Guilstein

Seeing that this is a fairly old movie, I was surprised to see that no one else has reviewed it before. So, let me be the first! Guilstein is set in a post-apocalyptic world of sorts, where the rich leaders who live in luxury have resorted to experimenting on people to create bioweapons: monsters called Guilstein. Watching it reminded me of other old animated movies like Demon City Shinjuku and Vampire Hunter D—it has the same vibe.

The animation combines CGI and 2D, which is often a tricky combo to pull off, especially in the early 2000s. In this movie, it only works for some ... scenes. It comes off a little wooden and disjointed in a lot of places, though it didn't completely ruin my whole experience. I enjoyed the monster designs, and they do pop with the cgi touch, so I can see why they went with that route. But again, it's not smooth enough. The plot is nothing revolutionary, pretty standard and predictable. We also don't get a lot of backstory on the world or why it operates the way it does. The characters aren't really developed either, and I didn't feel attached to any of them except the main male protagonist, Chaos. Overall, it's a little enjoyable thanks to the Guilsteins but ultimately forgettable. I still recommend that you give it a watch though, it just feels like one of those classics you can watch on a lazy Sunday.