Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Eric Stevenson I admit to not being familiar with the "Vampire Hunter D" franchise. I keep mistaking it for Hellsing. I'm pretty sure I was thinking of that because I had different characters in my mind before watching this. That being said, it doesn't matter, because this is a great anime! What makes this so wonderful is probably how gorgeous the artwork is. I mean, this looks outright beautiful! The colors are wonderfully bright and there's so much movement going on. The plot's pretty basic as it's explained right away. A vampire hunter known only as D is hired to rescue a woman from a vampire while rival bounty hunters try to get her first.The creativity is great in this movie. I especially like the woman with the tree powers. They really do utilize her to her full potential. Near the end, it gets weird because we start to be caught up in a world of illusions. It does all make sense at the end. Every single character looks unique and we get to see some great creatures like the demon horses. It's certainly not for children. It's interesting to see the woman actually fall in love with the vampire who kidnaps her! They do have an interesting relationship. I admit the dialogue can get weak at times, but it's still mostly good. I especially like seeing Leela and D interact. It's joked that they're a couple, but they don't become one. I need to get over Dipcifica. ***1/2

dee.reid I first got into Japanese animation (Anime') when I was a freshman in high school 16 years ago. During the summer of 2001, I got swept up in an Anime' binge. "Vampire Hunter D" (1985) and its sequel "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" (2000) were amongst some of the earliest Anime' features I ever watched."Vampire Hunter D" is a staple of my movie collection, but I haven't seen "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" in quite some time. I just got done watching it today. This film is routinely regarded as a superior sequel to the 1985 original, which was an Anime' adaptation of the Japanese sci-fi/horror novel series created by Hideyuki Kikuchi.One of the reasons for the success - even if the film is uneven in some spots - of "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" is due to its director, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who also directed the classic Anime' films "Ninja Scroll" (1993) (my favorite film from the man) and "Wicked City" (1987), the latter of which was also an adaptation of a work by Hideyuki Kikuchi (which I've also read). Kawajiri is a master Japanese animation craftsman, as well as being notorious in the Anime' industry for making films that were explicit both in terms of extreme violence and sexuality/nudity."Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" has a lot of gory violence in it, but there's no sex in it whatsoever - showing that Kawajiri is exercising some restraint here. This film looks gorgeous, and has a sci-fi, neo-Gothic look and tone to it. Like the first film, the sequel "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" combines horror and science fiction with some elements of westerns and supernatural fantasy - though this actually becomes more apparent in this film than its 1985 predecessor.The film series, like those of the books, is set in the not-too-distant future where supernatural beasts like werewolves, goblins, demons and of course, vampires, rule the land. Humans live in fear of what lurks outside their doors at night, but there's one who fears none of them: D, a half-man, half-vampire hunter known as a "dunpeal" ("dhampir" to the rest of us).In this film, a beautiful young woman named Charlotte Elbourne is kidnapped from her bedroom one night by the extremely powerful nobleman bloodsucker Meier Link. Charlotte's family offers a massive bounty to bring her back at all costs - alive or dead. So D takes up the offer, but he's not working alone. The notorious Marcus Brothers - Borgoff, Kyle, Nolt, and two hangers-on including the psychic Groove and the orphaned Leila - are also out to collect the bounty, though circumstances force D and at the very least Leila to form an uneasy alliance to stop Link and rescue Charlotte.This is a sumptuous, gorgeous-looking Gothic Anime' feature. I'm glad that the strong visuals - which remained etched in my mind since I first saw the movie back in high school - still hold up after all these years. In fact, I remember the visuals and some of the set designs as being the strongest visual element from this picture, and the one thing that I remembered most about it. (And upon my viewing today, I thought I realized a visual reference toward the end of the film to Elizabeth Bathory, the so-called "Blood Queen of Hungary.")Though the film falters in some spots with regard to the action scenes and some of the characters, I still thoroughly enjoyed "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust."8/10

predator_silver77 The Plot: D has been hired to track down Meier Link, a notoriously powerful vampire who has abducted a Human woman, Charlotte Elbourne. D's orders are strict - find Charlotte, at any cost. For the first time, D faces serious competition. The Markus Brothers, a family of Vampire Hunters, were hired for the same bounty. D must intercept Meier and conquer hostile forces on all sides in a deadly race against time. Despised by Vampires for his profession and by Humans for the blood in his veins, D relentlessly pursues his prey for a price.My Spiel: Simply put this is a truly great epic anime. The animation in this piece is very well put together a notch above many animes I have seen and I have seen my fair share. This has many levels of story behind it from discrimination, trust, revenge, and love. I am a fan of the first Vampire Hunter D anime, and had to say this was actually better then the first. Which is apparent with the quality of work that went into creating this masterpiece called bloodlust from the fight scenes to the over all feel of the movie truly astonishing a high grade animation. I highly recommend this anime to anyone who is a fan of Vampire/Anime/Swords/Action/Sci-fi/Horror. Vampire Hunter D: Blood Lust is a anime I am proud to recommend to others to watch.Vampire Hunter D Blood Lust (2000) Review: 9/10

plagued_f_o_n Im not normally a fan of anime. But this movie was exquisite in its detail, score and composition.The voice casting was perfect for the characters, especially the voice of Left Hand. The animation was really well-done, affording as much detail as possible. While it strayed a bit from the original story (Mashira wasn't some kind of werewolf, but rather a carbuncle that took form in people's stomachs, and Caroline was a dhampir that could control anything she drank from, whether its a tree or a machine) it's still a good story. I laughed a bit when they changed up Leila's relationship with the Markus brothers, as in the book, they are referred to as the Markus Clan, as Leila is their sister. This doesn't stop Kyle from making several lewd comments (fmi, read the book).One thing i didn't like, IIRC, they added Carmilla to the movie. She wasn't in the book, but, that's IIRC. And they didn't use D's pendant, although there was ample opportunity.This time around, though, they really hit home on how long D's been around, in the scene with the old man, and the end when he's at the funeral. What some people don't realize, is that D's been around since the mid-1940's. Which makes him at least 10k years old. Im hoping they make more movies, as the books continue to get better and better, and are great reads, no matter how many times you've read them previously.