"What a wonderful night this has been! For the first time in one hundred years I haven't been bored once!"
Vampire Hunter D (1985) [バンパイアハンターD] is a Japanese horror OVA anime based on the novella of the same name written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. This film was one of the first anime films to be released outside of Japan and still today is considered a cult classic.
Farmer, orphan and outsider Doris takes care of her brother Dan. Unfortunately for her she is courted by a nearby Aristocrat Vampire Lord, she then hires a Vampire Hunter named D to protect her and her brother Dan.
I've seen this film many times over the years but I only recently read the novella. It's very interesting to me to see how close of a direct adaptation this film actually is. There's a lot of really weird things in this film that are actually described in greater detail or explained in the book, but if you're just watching the film on it's own you'd (like the rest of America) just assume it's some more of that crazy and weird Japanese anime stuff. It's very clear after reading the novella that the creators of this film really poured over the source material in attempt to make it as truthful as possible to the original work. To the point of even just taking lots of lines of dialogue directly out of the book This doesn't always work though because some of the stuff like the "Time-Betwitching Incense," which kind of comes out of nowhere with no explanation and is a major plot point to foiling the Nobles' plans.
The most unfortunate thing about following the book too closely is the film doesn't actually feel like the characters are struggling though most of it. It really just like the characters are going through the motions as they follow the events from the book. For example, I don't buy the parts where D is trying to teach Dan to be a man at all. There's definitely something lost in the translation to the screen. And this is something I noticed before I ever read the book!
The film changes some of the characters from the book, for far worse. I really have always disliked the Rei Ginsei character. I think he's kind of a stupid character and a dumb villain. But then you read the book your realize he was actually kind of really cool, but in order to simplify the story they completely altered his character! One of the coolest things about the book is it's just not black and white, Good vs. Evil there's a lot of "gray parties" involved to the conflict! I also disliked the changes to the Count's daughter, Ramica. I understand they were trying to make her closer to D's character and show a way that D could live if he chose to do so. But the romantic interest between them in the novel worked perfectly I don't see any reason to change it.
Like lots of early Japanese anime films this one is overly sexual and violently graphic. Characters have breasts just fly out for really no reason, and multiple characters explode in a spay of guts and blood. Of course this is one of the things that set Japanese animation apart from the rest of the world's animation so I can't really hate on it too much.
I love the world of Vampire Hunter D, what other series beautifully blends the western, horror and sci-fi genres? Yes, a lot of this credit is due to the novels and the imagination of Hideyuki Kikuchi, but also this film does a great job at interpreting this world and bringing it to the screen with its own creativity and imagination. I love the scenes inside the Count's castle with all the crazy looking creatures and monsters in D's way, and although the costumes are very 80s', you must admit they're very original. The film also has a nice way of taking time to show you the world (especially early on in the film) and really let you take it all in, and lets you breathe in and marvel at the world rather than quickly moving on like most films would.
I can highly recommend the book, because it's really good on its own and will help you understand a lot of the random stuff that you're not going to understand and kind of just happens in this film if you watch the film cold. But be warned it will also make you dislike a lot of the changes they made in adapting the story.
It's easy to see why Vampire Hunter D (1985) was such a popular introduction to Japanese anime. Even today it's weird, interesting and yet very cool. It's kind of a double edged sword with reading the novella though.
3/5 Stars.
Happy watching!
Tomorrow on the 31 Nights of Macabre Movies we'll look at the loose sequel to this film, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000).
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