''The Twins Effect'', also known as ''Vampire Effect'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, is a 2003

Hong Kong martial arts Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese culture, Chinese and Culture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling an ...

comedy-horror film directed by

Dante Lam Dante Lam Chiu-Yin () is a Hong Kong film director, writer and actor who is a major figure in Chinese action cinema. Background He was trained in the tradition of John Woo as an assistant director and worked as an actor and producer. He often wr ...

and

Donnie Yen Donnie Yen Chi-tan (; born 27 July 1963) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and action director. Yen is one of Hong Kong's top action stars. Yen is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts (MMA) into the mainstream Asian cinema by cho ...

. The film was derived from

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

group

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

, starring both members

Charlene Choi Charlene Choi Tsoek-jin ( zh, t=蔡卓妍; born 22 November 1982) is a Hong Kong Canadian actress and singer. She is a member of Cantopop group Twins, along with Gillian Chung. Early life Choi was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. S ...

and

Gillian Chung Gillian Chung Ka-lai (born Chung Tik-shan, 21 January 1981), known by her stage name Chung Yan-tung, is a Hong Kong actress and singer. She is a member of the Cantopop duo Twins, along with Charlene Choi. Early life Chung was born in Hong Kong ...

in the leading roles. Co-stars include

Edison Chen Edison Chen Koon-hei (, born Chen Hing-wah on 7 October 1980) is a Canadian-born Hong Kong actor, singer, rapper, fashion designer and entrepreneur. Chen is the co-founder of CLOT, a Hong Kong-based streetwear and fashion label. Debuting in 19 ...

and

Ekin Cheng Ekin Cheng is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Early in his career, he used the name Dior as a first name (because that was what it sounded like when his younger sister tried to call him 二哥 in Cantonese). He has also been referred to as Noodl ...

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

makes a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

as an

ambulance driver An emergency medical technician (EMT), also known as an ambulance technician, is a health professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found working in ambulances. In English-speaking countries, paramedics are ...

. Released on 8 March 2003, ''The Twins Effect'' was a box-office success in Hong Kong, became the highest-grossing domestic film of the year. The film gained huge popularity, mainly from fans of the Cantopop group Twins.

Plot

An evil vampire duke seeks to kill and collect the blood of a royal family of European vampires in order to become all powerful. The last surviving member of the family, Prince Kazaf, flees to Hong Kong with his servant Prada. There, they are introduced by estate agent Momoko to live in an abandoned church. Vampire hunter Reeve is depressed after his partner Lila is killed by vampires. He decides to train Lila's younger sister, Gypsy, to inherit her sister's duty and fight the vampire duke. However, Reeve's own sister, Helen, sees Gypsy as a rival. At the same time, Kazaf meets Helen and falls in love with her, after which he intends to lead the life of a human being, but he is tracked down by the duke. Helen helps Kazaf and lets him hide in her home, where they are later discovered by Gypsy. Meanwhile, Reeve falls into the duke's trap while hunting vampires. Helen and Gypsy team up to save him.

Cast

as Helen *

as Gypsy *

as Reeve *

as Kazaf * Anthony Wong as Prada *

Mandy Chiang Mandy Nga-man Chiang is a Hong Kong singer formerly signed to the Emperor Entertainment Group's Music Icon Records. Her music career first began in 2002 when she was partnered with Yumiko Cheng (鄭希怡) and Maggie Lau (劉思惠) to form the ...

as Momoko *

Josie Ho Josephine "Josie" Ho Chiu-yi (; born 26 December 1974) is a singer and actress from Hong Kong. She is the daughter of the Macao casino magnate Stanley Ho. Acting career She has played many roles, including portraying the parts of prostitutes, whi ...

as Lila *

Maggie Lau Maggie Lau () is a Hong Kong actress and singer. She starred in ''New Police Story'', ''The Twins Effect'' and also had a small acting part in '' The Myth'' alongside Jackie Chan and Korean actress, Kim Hee-sun. She has had a minor musical care ...

as Nurse Maggie *

as Jackie Fong, the ambulance driver (

) *

Karen Mok Karen Mok (born Karen Joy Morris (), 2 June 1970) is a Hong Kong pop diva who is one of the leading Asian pop singers and actresses with a career spanning three decades. She is the first female Hong Kong singer to win the Golden Melody Award and ...

as Ivy *

Chapman To Chapman To (, born 8 June 1972), born Edward Ng Cheuk-cheung (), is a Hong Kong actor. He is best known for his roles in films such as ''Infernal Affairs'' and '' Initial D''. He is also the founder of his own multimedia platform known as "Chapman ...

as Ken *

Mickey Hardt Mickey Hardt (born March 27, 1969) is an actor, model and martial artist born in Switzerland. He is best known for his role in the German television series '. Hardt is skilled in Taekwondo and Savate. Life and career Hardt's interest in martial ...

as Duke Dekotes *

Cheung Tat-ming Cheung Tat-ming () (born 2 July 1964) is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, director and writer. Personal life Cheung married Ho Nim-chi, a psychiatrist, in September 2001, subsequently announcing their divorce in 2016. They had one son and one daught ...

as Jackie's friend *Ricardo Mamood as Ethan *Winnie Leung as Deborah *Digger Mesch as Vampire Thomas *Marky Lee Campbell as Vampire Boz *

Mark Strange Mark Jeremy Strange (born 2 November 1961) is a British Anglican bishop. He is the current Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He is the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, having been elected at an Epis ...

as Vampire Smashing *Philip Chen as Vampire Lebrow *Daniel Whyte as Vampire Ice *Simon Robida as Vampire Zoolander *Daniel O'Neill as Vampire Dan *Bey Logan as Vampire John *Robert Meister as Vampire Elron *Michael Clements as Vampire Nobals * Don Ferguson as Vampire Train *

Philip Ng Philip Ng Wan-lung (; born September 16, 1977) is a Hong Kong-born American actor, martial artist and action choreographer. He is currently based in Hong Kong. Early life Born in Hong Kong on September 16, 1977. Ng's father is Sam Ng. Ng's mother ...

as Ambulance Vampire (uncredited) *Matthew Sturgess as Vampire Food (uncredited) *

Spencer Lam Spencer Lam Sheung Yee (; 14 December 1934 – 23 April 2009) was a football defender, coach and announcer, as well as an actor. Spencer was a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong with an economics major. He was once a secondar ...

as Jackie's father *Matt Chow as Matt *

Yumiko Cheng Yumiko Cheng (born 6 September 1981) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress. Cheng was given the Japanese nickname "Yumiko" by her friends in secondary school, and upon signing with EEG, adopted it as her official stagename.Tran, JennyYumiko ...

as a wedding guest *Victy Wong as a wedding guest *Ho Wai-yip as a wedding guest *Yeung Yung-lin as a wedding guest

Alternate version

After its release in Hong Kong, the film was renamed to ''Vampire Effect'' and some sequences were slightly altered. The new version was released in the

in DVD as well. The following are some differences between ''Vampire Effect'' and ''The Twins Effect'': *Several scenes and timelines in the opening sequence are altered *Some scenes' editing are different *Some dialogues were modified *About 20 minutes of footage were cut from the original film, but some new scenes were added *The new film length is shorter than the original version (88 minutes for ''Vampire Effect'') *Some film scores / music / instrumentals differ from the original version (different composer)

Release

''The Twins Effect'' was released in Hong Kong on 8 March 2003. In the Philippines, the film was released on 21 January 2004.

Home media

There are five versions of

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

, along with

VCD Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the ...

, released in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

: *DAY FOR NIGHT Limited Edition (Limited 3000 sets. 2 DVDs come with Special Packaging, Vampire Slayer's sword, 4 autograph photos and individual printed code on the cover sleeve) *DAY FOR NIGHT Limited Edition - 2nd Edition (2 DVDs comes with Bronze colour Special Packaging, Bronze colour Vampire Slayer's sword, and 4 autograph postcards) *First Press 2 DVDs with Metallic / Silver Cardboard Slipcase *Second Press 2 DVDs with Cardboard Slipcase and altered disc print *Standard DVD (no slipcase) *First Press VCD with Metallic / Silver Cardboard Slipcase *Second Press / standard VCD with Cardboard Slipcase

Accolades

References

External links

*
''The Twins Effect''
at the

Hong Kong Movie Database The Hong Kong Movie Database (HKMDB) is a bilingual (English and Chinese) website started in 1995 by Hong Kong resident Ryan Law to provide a repository for information about movies originating from Hong Kong and the people who created them. Th ...

* *
''The Twins Effect'' official Hong Kong website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Twins Effect, The 2003 films 2003 martial arts films 2000s comedy horror films 2000s martial arts comedy films 2000s Cantonese-language films Films directed by Dante Lam Hong Kong comedy horror films Hong Kong martial arts comedy films Kung fu films Martial arts horror films Vampires in film 2000s Hong Kong films