Before I get into this movie, let me just say that I just can't deal with the pretentious, "I'm better than you" "beautiful people" that crowd the South Beach area, which unfortunately was the only theater in South Florida showing this movie. The theater itself was OK, but then again, it was the first showing. I hope to never have to go there again, and I will definitely not go there at night, when the aforementioned "beautiful people" really take over.

What the hell was that?

OK, so I've been waiting for the new version of Vampire Hunter D for a while now.
I've seen the original, but can't say I liked it. It was too weird, and what could have been cool with it, well, wasn't.
So more than a year ago I saw the trailer for this version at a comic book store. I was blown away. It was much darker, much more Gothic looking, and as shown in the trailer anyway, less "weird".
This would only be the second Anime(Japanese Animation) film that I've seen theatrically, the first being the very boring disappointment, Princess Mononokee. But despite the cool in the trailer, it too was a disappointment…
I swear, these Japanese movies are just too weird. What kind of crack are they smoking over there?

To be fair, there were a few elements to this movie, and yes, there was a lot of Gothic looking stuff, and that was awesome. Think Coppola's Dracula, with a little of Rice's Lestat, and even some of Burton's SLEEPY HOLLOW. Wicked cool stuff that. They even used a character called Carmilla, a sentimental favorite of mine.
But then there's the other elements…the huge sci-fi element…it takes place in the (post apocalyptic) future, there's stuff about space and space ships, flying Manta Rays (UGH), and some other stuff that just makes me wanna barf.
There's also a weird Western element to the whole thing, and I just don't know why!
Also, the movie was dubbed, not subtitled, and that gets old fast.
Of all the names in the credits, the only one I recognize is Dwight Schultz, he of The A-Team, and other stuff too.

I really wanted to be blown away by this flick, which is officially entitled Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust 2000 (and here it is very late 2001, we westerners are SO behind!), but the bad kinda out weighed the good.
The good WAS really good though…