Vampire Hunter D (1985)

Cast:

There is no cast.

What the box says:

Based on the novel D-YOUSATSUKOU by Hideyuki Kikuchi, VAMPIRE HUNTER D follows the exploits of the mysterious vampire hunter known only as D. Half vampire himself (Count Dracula was his father), D happens upon a town where a cruel vampire, Count Magnus Lee, and his followers terrorize the villagers for sport. D takes exception to the count's wanton cruelty and sets about taking out his gang, one by one. VAMPIRE HUNTER D deftly blends elements of westerns, sci-fi, and horror, creating a frightening, violent, and innovative film that spawned countless imitators but was unlike anything that came before it. Yoshitaka Amano's conceptual designs for D, influenced the final animated character design of the fearless Vampire Hunter.

Plot:

We see the moon in the sky. Screen text informs us this is the distant future, year 12,000 AD where mutants and demons roam the night. A vaguely Nightmare on Elm Street theme music plays in the background.

The very short skirted Doris skulks through the cold night, carrying a gun. A dinosaur like creature is eating fruit off a tree. Doris chases after it and summons her horse, Luke. She manages to shoot the creature several times. Doris checks to see if the raptor is dead. In it death throw, the creature bites Luke the horse. She uses her electro-whip on it before blasting it straight to Hell.

A werewolf creature appears biting the horse and rips Doris’s crucifix off. As lightning flashes, an imposing vampire appears. Doris tries shooting him to no avail. The vampire introduces himself to Doris as Count Magnus Lee. He asks to be paid for her trespassing on his land about to bite her as the main title appears.

In desolate city ruins, strange monstrous creatures roam. A man on a cybernetic horse slowly rides on. He’s got a big sword. As the wind picks up, Doris appears in the road in front of him. D keeps riding. Doris wants to hire him as a hunter. D completely ignores her.

Doris uses her electro-whip on him. D breaks free and starts riding on until Doris shows him the bite marks of Count Magnus Lee. That gets D’s interest. Guess what? D is a vampire hunter hence the name.

On Doris’s farm, her younger brother opens fire on an energy cloud that attacks their rams. Doris and D arrive. Dan can’t shut up around D. He’s that impressed by this mysterious guy with a big freakin’ sword.

Later, they ride into the village as typical village dealing ensues. Greco, the mayor’s son, hits on Doris again. By the way, look smarmy politician’s son in the dictionary, you’ll see Greco’s picture. He admits he knows Doris was bitten by a vampire. Dan doesn’t know yet. Greco promises to keep her secret if she’ll be “friendlier” to him. Doris slaps him, uses the electro-whip, and refuses his help. Greco tells everyone she’s infected.

At a meeting where most of the village waits outside to learn of, Dr. Phearing, the Mayor, Doris, and D discuss their options. Doris is to be taken to the closed internment center. Dr. Phearing opposes it. 50 years earlier, Magnus picked a girl for his and she was sent to the camp. In retaliation, Magnus killed 31 villagers. D claims there won’t be any problems as soon as he kills Magnus. If D fails, Doris claims she will leave and never return to the village.

Dan is pretty upset by all of this. D tries to console him, telling him that Doris needs all the support she can get. Dan will have to be strong for her. Doris tries buying supplies from a store. The shopkeeper refuses to sell to her.

That night, Doris tucks Dan into bed. D draws his sword and, a voice starts talking to him, taunting him. Doris heads downstairs to talk with D. Her father was a werewolf hunter. D is sure the vampires will attack tonight. D asks about Magnus Lee. The Count lived and rules the area and left a long time ago only to return in the past couple of yeas. Magnus is supposed to be more than 5,000 years old.

Looking out the window, D heads out with his sword. This is one of the more bizarre things in the movie. D takes the glove off one of is hands. The hand has a mouth and eyes. D puts Doris in a deep sleep to resist Magnus’s call.

D readies for the attack. A vampire and a mutant are waiting. Amika, the Count’s daughter, scorns D. Roganzi attempts to kung fu D. He tries using his razor boomerang. D runs Roganzi through who promptly returns the favor. Roganzi is a mutant that can twist space. D heals. Amika realizes that D is a dampeal and wants to kill him. A dampeal is a half human half vampire. D wants to see Magnus. Amika tries fighting D. She is obviously out of her league.

At Lee’s castle, he rakes Amika and Roganzi over the coals for not being able to kill D. However, Magnus will enjoy destroying him. Later, Amika prays to the noble founder of the House of Lee Count Dracula for Magnus taking Doris into the bloodline. Magnus orders her to her room. Roganzi wants to be a vampire. Amika scorns him. She’s pretty good at scorning.

D rides to the castle. The giant drawbridge is closed. D jumps the crevice to enter the castle. Various monsters scurry about. D walks past them and is attacked by a flying bat-humanoid. A giant golem sentinel attacks D. He keeps trodding further into the castle. The voice warns D of danger. D kills a freaky ghost cat.

Eventually, he finds Roganzi and a creepy little witch. It is a trap by the Count and, D falls into a pit. He is trapped in the catacombs. The voice taunts D some more. In an underground river, he spots 3 green-haired naked nymphs playing harps. They turn into snakes and capture D. These are the terrible snake-women of Midwich.

Doris and Dan wait for D to return. The farm is attacked. Dr. Phearing is captured by a spider shooting creature. The flying bat-humanoid captures Dan. Roganzi grabs Doris. She is to be taken to the Count. Doris threatens to kill herself before getting to the castle unless Dan and Dr. Phearing are released. Roganzi agrees.

At the castle, Magnus is charmed by Doris’s insults. He shows her that D has been captured by the snake-women who are draining his life force. Doris learns that D is a dampeal. She asks that D be released. Magnus puts her to sleep.

The snake-women are happily draining D’s life force. Suddenly, D goes vampire on them bites one of them.

Amika sneaks into Doris’s room. D has killed the snake-women and is taunted by the voice again. Amika is going to kill Doris. D rushes in and stops Amika. He takes Doris with him. The flying bat-humanoid becomes the dying bat-humanoid. D’s hand eats the spiders shot out of the spider creature. D cuts it in half. They run past various monsters.

D races up the drawbridge and is grabbed by the stone golem. The drawbridge lines are cut. D manages to cut the golem in several pieces. Roganzi try tracking D who has escaped. Roganzi is officially mad, now.

Doris awakens from her nightmare with Dan by her side.

In the village, Greco sees that the Count’s messenger is in the hotel meeting Roganzi. Greco spies on them. Roganzi is given a candle that will incapacitate anyone with vampire blood.

Back on the farm, Doris and D learn that D has been kidnapped. D is to meet Roganzi if Dan is to be saved. D rides to the meeting. Roganzi and D stare at each other before they can battle. It’s an anime law. Now we get the main event Roganzi versus D. Roganzi tries using the candle against D. It doesn’t work. D cuts Roganzi’s hand off.

Doris is waiting at the farm when Dr. Phearing comes in. He takes Doris to a secret cabin where she’ll be safe. Amika waits in the road before them. Phearing grabs Doris’s electro-whip and crucifix which gives us a chesticle appearance from one of Doris’s chesticles. Phearing was turned into a vampire and just realizes that Amika is there, too. Phearing wants to try Doris’s blood. Amika stakes him who reverts to his humanity pleading for Doris’s forgiveness before dying. Doris would rather die than be turned into a vampire. Amika suggests she run away.

The vampire candle appears causing Amika incredible pain. Greco walks up with it. He has a great plan; kill the Count, take over the village, marry Doris. Amika vows to kill Greco if she gets the chance. Before Greco can kill her, he is knocked from the wagon and tumbles down the cliff. D and Dan arrive.

Before going back to the farm, D allows Amika to return to the castle. She doesn’t quite understand how he can do it after the several murder attempts.

At the farm, we get a gratuitous shower scene. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. She wants to run off with D, afraid he’ll die. As they embrace, we see Doris half as tall as D. D stares at her neck, her nice neck. D’s fangs grow out. Doris will let him drink if he wants to do it. D manages to use what little self control he has left to regain control of himself. Later, the voice taunts D more.

Greco is trudging along and stumble across the one handed Roganzi.

D heads out of the farm. Roganzi uses the candle to incapacitate D. The one handed Roganzi wants revenge. D is stabbed. Somehow, Amika has sympathy pains off this? D’s hand is cut off. Amika awakens wondering if D is alive or not.

As the rain pours down, a creature approaches. D’s hand is crawling around.

At the castle, Amika pleads with Magnus not to marry Doris. He reveals that Amika’s mother was human. Magnus has lived for 10,000 years and mating with human girls is about his only pleasure. Amika can’t believe she’s a dampeal.

D’s hand reattaches itself as a mist monster approaches. The hand starts eating handfuls of dirt and creates a windstorm. The hand has Superman’s super breath. The mist monster is heading straight for D now. The hand tries to revive D. He awakens at the last second to kill the mist monster.

Dan climbs through the tunnels of Magnus’s castle. Doris is escorted by Magnus to the ceremony. Dan tries attacking Magnus who shrugs the attack off. Doris is completely out of it. Dan falls down the chasm and is saved by Roganzi? Yes, Roganzi.

Roganzi stands in front of the wedding procession. He uses the candle on Magnus. But, the candle goes out. Magnus uses his telekinetic eyebeams. (best explanation I could think of). Roganzi is thrown around before landing against a wall and Magnus crushes his head.

At the wedding, various creatures watch. Magnus is about to bite Doris when a knife is thrown into the center of Magnus’s eye. Pulls the knife out and the wound heals automatically. Magnus is officially pissed. D tries attacking Magnus who is impressed. The eyebeams don’t seem to hurt D like they did Roganzi.

Magnus is going to kill D. D somehow powers up. The fight ensues. Magnus has a sword driven through and is bleeding like a stuck pig. Doris is under Magnus’s control and takes a knife to kill D. Dan gets her to come to her senses. Amika is urged to kill D. Amika thinks the noble House of Lee should die for his sins.

Magnus realizes a painting of Dracula resembles D, thinking Dracula was his father. Amika realizes D is the son of the noblest vampire. The castle begins falling apart. D tries convincing Amika she could live like he does. Amika would rather die as a noble than live as a commoner.

The castle sinks into the ground and implodes as Doris, Dan, and D watch.

D rides away. Doris and Dan wave to him as he rides away…

What I say:

Vampire Hunter D one of the mainstays of late night TBS in the early 80s and early 90s. Include Heavy Metal and Robot Carnival (unfortunately), and you've got a reason to stay up late or nothing else tape them and watch them later. What would be considered one of the most influential animes ever made? Vampire Hunter D and Carl Macek's cannibalization of anime which became RoboTech. There are more than just those. But, I'm not counting the anime videos rented in video stores in large cities. For a very good reason, I never was able to rent any of those anime videos from a video store. In high school, on a field trip seeing rows of anime videos in a mall was an awe inspiring sight. Seeing the price tags, wasn't inspiring, though.

A lot of anime fans got into anime originally from TBS. Or nothing else, it introduced animation that was more than just G.I. Joe to us. And that's how I was introduced to anime before Sci-Fi channel, back when it didn't suck, had their yearly anime festival. But, I keep derailing my point. Imagine seeing Heavy Metal and this one, it showed us things concerning animation no one who in a small town ever considered. Like ultraviolence. Vampire Hunter D does have an animation style like a Japanese Heavy Metal. Well, throw in some big eyes and speed lines into Heavy Metal. The concept of an R-rated cartoon is something teenagers who didn't know a thing about Fritz the Cat and everything else Ralph Bakishi did lured us to it. And slowly, the anime bug struck some of us affecting us, subtlely changing our metabolic processes and giving us eyes of complete blue. Sorry, been reading too many Frank Herbert Dune books.

The big question is what a classic is. Who would think Them! would be considered a classic when it came out 50 years ago? Who would think John Carpenter's Thing would be considered a classic of 80s horror? At the time, no one really though of how influential these and other movies would be. But, that question is normally skirted by saying it’s a cult classic. And, that’s how I’ll skirt the question of Vampire Hunter D. I hadn't ever really thought much of how similar Blade is to Vampire Hunter D. It is almost like if you cross D and Captain Kronos from Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter you would get a prototype of Wesley Snipes as Blade. Half vampire hunter, D. Learned sidekick who aids you, Captain Kronos's Grost. Preferred weapon is a sword, D and Kronos. I can list several more thing right off the top of my head. But, that isn't the point. I'm not saying a classic is a movie when parts of it are used in later movies. But, I think it can safely be said that D helped to alter the appearance of the vampire hunter in movies.

The mysterious stranger riding into town to help them against the evil robber baron is a cliché in westerns. But, they incorporate it into this anime. Instead of a lone gunman, we get a lone swordsman. D just oozes 80s anime cool: big hat, duster, sword. If only D had a cool theme song like Shaft. He’s a complicated Dampeal but no one understand him like his left hand…He’s a bad mutha, shut you mouth just talking about D…and he can stake you...

It does seem awfully convenient that Doris realizes she is in love with D in a couple of days. I can overlook that with the way she wields the electro-whip. Yes, this is our anime bimbo. She has the Sailor Moon like short skirt, etc…Actually, she does look a lot like Sailor Moon with the blonde hair, etc… Well, Doris also gives us our animated nudity: the not-so graTiTious shower scene.

Almost every anime requires the kid. The kid is a little pest you want to smother in honey and tie to an anthill. The kid’s existence taunts your presence in this dimension. Now, Dan, the kid, is a bit grating. But, I’ve seen a lot worse examples of the kid than him. C-Ko anyone, anyone? He actually isn’t always screaming to be saved. Dan might not be that bright but tries fighting the monsters that attack the farm.

Amika is the poor misguided vampire who doesn’t want her House to be disgraced by the blood of a commoner. Magnus comes across as old European vampire, while Amika seems to be vaguely oriental with a vaguely European accent. First, she comes across as an arrogant “noble” vampire. Look at the way she wanted to kill Doris. After she learned that Doris didn’t want to be turned, she seems to be a little more compassionate towards her. After, D releases her when he had the chance to stake her once and for all. In the end, she refuses to avenge her father for his crimes. She is given a choice to change the way she lives and live as a human and, she’s unable to change. Amika would rather die as a “noble” vampire than “common” human or dampeal.

Roganzi may be a mutant and never destined to be turned into a vampire. Most of the time, he seems to obviously outclassed by D. It’s almost like Wile E. Coyote challenging the Roadrunner to numerous death matches. It won’t turn out good for Roganzi. I’m not exactly sure why he saved Dan when he was falling near the end. I have to admit, I thought that it would be D to the rescue. It’s nice to be surprised like that on occasion. Roganzi has to have the goriest death in the movie. The exploding head was cool…

The monsters are original. All of them have a monstrous looking. Remember when anything ugly was evil, this movie definitely believes in it. Granted, the Count Magnus Lee (hopefully, an in-joke to Christopher Lee) comes across more like a bored whiny vampire that I would have liked. If he had munched on a few villagers, it would have made him seem more evil. This sitting around complaining about how things are dull doesn't make you a good villain. I think my complaints about whiny gothic pale vampires who bore audiences to death with morality have become legendary on this site.

I wish I understood what D’s hand is. I’ve heard that in some of the manga it is explained. The first time, I watched it; I thought D was talking to the sword. The hand has eyes and a mouth. And, it’s favorite thing to do is to torment D. I think most people could almost recognize the voice that finds fault with everything you do whether it belongs to your spouse, parents, or body appendage…

Took more than 10 years, before we got the sequel: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. It is just another story with D hunting vampires. Granted the animation is a few notches up on this anime.

“Pioneers are the ones with the arrows in their back.” I’m not sure where I read that or who said it. But, I think it is applicable to Vampire Hunter D. For all of those who watch anime now, not the kids hooked on Pokeymon or shows like it. This movie was a pioneer that managed to slowly lure us in, like a whirlpool…

Quotable Dialogue
"You're a special kind of hunter, a vampire hunter."
"I'll give you three meals a day and, I'll let you sleep with me if you want to..."
"Want to know about vampires 'Ask the vampire hunter'."
"Put your tongue back in your mouth, it's bad manners."
Morals of the Story
Ghosts bleed red when cut.
Severed hands can reattach themselves to the arm.
Hands possess the ability to create massive windstorms.
10,000 year old vampires get bored more easily than a depressed goth rocker.