I went on a vampire movie kick this weekend, you know, the good ones, Frank Coppola’s Dracula, Nosferatu [1922] and Interview with the Vampire. Finally, on Sunday, I spent a great deal of time frantically searching for an anime to watch and I stumbled upon this one. Here’s to mayhem and sucking blood, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. I have to say that this put a damper on my stay-in-bed-cause-I’m-sick weekend movie mash, but it nonetheless was a pretty decent flick in its own right.
Banpaia hantâ D
4 & 1/2 Stars
I went on a vampire movie kick this weekend, you know, the good ones, Frank Coppola’s Dracula, Nosferatu [1922] and Interview with the Vampire. Finally, on Sunday, I spent a great deal of time frantically searching for an anime to watch and I stumbled upon this one. Here’s to mayhem and sucking blood, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. I have to say that this put a damper on my stay-in-bed-cause-I’m-sick weekend movie mash, but it nonetheless was a pretty decent flick in its own right.
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Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is set a few thousand years in the future. Vampires once ruled the night, but that was years before the fearless bounty hunters succeeded in diminishing their numbers. D is one of those audacious bounty hunters, and his competition is the Markus brothers, a group of rough and tough guys and a girl.
When Charlotte, the daughter of a rich family, is taken from her home by the vampire Meier Link, her father contacts both D and the Markus brothers to retrieve her. The two battle it out and race to save her before Meier Link turns her into a vampire, even if that isn’t Meier Link’s intentions. As the heroes follow along their journey, fighting Meier’s hired guards and getting passed Carmilla, they finally begin to suspect that Charlotte may have gone willingly.
D, even though he is out numbered, still has a huge advantage over the Markus brothers. D is a dhampir, the product of a vampire and a human, his father is Count Dracula. Being Dracula’s son has its rewards for instance, D has super human abilities and he doesn’t age. Nevertheless, with benefits, there is always a downside, dhampires cannot handle too much sunlight, and a lot of people shun him for being related to a vampire.
Carmilla ends up being the true villain in the film, only using Meier Link and Charlotte as pawns for her master plan. Many years ago D’s father imprisoned Carmilla’s spirit to the Castle of Chaythe after her bloodlust got the best of her. She intends to steal Charlotte’s body once the couple reaches the castle in search of a still-functional ship that will take them away from the castle. You will have to watch this flick to get the rest of its juicy details.
It took me the entire time I wrote this review to come up with an excuse of why I didn’t like the movie as much as other vampire movies, I was disappointed, but that’s probably because I watched so many vampire movies before this one. The only disappointing part about the entire film is that there is no blood sucking involved, so that’s why it gets a 4.5 out of 5. Blood sucking is such a huge part to vampirism, and I didn’t notice it was lacking it until I got to thinking. I knew I was disappointed once the credits rolled, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Talking about it, and almost doing it do not count as blood sucking, so don’t even try that.
Other than that, the film is good, well written, well drawn and the dubbed version is not bad. It is worth watching for anime and or vampire fans, either way it is appealing.