substance, all calorie movie. As for what mrblue had to say about Twins being squeaky clean, i beg to differ. Charlene Choi is not as clean as you want to beleive, for example in her portrayal of a 18 year old girl in "My wife is 18" she went as far as appearing nude and sleeping with her co-star Ekin Cheng. In real life Cheng as at least 10 years on her. Squeaky clean, i think not. Despite Twins Effect having a plot you see coming a mile away. Its should be picked up by any fan of bubblegum cinema. Come on, its the blockbuster of 2003, how can you not check it out?

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/18/2003 Summary: Good brainless fun In case you're new to Hong Kong cinema (or if you've been hiding in a cave), the Twins of this movie actually consist of a bubblegum pop duo known as, well, Twins. Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi are the hottest commodity in HK entertainment right now, already having put out a string of hit songs and appeared (like many HK pop stars before them, including co-stars Edison Chan and Ekin Cheng) in a few movies. The Twins Effect is the first time they've done an action movie -- can two insufferably cute pop stars outdo Buffy and save the world from a vampire scourge? Like most "popcorn" summer movies (The Twins Effect came out during the busy season and beat out many Hollywood heavyweights such as Matrix Reloaded to become this year's reigning box-office champ), the plot here is pretty slim. Ekin Cheng portrays a vampire hunter named Reeve, whose partner (Josie Ho) dies fighting a particularly nasty vampire played by Mickey Hardt; in case you were wondering, the vamps in this movie are closer to the ones in Blade than your usual HK hopping vampire. At any rate, when his new partner (Gillian Chung) arrives, it sets off some tension between him and his sister (Charlene Choi), especially since she has started dating a vampire prince (Edison Chan). The girls must eventually team up to stop the evil gweilo blood-sucker after he obtains a special book that will give him unlimited power. The script isn't exactly Shakespeare, either. Of course, a love story develops between both Gillian/Ekin and Charlene/Edison, but nothing is really done with this. This could be due to the Twins' squeaky-clean image, but it smacks of lazy writing, as these just seem more like relationships for plot convienience and little else. Things could have also been trimmed down a bit, especially with Jackie Chan's extended cameo. The scenes with Jackie are good for what they are (actually, in some ways, they're more enjoyable than much of his recent US work) but they really don't add to the film in any way -- it's almost like the producers just said "Hey, we can get Jackie Chan, so write something in there for him". Despite these flaws, I still enjoyed The Twins Effect. The plot and script are fairly dopey, but the actors carried this a long way. As you might expect, the Twins have a lot of charisma onscreen and its' through their spunky performances that the viewer manages to forgive a lot of the crud floating around the movie. Except for a couple of parts where the girls scream (literally) rather than act, they do a fine job. I don't see them as being the next major female action stars or anything, but they didn't look totally out of place like the ladies from Charlie's Angels. The other stars do well also; even Edison Chan (probably my least favorite HK actor) comes off well, and Anthony Wong (who plays Edison's servant) is in top form, delivering some wonderfully dry comic relief. Actionwise, the film also delivers, with some solid work directed by Donnie Yen, who manages to reign in some of the gimmickry that has hurt some of his other work (such as using too much undercranking in films like Legend of the Wolf) and create some exciting set-pieces with mostly neophyte action "stars". The CGI and other special effects in the movie were also handled well. There was enough to make things look interesting without going overboard ala The Medallion. Even if it might be that this movie's budget was significantly lower (US$6.4 million compared to Chan's latest, which had the highest ever budget for a HK movie with US$41 million), I'd like to think that it was some restraint on the director's part. Having CGI is all very well and good in films, but the eye candy can quickly turn into a crutch for real filmmaking -- just look at recent trainwrecks like Legend of Zu. Overall, The Twins Effect isn't anything great, but it does fit the bill for a no-brain action picture. It's one of the first HK movies I've seen to really successfully blend eastern and western styles. The production obviously had a high budget and everything is polished, but there is still that spark of inventiveness (mostly thorugh the action scenes) that HK film fans know and love. If this is the direction HK movie companies are trying to head in, I hope they try and accomplish more films like this, instead of MTV-wannabe crap like Tokyo Raiders.

Reviewed by: danton Date: 07/27/2003 I thought the movie was average at best. Awful soundtrack, incoherent plot, uneven acting, silly cameos, and a story chockful of cliches and ripoffs from other movies. On the plus side, the action scenes were decent. I enjoyed So Close and even Naked Weapon more, because those films at least managed to make me root for the good guys and against the villain(s), whereas Twins Effect left me rather uninvolved in that regard. Nevertheless, the action scenes were decent enough (just a little too much CGI in the final showdown in the church). As for the Twins factor, I found them to be strangely bland in this film, completely lacking some of the charm that made their previous films (even silly ones like Summer breeze of love) watchable. The Twins Effect is a mostly entertaining popcorn movie, but hardly a film I would ever be tempted to rewatch. Marginal recommendation only.

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 07/09/2003 Summary: Minor disappointment The Twins Effect could have been a major disappointment. But as long as your expectations are low, you won't be overly disappointed. I mean, on the actor side you've got mainly teeny bopper acts such as the Twins, Ekin Cheng, and Edison Chen, as well as Anthony Wong playing one of his most insignificant role ever, and not one, but two, pathetically inserted cameos from Jackie Chan; on the technical side, you've got a story about vampire hunting-Western style, magical romance, and girls duking over Ekin Cheng, so how good can it possibly get? So just keep any expectation low. Let's analyze the main elements. STORY: It's pretty lame and incoherent, as you'd expect. The preface says "vampires [blood-sucking bats] have invaded the city, seriously threatening human lives." But nowhere in the story is anyone's life threatened. In fact, it seems pretty pointless for the bounty hunters to go after the vampires, because ironically, the only lives being threatened are the vampires'. ACTING: two words - Ekin Cheng. Yep, he is back in action, and he brought his bad acting along. Gillian smiles so much at the camera, but that's to be expected. Edison Chen kinda hangs out here and there, doing his typical stuff. Anthony Wong re-creates his goofy character from U-MAN, which at least works better than he did in CAT AND MOUSE. For this type of light movie, good acting probably only gets in the way. You don't want to take any of this too seriously. MUSIC: Pretty uneven soundtrack, if you ask me. Sometimes Bond-ish, sometimes Titanic-like. I didn't particular enjoy it. ACTION: ah yes, this film does have a strong point. Even though everyone is doubled everywhere, it's still good action, Donnie Yen style. It's all pretty slick, and I want to assure you it should look more impressive than what you have seen in SO CLOSE and NAKED WEAPON, mainly because the director knew how to film @ the right angles. Also it looks more realistic, not just some girls posing in front of the camera. A lot has been said about this movie being a Twins vehicle. It certainly is, thus the title TWINS EFFECT. The girls are all over the place, more so than the boys, especially Charlene Choi. This is not necessarily a negative thing, & I would say the teeny factors don't break and make the film. It makes sense to compare this movie to RETURNER: both ripoff bits from Western movies; both feature SFX to some extent, both can be mind-blowingly stupid, and both are flawed. Yeah, I thought both were pretty lame Not a great film, and I would rather sit through another round of Legend of Zu. If fact, I found the best thing about Twins Effect to be Ekin Cheng's return to action films. It's been a while since I've seen him in this type of movie, and I guess I needed a good dose of Ekin in action [6/10]

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