Vampire Hunter D
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Movie Reviews of Vampire Hunter D
Movie Review: You're a vampire hunter
Summary: 5 Stars
"Vampire Hunter D" is a pretty deserving anime classic -- moody hero, gothic atmosphere, and buckets of blood.
While the animation is a bit dated, the solid direction and creepy story are more than enough to compensate. This dark, gloomy adaptation of Hideyuki Kikuchi's novels is a postapocalyptic cowboy/vampire story... with a twist. And boy, is it a twist.
Farm girl Doris is bitten by the ancient Count Lee (named after Christopher Lee), and is in danger of turning into a vampire herself. But fortunately she encounters D, a silent vampire hunter who agrees to protect her and her little brother from the Count and his underlings.
But Doris gets kidnapped despite D's efforts, and D sneaks into the castle and battles past mutants and snake-women to rescue Doris. But that isn't the end of the conflict -- Lee is determined to have Doris for his new wife, and D is just as determined to destroy the malign old vampire.
"Vampire Hunter D" looks a little dated to modern anime fans -- kind of smudgy and stiff (look at D's weird stabbing scene). Fortunately, the story more than makes up for this -- basically it's an old western, but with monsters, vampires, and cyborg horses.
The whole thing is very dark and shadowy, even in prim little towns, up until the final scenes when we finally see some sun. The storyline moves pretty slowly for awhile, but speeds up rapidly when Doris is abducted the second time, right up to the earthshattering finale.
It's also peppered with some solid fight scenes, as well as the gore: severed limbs, electric whips, exploding heads, flying organs and literal gushers of blood. While the tone is quite grim, some of the dialogue is pretty funny ("For the first time in one hundred years I haven't been bored once!"). Including everything said by Left Hand, the hilarious parasite in D's... left hand.
D himself is an enigma for most of the movie -- repressed, quiet, kind to kids, but with a hidden vampiric side that only turns up occasionally. It takes careful attention to figure out who this "dampeel" is. And while Doris could have been a bit tougher, she comes across very realistically as a young girl in a terrifying situation.
"Vampire Hunter D" is a postapocalyptic goth movie, with a likably taciturn hero,a timeless storyline, and a lot of graphic anime violence.
Movie Review: VERY COOL MOVIE...
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw <i>Vampire Hunter D</i> one random Saturday evening on TV in 1995 and loved it. I couldn't believe that I was actually getting to see an anime flick on `mainstream' television; it was the coolest feeling, and the best feature-length anime film that I had ever been exposed to at the time. In addition to the action, adventure, mystery and suspense in the film, I especially enjoyed the themes of mixed-race heritage that this film explored. I had never witnessed a work of animation that so intriguingly dealt with the societal complexities of being biracial. D (the main character) was `vampeel', meaning he was half-human, and half-vampire. D's dual racial heritage allowed him to function in daylight, while retaining the supernatural powers that full-blooded vampires enjoy; in other words, 'vampeels' like D enjoy the best of both worlds. However, it is D's constant inner-battle between his vampire and human sides that force him to stay away from humans (to avoid temptation) and to battle evil by slaying vampires. D is a lonely figure.
The vampires in the film are cast as an evil, yet noble race in a twisted sense. Count Magnus Lee (the supreme villain) is a gray-haired, `Blake-Carrington-from-Dynasty-type' vampire who is supremely powerful. His daughter Ramika is a spoiled, pretty being who thinks she's a full-blooded vampire, and is proud of it. Lee's deadly foot soldier Reiginsei (and I mean deadly) longs to become a vampire in order to attain a status of nobility in his own right.
Doris is a human who has become Count Magnus Lee's object of affection to the endless disgust of Ramika who feels humans as mere mortals are beneath vampire nobility. Doris hires D to help her defeat Magnus. The battle that ensues between D, Magnus, Reiginsei, and others is utterly engaging. Vampire Hunter D makes for a great story indeed.
Now it is 2001, and a sequel to the original <i>Vampire Hunter D</i> entitled <i>Bloodlust</i> has been finally scheduled for release this fall. I highly suggest you see this film for the first time, or reacquaint yourself with it now. As far as `Bloodlust' is concerned, well...see you at the theatres!
Thanks for reading!
C.H.R.
Movie Review: Beware the Eldest
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the original Vampire Hunter D, done in 1985 under the direction of Toyoo Ishida. It tells a different story than the animation made in 2001 ('Bloodlust'), done by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, but shares the same world and main character. The beautiful character designs of Yoshitaka Amano originally done for the novel series by Hideyuki Kikuchi are the artistic core of both films.The story is set in 12,090 A.D., as millennia of rule by vampires slowly come to an end. While vampires are increasingly rarer, those that are left still rule the night, making use of their mutant and werewolf servants to help them gain access to human prey. They are the oldest, and the only threats to them come from the vampire hunters. One such hunter is D, a dunpeal (damphir) - the child of a vampire and a human.
On a lonely night Doris Ran, a young farmer, waits on a road for D, willing to offer anything if the eerie killer can rescue her from the plans of Count Magnus Lee - who has selected her as a human consort. Bitten by the vampire, suspected by all the villagers, Doris has little chance for survival if D cannot stop the elder vampire's plans. Standing in D's way are Lee's own deluded childe Ramika and his servant, Ray Ginsay, who has the singular ability to bend time so that the attacker becomes the attacked. This struggle will take all of D's powers and cunning.
The film makes an interesting contrast of D and his opponent Magnus Lee. Equal in heritage, Lee is the magically stronger, but half-human D can walk in the sunlight. Both are doomed to lonely lives. For Lee, there is no longer a society of vampires. For D, there are none like him; his powers are a curse that makes life as a human impossible.
It is probably unfair to compare the two films, both have excellent stories and superb illustration, even though 15 years of technology separates them. Perhaps the 2001 version comes closer to Yoshitaka Amano's original artwork, but the older plot seems truer to what Hideyuki Kikuchi was doing. However, this is splitting hairs - they are each excellent examples of their genre. Whichever you see first, you will soon want to view the other as well.
Movie Review: An anime masterpiece!
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in the future, Vampires and demons roam the countrysides as humans struggle to fight against them. A powerful vampire lord named " Count Magnus Lee" has bitten a lovely village girl named "Doris" and she hires a vampire hunter named "D" whom is a half-vampire half-human with special swordsmen skills to destroy any monster. He is her only hope against the agents of Magnus Lee and the count himself, as D must protect her against them.
This 1985 Japanese animated horror fantasy is a true cult classic in every sense of the word. It's an exciting and well crafted anime movie with imaginative ideas, gore, action, bizarre animation and great music score including an animated beauty to make guys smile makes this a must see anime movie.
The DVD is awesome with great transfer & sound, this contains both English dub track and Japanese language track with English subtitles, trailers to both this movie and Bloodlust, a look into the video game, web links, the making of "Vampire Hunter D" and original artwork gallery by Japanese artist "Amano".
Also recommended: "Bram Stoker's Dracula", " Interview with the Vampire", " Vamp", " Lifeforce", "City of the Living Dead ( a.k.a. The Gates of Hell)", " The Last Unicorn", " The Secret of NIMH", " The Flight of Dragons", "The Dark Crystal", "Clash of the Titans", " Akira", " Ghost in The Shell", "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust", " Blade", "Blade II", "Blade Trinity", " From Dusk Till Dawn", "House By The Cemetery", " Van Helsing", " Fright Night 1 & 2", "Conquest ( 1983)", " Wizards", " Metropolis ( 2001 anime)", " Cowboy Bebop The Movie", " Vampire Princess Miyu", " Ladyhawke", "Excalibur", "Gldaiator", " An American Werewolf in London", "Army of Darkness", " Willow", " The Princess Bride", " Demons", "The Evil Dead 1 & 2", "Re-Animator", " Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend", " Perfect Blue", " The Professional: Golgo 13", "Wicked City", " Ninja Scroll", " Kill Bill Vol. 1", " Riki-Oh The Story of Ricky", " Dracula ( 1931)", " The Lost Boys", " The Forsaken".
Movie Review: Classic Anime All the Way
Summary: 5 Stars
If you've never seen this film before, then you'll probably think that the animation/sketches are a little prosaic. But for the record, this movie was made in the 1980s, directly before Japanese Animation became widespread. Hence, the drawings themselves are quite extraordinary for their time, and the movie itself was a major stepping stone in the proliferation of adult-oriented, animated films.
The majority of the scenes in the film are generally dark, morose, and creepy...but in a good way. The film itself is set far into the future where technological advances abound, but ironically enough, the people live, work, and dress as if it's the 18th Century. The main character is a quiet, yet very lethal "dumpeel" by the name of D. Throughout the film dumpeels are characterized as half vampire/half human creatures who, like many real, unfortunate half-breeds, have a great deal of trouble making friends on either side. Because of this, D is a professional vampire hunter who most likely hopes to gain the acceptance of his human peers.
In the beginning of the movie, D meets a young, attractive girl named Doris who has been attacked and bitten by an ancient and extremely formidable vampire known as Count Magnus Lee. Thus, D sets out to kill the vampire who's bitten Doris before she turns into a vampire herself. Of course, if you've seen any number of vampire flics, then this probably sounds very formulaic. However, I assure you that "Vampire Hunter D" is unique in every way. It was the first of its kind, and it set the bar for its remarkably laudable sequel, "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust," which was made some 20 years later. So I suggest you give this film a try, and if you're a big anime fan, definitely check out the sequel.