Vampire Hunter D is likely to appeal to horror fans, and is a good first anime choice for fans of old Hammer movies. While not a ground breaker like Ghost in the Shell or Akira, Vampire Hunter D is on a par with live-action vampire films such as The Vampire Lovers or Son of Dracula and superior to many of the extremely low budget vampire flicks that clog the airwaves and video stores each Halloween. It cannot compare to the true classics of the horror genre, such as The Exorcist,Alien, or Night of the Living Dead but it ranks as a decent quality production that will please anyone looking for some chills.
The general milieu of Vampire Hunter D strongly evokes that of Stephen King's Dark Tower novels. Both fantasy worlds feature a Clint Eastwood-style gunslinger hero exploring a futuristic land that is equal parts Old West and Mordor. (True, D does not use a gun, but his long cloak and fedora strongly suggest a Western hero). Yet Vampire Hunter D was lensed before King's first Dark Tower novel was published, making for an odd coincidence. Vampire Hunter D owes a more conscious debt to the gory films Hammer turned out in the 1960s and some of the more stylish Roger Corman adaptations such as Masque of the Red Death. Even the obligatory anime nude scene is not purely exploitative; D's reaction to the naked Doris reveals the tragedy of a man dedicated to fighting darkness but unable to express love. The stylized characterization, on screen blood, strong sexual innuendoes, and vampire empires are clearly in a cinematic horror tradition that has since been abandoned in favor of more graphic violence.
Visually, the film is quite stunning, even though the animation lacks the fluidity one might like in a feature film. Many of the villains are downright odd in Vampire Hunter D and often resemble jokers or harlequins. This should come as little surprise to those familiar with the graphic design work of Yoshitaka Amano, who had previously designed the freakish costume of Berg Katse. Hideyuki Kikuchi's screenplay calls for a bleak futuristic wasteland populated by werewolves, vampires, demons, and freakish mutations, and Amano's designs do not disappoint. The lead characters are drawn in a more mainstream style. Count Magnus Lee's design strongly recalls Bela Lugosi (the dubbing in the Carl Maeck version makes the resemblance seem even stronger), and D himself is a cross between a long-haired Zorro and Eastwood's Man With No Name. Both Doris and her little brother are drawn in typical anime fashion, including the oversized eyes. Count Lee's daughter is perhaps the most interesting character of the bunch, a determined aristocratic assassin.
At heart, the film is a B-grade horror movie, albeit an amazingly original one. As in live action horror films that have generated a comparable cult status (such as Psychomania and the Amicus version of Tales From the Crypt), there are scripting problems. Some of the dialogue is amazingly stilted (and it isn't the dub's fault) and both D and Count Lee remain shadowy figures whose motivations are unclear. Aside from Lee's lust for Doris, we are given very little information about the Count. In fact the minor villains are far more interesting and seductively evil than the Count himself. The film's setting (supposedly in the year 12,000 AD) promises a science-fiction element that is never delivered. A number of subplots are introduced and then pre-empted by the deaths of their characters. The Edgar Allen Poe references ("The Fall of the House of Usher") seem misplaced, and Lee's downfall at the hands of D occurs far too quickly given the ancient Count's power. D's mixed heritage is somewhat problematic (how can someone be half-undead?) and only gets more confusing as the film progresses.
These are all flaws that are forgiven when viewing this film on a cold October evening as Halloween draws near, but are likely to annoy if you stumble across Vampire Hunter D in the crisp, clear light of a spring afternoon.
Author's note, January 18, 2004: Vampire Hunter D was followed almost 20 years later with a sequel entitled Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust. The sequel, made by different hands, is vastly inferior to the original, but you may read my review by clicking here
Get your ownFree Home Page