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Vampire Hunter D (1985 film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
|name = Vampire Hunter D
|image = Vampire Hunter D OVA poster.jpg
|alt =
|caption = Theatrical poster, designed by Yoshitaka Amano
|native_name =
|director = Toyoo Ashida
|producers =
|writer =
|screenplay = Yasushi Hirano
|story =
|based_on =
|starring =
|music = Tetsuya Komuro
|cinematography =
|editing =
|production_companies =
|distributor = Toho
|released =
|runtime = 80 minutes
|country = Japan
|language = Japanese
|budget =
|gross =
}}
is a 1985 Japanese fantasy horror OVA film produced by Ashi Productions, in association with Epic/Sony Records, CBS/Sony Group Inc. and Movic. The screenplay is based on the first in the long-running series of light novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi.
Billed by the Japanese producers as a "dark future science-fiction romance", the film, like the novel before it, is set in the year 12,090 AD, in a post-nuclear holocaust world where a young woman hires a mysterious half-vampire, half-human vampire hunter to protect her from a powerful vampire lord. It was one of several anime films featured in the music video for Michael and Janet Jackson's song "Scream".
Plot
While walking her guard rounds in the country, Doris Lang, the orphaned daughter of a deceased werewolf hunter, is attacked and bitten by Count Magnus Lee, a 10,000-year-old, long-lost vampire lord (also known as a Noble) for trespassing in his domain.
Doris later encounters a mysterious vampire hunter, known only as D. Infected from Count Lee's bite, she hires D to kill the vampire and save her from becoming one. While in town with Dan (her younger brother) and D, Doris is confronted by Greco Roman, the mayor's son, about the Count's attack and D, and he promises to help her if he has Doris for himself. When Doris refuses, Greco reveals what happened to the entire town, including Dan. D requests that the authorities, including Greco's father, the town sheriff, and Dr. Feringo, should hold off Doris incarceration at the local asylum until he kills Count Lee which will cure Doris's vampire infection.
That night, Doris's farm is attacked by Rei Ginsei, Count Lee's servant and L'Armica, Count Lee's daughter, who is highly prejudiced against humans and dhampirs. D easily defeats Rei, but before he can finish Rei off, Rei reveals he has the ability to twist space around him and is able to redirect D's death blow onto D. Before Rei can finish him off, D reveals he has recovered from the redirected attack in seconds showing he is a dhampir and after efficiently reflecting L'Armica's attacks, orders both of them to leave with a warning to Count Lee. The next day, D travels to Count Lee's castle and attempts to confront the Count. Aided by the symbiote in his Left Hand, D holds his own against the Count's monstrous minions, including Rei and his companions Gimlet, Golem, and Chullah. While in the castle's catacombs, he is ensnared and captured by the Midwich Medusas. Doris is then kidnapped by Rei and brought to the Count. Using his vampiric powers, D kills the Snake Women, rescues Doris before she can be killed by L'Armica, and escapes the castle.
Greco overhears a meeting between Rei and a messenger from Count Lee in town. The latter gives the former a candle with Time-Bewitching Incense, a substance powerful enough to weaken anyone with vampire blood in their veins. Rei takes Dan hostage to lure D out into the open, and D comes to his rescue, cutting off Rei's hand in the process and discovering that the candle is a fake. Meanwhile, Dr. Feringo, himself a vampire in league with Count Lee, leads Doris into a trap but is confronted and killed by L'Armica when he begins requesting to share Doris with the Count. Greco, who stole the candle from Rei, then appears, using the Time-Bewitching Incense to severely weaken L'Armica and cause Doris pain (likely due to her own infection), but is shot at by Dan and falls down a cliff. Afterwards, Doris, who has by now fallen for D, tries to convince him to live with her and embraces him. This offer starts to trigger D's vampire side, but he forces her away from him, unwilling to bite her.
The next morning, Greco is confronted and killed by Rei, who uses the real candle to weaken D, allowing him to mortally wound the vampire hunter with a wooden stake. Doris is then captured and taken back to the castle. L'Armica tries to persuade her father not to allow a human into the family, but Lee reveals that there is no harm in doing so, as L'Armica's own mother was a human - making her a dhampir instead of a full-blooded vampire, and L'Armica is restrained by Count Lee when she becomes hysterical at the revelation. Rei requests that the Count give him eternal life as a member of the Nobility, but he is coldly rebuffed for his past failures leaving Rei in a rage.
As a mutant attempts to devour D's comatose body, his Left Hand revives him just in time for him to kill the monster. As the processional for the Count and Doris wedding takes place, Dan, having infiltrated the Count's castle, attempts to attack Lee but is repelled by Lee and falls into a chasm before being saved by Rei, who has switched sides. Rei confronts and attempts to weaken the Count with the Time-Bewitching Incense in retaliation for not fulfilling his request. However, Lee, too powerful to be overpowered by the Incense, destroys the candle with his telekinetic abilities then kills Rei with the same powers. Before Doris can be bitten by the Count, D appears and engages in battle with Lee. D's attacks are futile due to Lee's psychic and telekinetic abilities and almost kills D before D unleashes his own telekinetic abilities and breaks from Lee's telekinetic hold, and succeeds in fatally stabbing the Noble in the heart with his sword. At the same time, Lee manages to seriously wound D with a dagger. A weakened Lee attempts to influence Doris into killing D, but she is broken out of the trance by Dan, who arrives with L'Armica. With Lee dying, his castle begins crumbling. While lamenting his defeat and looking at a picture of the first Vampire, Count Dracula, Lee notices D is Count Dracula's child and, therefore, the son of the legendary Ancestral God of Vampires to both Lee's and L'Armica's astonishment. D attempts to persuade L'Armica into living as a human, but she chooses to die as a member of the Nobility with her father and stays in the castle as it collapses.
D, Doris, and Dan escape the collapsing castle. D then sets off under a now clear blue sky. Doris, now recovered from her bite, and Dan, bid D goodbye as he looks back briefly at them and smiles.
Voice cast
Production
'Vampire Hunter D' is credited as one of the earliest anime productions targeted explicitly at the male teenager/adult demographic in lieu of family audiences, and capitalized on the emerging OVA market due to its violent content and influence from European horror mythology (such as the films of British film studio Hammer Film Productions). The film's limited budget made its technical quality comparable to most anime television series and other OVAs, but not with most theatrical animated films.
During the film's production, director Toyoo Ashida stated that his intention for the film was to create an OVA that people who had been tired from studying or working hard would enjoy watching, instead of watching something that would make them "feel even more tired".
Yoshitaka Amano, the illustrator of the original novels, acted as character designer for the OVA. However, alternative designs were provided by Ashida (who also acted as the film's animation director), and elements from both artists works were combined to create final designs by the animators. Acclaimed pop artist Tetsuya Komuro was responsible for the film's soundtrack, and also performed the film's ending theme, 'Your Song', with his fellow members of TM Network.
'Vampire Hunter D' was the first of several film adaptations (both live-action and animated) of Hideyuki Kikuchi's works. Several of these ('Wicked City', 'Demon City Shinjuku' and 'Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust') were directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri of Madhouse.
Release
'Vampire Hunter D' was released on theatrically on December 21, 1985 where it was distributed by Toho. A laserdisc by CBS Sony Group Inc. was released on the same date. A Region 2 DVD release of the film was released by SME Visual Works in Japan on February 21, 2001. An English-language version of the OVA was produced in 1992 by Streamline Pictures, and was shown on the fine-arts theatrical circuit in the US in August 1992. The Streamline dub was then released on VHS on March 26, 1993. This initial release was followed by a re-release on VHS by Streamline's parent company, Orion Pictures, and a laserdisc release by Lumivison. The film was also shown several times on American television during the 1990s, including on TBS, Cartoon Network and the Sci-Fi Channel. 'Vampire Hunter D' is considered a flagship title for Streamline, and was marketed in the US as the first animated horror film for adults.
In 2000, Urban Vision Entertainment, the US production partner and distributor of 'Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust', re-released the OVA on a Special Edition bilingual DVD on October 17 containing the original Japanese audio and a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the Streamline dub, as well as releasing dubbed and subtitled versions of the film on VHS. The Special Edition DVD release was duplicated by Manga Entertainment for a UK release on July 5, 2004, as well as by Madman Entertainment in Australia on August 31, 2005. Madman reissued their Special Edition DVD on July 23, 2014.
On April 16, 2015, Sentai Filmworks announced their license to the film in North America for digital and home video release. The film was released on August 25, 2015 on Blu-ray and DVD with a new English dub.
Footnotes
References
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