Vampire Hunter D
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Movie Reviews of Vampire Hunter D
Movie Review: Conceptually sound, lacking and predictable in execution.
Summary: 3 Stars
Based on a series of best-selling novels by Japanese Horror author Hideyuki Kikuchi, this 1985 direct-to-video animated feature has been a cult favorite among Anime fans. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where vampires and mutants have overrun a human world, VAMPIRE HUNTER D begins on a dark night with a deftly choreographed action scene. Here we see Doris Lang, a courageous werewolf hunter's daughter stalking her gardens in pursuit of a T-Rex like monster with sharp teeth and scarlet eyes. Chasing it into the forest on horseback, Doris finds herself face to face with an even more imposing threat--a hulking, shadowy vampire, who introduces himself as Count Magnus Lee (in a rather corny monologue which exists only in the English version). Naturally, the bloodthirsty aristocrat takes a drink from our heroine's jugular vein.
The following day, Doris encounters a lone figure on a cyborg horse--a vampire hunter known as D. Desperately, she hires him. The rest of the movie involves D doing everything in his power to slay the evil count to save Doris from an eternal life as a walking undead. Meanwhile, Doris must protect her impulsive little brother, Dan, and fend off the advances of an unwelcome suitor, the arrogant mayor's son Greco. Matters are further complicated when D also has to deal with Lamika, Count Lee's jealous daughter, and the ambitious Ray Ginsay, a deadly noble wanna-be who will do anything to earn his master's favor. During all this, Doris falls madly in love with D--but it turns out that her rescuer (surprise) is half-vampire himself. (This explains why his left hand has a creepy-looking face that can talk to its master or even suck up nasty creatures.)
The concept is sound, but this movie's execution may turn off viewers expecting a multi-faceted story and flashy visuals. The plot, while otherwise apt, borders too much on predictable; even a chilling sequence where Ray Ginsay paralyzes and (temporarily) murders D by way of using an essence-draining candle loses its impact because we already know that our hero will eventually prevail. The character designs were by Yoshitaka Amano, best known from the ever-popular FINAL FANTASY videogames, but his stylistic illustrations are sadly compromised by the simplistic and flat animation. The backgrounds, although dark and appropriately imaginative, lack detail and the cel count is very choppy. It is important to note, however, that all the animation defects are simply attributed to the fact that this was made in 1985, a time when Japanese Anime productions were mostly made on the cheap. Even still, it does leave a B-grade stench on the product.
This same B-movie quality also applies to the audio aspects of the picture. Although the sound effects are appropriately haunting and scary, at times they do sound cheesy, particularly the synthesizer sound effects when Count Lee sends rays from his eyes. The musical score from TM Network's Tetsuya Komuro is fittingly epic and sometimes spooky, although it is obviously driven by dated-sounding electronic instruments.
As far as vocal acting is concerned, the English dub, produced in 1992 by Carl Macek's Streamline Pictures, does not feature anything in the way of memorable or convincing vocals. With the exception of Edie Mirman as Lamika, who brings a sultry arrogance to her role and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Barbara Goodson as Doris (who is decent, but sometimes she comes across as bland) the rest of the performances range from dull (D sounds too much like a radio announcer) to lackluster (Dan, in particular, sounds more like a woman than a boy). Other factors which bring down the dub are the cheesy Transylvanian accents and the even more lame writing (in addition to that aforementioned monologue delivered by Count Lee, there are other groan-worthy lines, most of them uttered by D's left hand). This isn't to say that the Japanese version is any better. While D sounds less generic than his American counterpart, Doris, Dan, and Lamika all have shrill, irritating voices in the native language track which actually sound worse in many scenes than in the dub. In other words, neither language track is remarkable, nor easy to recommend over.
All these faults aside, VAMPIRE HUNTER D *is* a good story. In spite of its aforementioned predictability (some might argue this movie was tailor-made for Western audiences), VAMPIRE HUNTER D delves into some complex issues: D's inner struggle to resist his own instincts when Doris makes sexual advances on him and his inability to express his true compassion to others results from some very human emotions. It is also intriguing to discover that the villainous Count Lee's actions are motivated mostly by the desire for sport rather than malice. The action and fight sequences are also skillfully choreographed in the style of a samurai-slasher. Sadly, the routine execution does weigh down the movie's potential.
It's also important to note that this movie has its share of graphic violence--there are quite a bit of gory swordfights, resulting with stabbing, amputating, or slicing in half; toward the end where one character's head explodes. While all this may sound pretty extreme for squeamish viewers, the cheap production values actually make the violence less gruesome and more campy, making it easier to sit through than most bloodfests. There are also a few very inoffensive nude scenes. Even so, this is a movie best appreciated by an adult audience; parents should think twice before considering showing this to children.
VAMPIRE HUNTER D is a good film, but it's not what I would consider one of the all-time greats. For a more meaty and complex treatment of the story, Yoshiaki Kawajiri's BLOODLUST should be a more viable route.
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: Possibly the WORST quality in Anime!!!!
Summary: 2 Stars
I only gave it 2 stars because of the girl! (SHE IS SO HOT!) and maybe the concept is COOL but the rest was HORRENDOUS.
The graphics are smudgy, the animation is the WORST EVER, the action scenes were poorly choreographied, the sound is annoying and the camera shots were slow and poorly addapted!
Better buy the sequel witch is everything opposite to what I said.
Adios.
Movie Review: Understanding this film's superiority to 2001s "Bloodlust" (SPOILERS)
Summary: 5 Stars
A good portion of the not so positive reviews for this film are due to the authors' preference of the 16 year in coming Vampire Hunter D film, entitled "Bloodlust". I understand that the aforementioned film is quite beautiful, with some of the most stunning visuals I've ever seen in anime. Therein lies the problem, however, because viewing "Bloodlust" first usually leads to a bias; people then usually see the first one and claim that "Bloodlust" has so much going for it besides just a gorgeous presentation (it's almost formulaic how it happens).
Many people fail to see the potential of this 1985 classic (based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's first in a series of japanese novels), and instead they complain that the animation is "dated". What people fail to see is the very compelling (albeit familiar) story and unique characters. Most of all, the few underlying themes within the film. The film (set in the year 12,090) is about a victimized yet strong female character named Doris who lives in a rural area and looks after her younger brother Dan without the help of any family (the only one that can care for both of them is the local doctor, Ferring). Humanity lives in a time where after a nuclear holocaust, they coexist with mutants, monstrosities, and vampires (the latter of which is seen by themselves and others as "nobility"). During a routine hunt, Doris's horse is viciously (and graphically) killed by the werewolf of the local 10,000 year old vampire count, Magnus Lee. Lee then bites Doris, and intends to take her as his wife. Doris encounters the very stoic, very strong and dark vampire hunter, named D. The movie follows D's efforts to storm Lee's castle, deal with his many monstrous henchmen, and kill the count, in order to save Doris from becoming a vampire.
2001's film, "Bloodlust" (based on Kikuchi's third novel in the series) is about the kidnapping of a young woman named Charlotte Melbourne by a young looking vampire named Meier Link. Charlotte's father hires D to bring her back, or kill her if she is to become a vampire herself. Not only does Charlotte's father hire D, but also the cocksure team of bounty hunters called the Markus Brothers (and sister, Leila). Meier Link becomes wise to the various hunters, and hires members of the Barbaroy, a clan of viscious monsters. Throughout the film the viewer learns that Charlotte may not have been kidnapped, and she and Meier Link may actually love each other (despite Meier's realization of the inescapable lust he will have to have for Charlotte).
Though both films may seem to have similar stories (A cool calm and collected hunter needs to save a girl, etc), it is the 1985 film that clearly shines. The way the story is told in the original one is very straighforward, whereas "Bloodlust" is a very cheesy romantic story full of plot holes and an overabundance of characters. There are very smart themes throughout the film, such as identity (D's dealing with the imbalance of his vampire and his human side, Lamica and the harsh realization of her true nature, and mutant Rei's yearning for nobility), and the ignorance of true nobility (the Lee family mistakenly goes against their famous ancestor's true beliefs). The themes of "Bloodlust" are a bit more cliche, such as the dealing with characters' pasts which they can't escape, and love vs. lust.
Another quality the 1985 film has going for it are the powerful characters. D is a man frustrated with his identity (a half human and half vampire who has to deal with his possesed left hand constantly and wryly reminding him of his true nature) and struggling with the possible love of the female protagonist. Doris is a damsel in distress (albeit a strong one) with the responsibility of caring for her brother and the humiliation of being shunned by her hometown for being bitten by the Count. Doris also has to understand that she cannot ever have feelings for D, because D cannot repress his vampiric lust. The Lee family looks at themselves as noble yet they are gravely ignorant of their ancestors true beliefs. Count Lee is a near 10,000 year old vampire overridden by boredom, resulting in his turning to "having fun" with human women every hunderd or so years. Lee's daughter heavily follows her father's mistaken belief of humans being nothing more than livestock (leading to a pounding realization later in the film). Lee's henchman Rei Ginsei is a mutant with strange talents, who wants to be accepted into the house of Lee so that he isn't looked at as scum. Supporting the main characters are Dr. Ferring the town's humble doctor who tries his best to stand up for Doris; and Doris's brave younger brother Dan who looks up to D as a role model and tries to shape himself into the same kind of person. The problem with the characters in "Bloodlust" is that amongst the main characters of D (suffering from similar issues in the original film), Leila Markus (haunted by the past of her dead mother during her childhood), and Charlotte & Meier (their yearning to share their misunderstood love for each other), there are various supporting characters such as the Markus Brothers (hunters with no real past besides a reputation), the monstrous Barbaroy (ditto), and the bloody Countess Carmilla (the evil spirit of a vampire who aids the couple, with an agenda of her own). This "supporting cast" doesn't really seem to have a point, other than to be killed in some way by D or someone else. The story of Carmilla in relation to D seems to be a plot hole that isn't exactly explained.
Before comparing animation, I will first say that "Bloodlust" has some of the most vivid and gorgeous visuals I've ever seen in any anime and it would be no comparison as to which one is of finer quality. However, the art style and tone of the 1985 film is much more representative of the type of story being told. The original film is very dark, eerie, mysterious, a bit more of the macabre. "Bloodlust" however has many bright scenes, and seems much less dark and much less serious (a small tidbit that will soon be covered), this takes away very much from the dark nature and intention of the title character and the genre. The music shows this too: In "Bloodlust" it is very theatric, and over the top, whereas in the original it is subtle and foreboding.
Although this quality of the 2001 piece is less outward than the rest of what I have mentioned, it is nonetheless remarkable. There is a very evident Americanization of a story of Japanese origin within "Bloodlust" and the genre its story represents. As mentioned before the tone of "Bloodlust" is often times comedic and more action oriented than horror, which takes away heavily from the dark nature of the Vampire Hunter D mythos. What is characteristic of American horror is that even in the darkest tales, there is usually someone or something there for comic relief (go figure, evidentially "Bloodlust" was originally recorded in the English language). D's left hand is reduced from a dark entity sardonically reminding D of his true self to a sort of wise cracking sidekick.
The whole point of this was not only to review a great film I am a huge fan of, but to point out why I view this film as wholly superior to a 2001 film that gets more praise. In regards to "Bloodlust", I think it's a great film with a lot of potential that simply went to waste. Many people hide behind the fact that it's so stunningly animated, but "What's a good looking plate with nothing on it?"
Movie Review: Buffy's Vampire Slaying Predecessor
Summary: 5 Stars
Vampire Hunter D was the first authentic anime movie I had ever seen - episodes of the Thundercats despite their guilty charm and obvious anime foundation don't really count - and I was pretty impressed. I caught a showing of it one morning on The Sci-Fi Channel's Anime Sunday and could finally appreciate all the fuss about anime. Visually striking in its stylized approach and frenetic execution, Anime's power lies in tales of high-octane genre action. While anime enthusiasts might somehow welcome a rendition of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, I suspect that while the Wicked Witch would probably come out all the more wicked, the dwarves would resemble something out of Pokemon. And nobody really needs more of that, right?
After watching a few minutes of this disc, you clearly see that either a technician fell asleep while balancing brightness levels, or the studio wanted a darker release. When comparing the trailer and other clips from the supplements, it's obvious that this print is noticeably darker. At no time does it really become distracting, but for those who have seen other versions, keep in mind that this one is a much darker transfer. Considering that the movie is 14 years old, it's not in bad shape. Also, since it's animation generally colors in animated films are usually bold primary ones and deeply saturated, so there's a bit of a washed out look to the color scheme here. But by and large the transfer is free of defects, pixelation and the compression is good with no apparent artifacts. There are two soundtracks - one in Japanese the other in English. Both mixes are powerful when needed, yet retain the subtleties of the quieter moments.
The disc has an extensive trailer selection showcasing other anime titles such as Wicked City and it also includes the trailer for Vampire Hunter D 2000 - the sequel. Also as another trailer of sorts is the preview for the Vampire Hunter D - Playstation Video Game. Running nearly three minutes in length, it combines a video introduction with generous samplings of the video game.
A video clip comprised of graphic concepts and work samples of Yoshitaka Amano, the artist whose illustrations for the Vampire Hunter D novels formed the basis for the look and film design, makes up the Image Gallery. Set to a haunting musical score, this gives the audience a peek at the beginning of the Vampire Hunter D characters and also a look into future Amano projects - including an upcoming collaboration with Neil Gaiman of Sandman fame.
Finally, there's The Making of Vampire Hunter D - at just under 10 minutes, this is a nice behind the scenes look at the film - complete with interviews of cast and crew. Narrated in Japanese with English subtitles, we see the surprisingly modest animation studio which produced the film along with excited voice over artists thrilled at being given the opportunity to bring these popular Asian characters to life.
Vampire Hunter D succeeds as a crossover anime film. Combining futuristic hard-edged action that's the hallmark of anime with dark, gothic elements of the horror and fantasy genres, it works remarkably well. Today we're accustomed to the action/horror blend of such popular franchises as Wesley Snipe's Blade and of course Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, however, Vampire Hunter D having debuted in 1983 is the forefather to those vampire hunters. Perhaps only The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires released in 1974 by Hammer Films was an earlier mixture of martial arts and vampires. But where that and most other forays into action/horror never stray far from traditional trappings, Vampire Hunter D employs a decidedly unique element by setting the environment far into the future- a world still recognizable, though far removed from our own.