Ranked #1378

Vampire Hunter D

Two phrases: 'cult classic' and 'blast from the past'. This 1985 piece is not actually, on its own merits, a classic film, but I recommend it nevertheless, as a film with great historical interest. Currently its sequel, 'Bloodlust', is more well-known.

Really, this is a familiar Western plot in sci-fi horror clothing - a wandering hero takes on the job of protecting a woman and her homestead from a dangerous enemy. But the sci-fi horror clothing is significant in itself - the dangerous enemy is the vampire Magnus Lee, and the wandering hero is the laconic, mysterious (and slightly bishounen) swordsman, named only 'D'. D, like any self-respecting laconic wanderer, rides a horse - but it's robotic. This delicious mix of Western, Horror, sci-fi and gothic elements gives the series its unusual and striking aesthetic. Besides the story's wonderful setting, however, the actual plot per se is no better than the stereotypical Western skeleton from which it was cloned.

But if you like fighting, it's often hard to notice the mediocre plot, because D's efforts to protect his employer, Doris, are the excuse for lots of action. And the action is rather well executed, with various mutated or demonic opponents for D's sword, as well as the Count's daughter, the deadly Rei Ginsei and, of course, the Count himself. Nor does the animation disappoint, although given its age it's hardly what you'd expect from a modern production. In fact, if you are (like me) an anime fan who's used to fairly up-to-date animation, there's considerable interest in watching something over twenty years old. Indeed, Vampire Hunter D was apparently one of the earliest anime movies to be noticed at all in the rest of the world.

That - in a nutshell - is pretty much all there is to this film. It's not complicated, but it delivers a nice dose of old-fashioned horror action. If that's a genre you like, I recommend it heartily. If you aren't into action, you might still find the film's historical interest is enough to keep you watching. On that subject, if you can get hold of the UK release of this film, from Manga Entertainment, there's a quite detailed commentary track available, which delves into various aspects of the film's creation, and Japanese culture in general. One other thing worth mentioning is that some of the Vampire Hunter D novels, from which the film was adapted, have been translated (not terribly well, in my opinion) into English by Dark Horse Press. read more

Title: Vampire Hunter D

Novels, Manga, Anime: Vampire Hunter D was originally a series of seventeen novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano (famous for his work on character designs and the logos for the Final Fantasy series) starting in 1983.

Vampire Hunter D was adapted into two separate media; manga and comics. The manga was an adaptation in which Kikuchi hand-picked the artist, Saiko Takaki, began running in 2007, was licensed Stateside by Digital Media Publishing, and is currently ongoing. The comic, whose rights were acquired Devil's Due Publishing (the parent company of Digital Media Publishing) in July 2008, is known as Vampire Hunter D: American Wasteland, and will be written by Jimmy Palimotti (known for writing the Sci-Fi series Painkiller Jane and work on Monolith).

Vampire Hunter D, an 80 minute movie, was produced by Ashi Productions (known for their work on the Sailor Moon S and SuperS movies) and directed by Toyoo Ashida (famous for his work on... well, there's nothing really to speak of here). It was released in 1985 in Japan and licensed Stateside by, in order, CBS Theatrical Films, MGM, Streamline Pictures, and, the current holder of the license, Urban Vision Entertainment.

Story: Doris Lang, the daughter of a werewolf hunter, is out hunting werewolves one night when she is bitten by Count Magnus Lee, who then decides to make her his bride, marking her with his bite marks. She hires a vampire hunter known only as D, who she meets out in the middle of nowhere one day, offering him food and herself to take out the Count and save her from becoming his bride.

...Where to begin with this?

This story is all over the place. I mean, there's a general narrative here, and it's something resembling coherent when it's looked at overarchingly. In execution, however, it is made of WTF. There are sudden jumps from scene to scene, subplots are bought in out of nowhere, and twists are thrown around like they're candy, with all of this having little to no explanation whatsoever. Moreover, the thing just drags, with scenes seemingly added simply for the point of drawing out the movie, which really shouldn't have happened.

I honestly can't tell you what the hell happened here. I was watching this with my anime club tonight, and we just gave up on even trying to understand what happened about a half hour in and just started mocking it mercilessly.

Art: For the 80s, this is halfway decent. The character designs are extremely pointy and detailed, but they're based off of Amano designs, which explains a lot.

However, it has not aged well. Action scenes are done mainly with pulsating lines in the background, not to mention flashing lights that could probably induce epileptic seizures in those susceptible to them. The movie's extremely heavy on the gore, but the way that blood works in this is incredibly stylized and not even close to reality in the slightest. Characters' color palettes will change from scene to scene, far more than lighting should account for. Most notably, the hat that D wears creates a black void in the upper part of his face with only his eyes showing, and it's incredibly painful to watch, especially when it doesn't move even when the lighting does.

There is some nudity in here, however, it's not really all that well done, and it's paired with images of death and gore and such that I'm sure that, by the process of association, if you showed this to kids, they could very easily never ever ever want to have sex ever.

Music: Meh. I didn't notice this much, but it didn't make that much of an impression on me, either. So, we'll say passable.

Seiyuu: As with the music, I didn't notice them that much, but neither did they make that much of an impression on me, so, again, we'll say passable.

Length: This movie just dragged on and on and on; it should've ended at the hour mark, and a good deal of the "twists" could've been cut out, and it would've been semi-decent.

Overall: Don't watch this. It's not worth it, except for mocking purposes.

Story: 4/10
Art: 4/10
Music: 6/10
Seiyuu: 6/10
Length: 5/10

Overall: 25/50; 50% (F) read more