"Because I'm a dhampir. I don't get to have a life, not like you."
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) [バンパイアハンターD] is a Japanese horror OVA anime loosely based on the third novella of the Vampire Hunter D series, D - Demon Deathchase written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. This is the second film based on the novellas, following Vampire Hunter D (1985). This film was directed by Yoshiaki Kawaijiri and produced by Madhouse inc.
When a young woman named Charlotte is abducted by a vampire noble, her father hires the vampire hunter D to bring her back or kill her. Charlotte's brother also hires a group of hunters known as the Marcus brothers. These two hunter teams race to win the bounty but sometimes things aren't as simple as they seem.
I'm not a big fan of the Marcus brothers in this film. They're fine, they're far better than half the characters in the previous film. But they get a lot of screen time and I'm not sure why I should care about them at all, really. The film uses Leila quite a bit to try and make you feel for these characters and she's done better than the others, but just having her as an emotional character doesn't make you care at all when her friends die.
The other good thing about this film is it really works on its own! You can watch this film by itself, before the previous film or after and with or without the books and you'd be fine. Although if you have seen the previous film, it probably enhances this one because of the similar plot and themes and the reversals in this one will really surprise you.
I really like the vampire noble of this film, Meier Link. He's vicious, cool and yet still sympathetic. I love the scene early on when he goes out into the sunlight to try and protect Charlotte. This scene just says so much about this character and makes you realize that he may not be as evil as you were originally led to believe.
Also gotta mention how much I love the score of this film. It's super chilling and very much has a "classical" vampire feel to it and in this world of reinvented vampires and post-apocalyptic ghouls it's awesome to have some epic organ music over the film.
I don't understand really what was the deal with Carmila and her plot at the end, it's not that interesting or prevalent to the the rest of the cool things in this film, and I think this is supposed to be a more "dynamic" twist because the original plot kind of resolves itself in the end on its own. It also gives them a chance to talk about D's lineage but, really don't think it was necessary and just feels a bit shoe-horned in.
I love the animation in this film. Japan seems to be the only country to find a good way to integrate a combination of CG and traditional animation and have it really work well. This film is absolutely beautiful and the less traditional "anime style" really helps a lot.
Bloodlust creates a beautiful enhancement of the world I loved so much in the previous film. This film seems like they took more from Yoshitaka Amano's original designs and illustrations and the darks seem darker, the evil seems more evil. Of course the budget was of course way higher in this film, so that helps. But I love the opening scene of this film with the vampire carriage rolling into town with lights flickering out and crosses bending, and time seeming like it stops. It's directly out of the books, and a really successful effect that just draws you in to this world from the very beginning.
I also love the story of this one, it's a very simple premise and yet full of interesting twists and turns along the way. It also makes for a great follow-up to the previous film because the story is unexpectedly different situation than the likewise vampire-courted human in that story. And I love the simple little things that this film does with time, because D doesn't age. It's very simply done and not too much of a focus.
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) is one of the higher budget anime films, enhanced by the simple yet interesting story. It'd be hard not to recommend this one.
4/5 Stars.
Happy watching!
Tune in tomorrow on the 31 Nights of Macabre Movies as we're going to change gears a bit and switch to yet another horror sub-genre!
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ReplyDeleteThe section with Carmilla is tacked on; it's not in the novel. The entire plot of the novel revolves around the Marcus family and D going after Meier Link and Charlotte. It was likely too character driven and not 'big' enough for the anime.
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