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| VHS cover art by legendary artist Yoshitaka Amano |
Here's an entry for all you anime lovers out there. The 1985 animated horror film VAMPIRE HUNTER D. Directed by Toyoo Ashida and based off of the novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi, this movie sees the famous vampire hunter in his first ever screen appearance. Novelist Hideyuki Kikuchi is apparently a big fan of the HAMMER Studios horror films from the 1950's, 60's, and 70's. They were partly to blame for influencing the creation of the Vampire Hunter D book series and their influence can even be seen in this animated film. What better world of monsters and vampires to draw inspiration from?
For those of you who are uninitiated in the world of anime or Japanese animation, let me tell you, there is a world of animation out there not for the faint of heart nor for the eyes of children. Vampire Hunter D has gore, nudity, extreme violence, and buckets of blood. The monsters in this movie tear people to pieces and you see it all. And the vampires are wondrous and terrifying masters of the night. And then there "D" the vampire hunter. Like Clint Eastwood riding silently on his horse through the old west, D rides his steed from town to town righting wrongs and saving innocent people from the terrors of the vampires.
THE PLOT
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| Doris encounters Count Magnus Lee |
The year is 12090 A.D. The world is on a backwards slide toward simpler living. Technology exists but people live as if it were the 15th or 16th century. Doris Lang lives with her little brother on their parents ranch. One night while defending her livestock from a nocturnal beast she encounters Count Magnus Lee, a 5,000 year old master vampire. He slakes his thirst on her blood and leaves. Bitten, Doris knows she only has a short amount of time before she turns into a vampire. If the villagers find out she'll be ostracized and the ranch will fall to ruin.
The following day she encounters a traveler on a lonely road. She asks him if he's a vampire hunter. The mysterious stranger says nothing, sitting silently astride his steed. She engages him in battle to test his skills. After being effortlessly defeated by the man on the horse she explains her situation. Finally he speaks and agrees to help her. He doesn't speak often and when he does it's simple and to the point. He introduces himself as "D, the hunter." That night the count sends his monstrous servants to take Doris. As she watches D fight she realizes that he is no ordinary vampire hunter. Just who is this mysterious hunter? And does he have the strength to defeat a 5,000 year old vampire?
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| Artwork from the novel of Doris meeting D by Yoshitaka Amano |
THE GOOD
The world in which this story takes place is a dark horrific place, perfect for people like me who love monsters. The opening scene is of a dark eerie night. We see a reptilian monster rip a horse's throat out. Then a huge werewolf appears and leaps off with the horse's corpse. And finally we see a master vampire, Magnus Lee, looking like Dracula on steroids. He's even named after Christopher Lee (the actor to have played Dracula the highest number of times). The werewolf is scary and impressive. Count Magnus Lee is even more frightening and awe-inspiring. Every single monster in this movie, great or small, is shown to be extremely dangerous and frightening. It would be a truly terrifying world to live in.
The movie sets up an amazing world of monsters and it gives us an equally amazing cast of characters to follow. The title character, D, is literally the lone gunslinger from spaghetti westerns, with all the personality of Eastwood or Charles Bronson. The character is so damn cool there aren't words to accurately describe him. A great hero needs an equally great foe. Count Magnus Lee is easily one of the most imposing and powerful vampire depictions in any movie or book. Vampires have never been as menacing as this.
Then of course there's the action, the brutal violence, and gore. Back in 1985 they couldn't do all the things they can now with CGI and special effects. But in animation the sky was the limit. If you have the imagination to let yourself into anime you will find infinite possibilities for stories. Nowadays we have the ability to do just about anything but even so the creativity in anime dwarfs most anything Hollywood can produce. There is so much this movie has to offer including countless numbers of monsters, everything from mist monsters to sirens to witches and spectral phantoms. It sets everything to a beautiful and terrifying landscape. It's a feast for the imagination.
THE BAD
Above I said there was a great cast of characters... well not all of them. The lead female character Doris is lacking something, the English speaking voice actress sounds bland and far too old. Then there are a large number of stock characters, uninspired and cliche. They're there to serve a purpose and that's perfectly fine. The characters of D and Count Magnus Lee more than make up for the others. And lastly there's the animation. Some of it still looks real good. There are plenty of beautiful scenes. But there is also a great deal that sadly looks dated. Unless this movie had the budget of a Disney classic, the dated animation was unavoidable. It's still a helluva movie even with the sometimes dated look.
THE VERDICT
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| More beautiful artwork from Yoshitaka Amano |
Vampire Hunter D is the horror monster movie to end all monster movies. It takes all the various monsters out there, rolls them up into one terrifying world and combines it with a spaghetti western sensibility. Obviously inspired by Italian westerns and greatly influenced by Hammer horror films, this movie also did some inspiring of its own with the CASTLEVANIA video game series. The main hero and villain are outstanding. And its got everything a horror movie should with 10x the possibilities. If you're a fan of anime you need to see this if you haven't already. If you're not a fan of anime you should at least give it a try, if only for the plot and the characters. Trust me, it's worth it. Vampire Hunter D has inspired my writings and imagination more than I can count. A true classic in every right.
Overall Ranking: 8 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 3 out of 10
Want more monster slaying anime? Check out BLOOD-C in the post linked below...
Suspended Animation: Blood-C
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