Vampire Hunter D

Name: Vampire Hunter D
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Thriller
Released: September 21, 2001
Duration: 103 min
Rating: 62

2001

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 47 Ratings

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7.8

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 47 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Urban Vision Entertainment | Release Date: September 21, 2001

Summary: Anime horror film follows the exploits of a half-human, half-vampire in a distant future.

Director: Jack Fletcher and Tai Kit Mak and Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy, Romance, Animation

Runtime: 103 min

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Critic Reviews

David Chute

Kawajiri's doom-laden action epic is a heady brew indeed. Read full review

Lisa Alspector

Dark fantasy triumphs in this gorgeously animated surrealist adventure. Read full review

Steven Rea

A genre pastiche that's fun to watch, although it's also frustrating. Read full review

Kim Morgan

Exciting, gory, funny and, like much of anime, a bit cheesy. Read full review

Loren King

Confusing storytelling and bad dialogue. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Handsome, well-executed film that nonetheless feels a bit long at 111 minutes. Those who are already anime fans will certainly find it stimulating; but this may not be the one to convert the uninitiated. Read full review

Chris Kaltenbach

Fans of anime probably will find Vampire Hunter D plenty thrilling. Non-fans, or those not familiar with the genre, will enjoy the film's gothic atmosphere, but may wonder what all the fuss is about.

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User Reviews

Jonny123

Feb 15, 2022

I couldn't stand seeing this piece of art being rated so low. **** Amano's work left another huge impression on me, just like he did with Final Fantasy 6.
Few movies have kept coming back into my mind like this one did. The character design and musical theme of Grove have stuck in my mindI couldn't stand seeing this piece of art being rated so low. **** Amano's work left another huge impression on me, just like he did with Final Fantasy 6.
Few movies have kept coming back into my mind like this one did. The character design and musical theme of Grove have stuck in my mind over 20 years since I watched this movie for the first time. Art, music and animation are very exceptional. Together with the story, characters and the setting it creates a unique and desperate atmosphere.

This movie inspired me to a lot of thoughts. To me, one of the strongest themes of this movie is about the million reasons why humans keep causing pain to themselves and others and how hard (or impossible) it can be to escape this endless cycle that has plagued humankind forever. Overall I think this movie has a lot to give, if you are able to enjoy it with an open mind and accepting that it's a dark, brutal and sad journey.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

kev_i_n

May 28, 2014

Summary
+Great Visual
+Good sense of action and suspense +Fantastic story ? Mixed feelings about characters ? Mixed opinions about the dialogue -Poor levels of explanation I cannot comment on how well the film depicts the books it is based on. In short watch the movie, I mean I am notSummary
+Great Visual
+Good sense of action and suspense
+Fantastic story
? Mixed feelings about characters
? Mixed opinions about the dialogue
-Poor levels of explanation
I cannot comment on how well the film depicts the books it is based on. In short watch the movie, I mean I am not a huge fan of anime but I loved it, because the film feels more like art than a simple movie.

Full review
The first thing that really struck me about vampire hunter d bloodlust, was the visual style of the film. The animation were fantastic on par if not better than the finest work made by Pixar, because it is quite literally out of this world, with each character having an interesting look to them. In particularly my favourite aspects of the animation is how the unique visual style in combination with the good camera work, going from panning shots to close ups in a smooth fashion, help to create this element of mystery within the world of ‘d’ (the main character), and world where anything can happen. It is quite refreshing actually to watch a film that feels so right in going all out, and not being contempt with making short cuts, because honestly nearly every sense looked fantastic.

The next aspect of the film I appreciated with the action scenes within the film. While I will admit that some of them feel rushed in particular the fight scene Mashira; nevertheless most of the action scenes feel fresh and well thought out. This is particularly the case with the scene that introduces the Marcus brothers (vampire hunters) and when they fight a horde of zombie like vampires, with each of the brothers having a unique fighting style. However one thing you will notice I that the fight scene all feel unique in particular the fights with the Mutant Barbarois (a group of warriors hired to guard a vampire) with each of the Barbarois having different power. The fight scene also do not over-power the rest of the film, which is rather refreshing because I find a lot of films seen to put all effort into the action scenes while ignoring the rest of the film. Vampire D doesn’t do this, as the action scene work in conjunction with the rest of the film to enhance the film overall.

The final major positive I have about the film is the story, which I found to be really interesting. In brief it is the story of how D and the Marcus Brothers are both hired to track down Meier Link, a vampire who ‘kidnapped’ Charlotte (human female). However as the story progress it become apparent Charlotte volunteered to go due to her love for Meier. While it may seem like a dull love story that we have all seen, I found it to be really interesting as the constant confliction between the D and the Marcus Brothers help to make the story more interesting. Furthermore the introduction of new aspects throughout the whole film (such as the build-up of the friendship between D and Leila) helps to undermine the boring nature of a standard love story. However the one major thing I while criticise the story for is how there is virtually no in depth explanation for aspects of the story, for the most part you are supposed to just accept the nature of the film. While I found it ok, some of my friends found it to be a bit frustrating having such elements of the film thrown at you with little explanation. However if you just relax and don’t challenge the film it will be enjoyable.

Now we get to the major mixed bags of the film. The first is that of character development, which is ok for some characters but not for all. This can be seen by how characters like D, Leila, and to some extent Meier feel well development, as each have their own backgrounds and scene of honour, while at the same tie not being fully exposed, meaning they still maintain a sense of mystery. In particular Meier has this great conflict within him as he fights his instinct to drink Charlotte’s blood. However the other characters feel under-developed. This can be seen with the Marcus Brothers because despite there are 4 male Marcus’ only Borgoff feels developed enough. It links back to the lack of explanation within the film, because such lack of explanation leads to such characters that could be interesting to be undermined.

The second mixed bag is that of how the dialogue is really hit or miss. I personally found it to be good, because while it was not as strong as other films, it was simplistic enough to make the film relaxing to watch, and the simple nature of the dialogue work well within the whole film. However the nature of the simplistic dialogue further limits the levels of how well the character are developed.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Deanomite

Jan 28, 2020

very high quality animation, maybe in the top 5. Considering a relatively muted color palette that's impressive. With Yoshiaki Kawajiri directing, after making my favorite anime (Ninja Scroll) with Madhouse studios, it's no wonder this is impressive. Sadly, the script does not match the visuals.

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XV_

May 8, 2021

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is an animated movie written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, which has been involved in a lot of anime that I love, from directing CLAMP’s X/1999 adaptation to anime, to making storyboards for modern favorites like Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and JujutsuVampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is an animated movie written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, which has been involved in a lot of anime that I love, from directing CLAMP’s X/1999 adaptation to anime, to making storyboards for modern favorites like Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen, among many others.

Bloodlust tells us a brief story on the long life of adventures of D, a dhampir (half-human and half-vampire) bounty hunter who has been tasked to save the daughter of a rich man that has been abducted and possibly killed by a noble and powerful vampire. If the premise sounds simple it’s because it is, however, there’s a lot to chew off in between.

The first thing that you may notice will be its animation and design, motion in characters it is flawlessly done not only for action-packed fights (which the movie has its fair share of) but also with seamless more personal moments, and it is only accentuated by its terrific character and location design. Bloodlust is one of those movies on which even if the plot wasn’t good it will still be a joy to watch due to its excellent artistry work. **** Amano (of Final Fantasy fame) was the mind behind the original character designs for the novels and I believe that the character designs for this movie based on his work are the best adaptation of his art to date.

The whole movie has a Western genre feel to it, more particularly a Spaghetti Western feeling, it uses a lot of silent moments to let you sink in its apocalyptic world, and also utilizes its geography to convey sentiments like isolation or magnitude, in one of the first scenes D needs to traverse a giant desert inhabited by titanic manta-like flying monsters just to let us know the vastness of this world and the almost meaningless existence of humans, to give an example.

The rhythm of the movie goes pretty good until we’re introduced to the supporting cast, a human team of eccentric bounty hunters which also serves as some sort of rival entity for D. These characters aren’t badly written or boring mind you, on the contrary, their presence on screen it’s always entertaining, however, it is because of them and some antagonists introduced soon after that a lot of the Western tension wears off since we now have a lot of expository scenes and the film goes towards a more action-focused threshold. Maybe the major offender is D’s left hand, which has a speaking mouth with a mind of their own, again, this character isn’t bad either and I imagine that for a silent medium like Manga, you need a character that explains us things that we need to know but will be hard to tell naturally in another way, but still, I would prefer to have more contemplative moments which required my interpretation and not some character’s explanation. Another thing it’s when hitting the second half of the movie, it somehow has this structure of hunting down some enemies and it makes the rhythm a little repetitive and formulaic. Still, in the great scheme of things, these issues aren’t as bad and maybe for other people would be good.

Bloodlust is at its best when it lets us traverse its world without the hand of exposition, nonetheless, it is an incredibly animated and beautiful movie. It wasn’t as well-received as it should when it first launched, it sure has some issues in some regards but by any means possible it is a bad movie, not only it is a good animation film but also a great Western movie that it may have one of my favorite endings that I have seen on the genre. If you happen, to stumble upon this movie, please check it out, its auto conclusive nature lets you enjoy it even if you don’t know anything about this universe beforehand.… Expand

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