In the year 12,090 A.D. demons and mutants roam everywhere, kept in check only by a few who hunt them. Doris is one such person. On a hunt and after losing her horse to a demon, Doris is greeted by Count Magnus Lee. Lee, a vampire, bites her for trespassing on his grounds. Afterwards, she crosses the path of D, who she discovers is a vampire hunter. She hires him to track down and kill Lee, as that is the only way she can retain her humanity. The enigmatic D then begins his quest to kill Lee and free Doris from her curse.

Vampire Hunter D was an anime movie I had always wanted to see, as I had heard much praise for it. The character designs are all terrific, and each character is well thought out and developed throughout the film. Some of the movie was a bit strange though, especially D's talking hand that has a life of its own. But overall, it lives up to the hype, delivering a terrific anime experience.

Picture:
Vampire Hunter D is presented in its original aspect ration of 1.33:1. The picture has a few marks here and there, but none of which are too distracting. There is a fair amount of grain present throughout the film and some light shifting in colors, especially at the beginning of the film. For a dark movie, the black level is good, though the film seems overly blue in some places. Watchable for sure, though I wish it looked better.

Sound:
Vampire Hunter D is presented in both an English Dolby Digital 5.1 and a Japanese Dolby Stereo 2.0 tracks. The newly remastered 5.1 track was really good, considering the age of the film, with a lot of the action and music in the surrounds. The 2.0 track has a fuller front soundstage; however, a lot of which the 5.1 track loses. The dialogue is crisp and clear throughout the film, with no distortion that I could detect.

Extras:
For extras, Vampire Hunter D includes: a three minute preview of the Playstation game featuring both FMV and real-time play; trailers for both this version and the new theatrical movie of Vampire Hunter D, Wicked City, Wild Seven, and Pet Shop of Horrors; a character design image gallery with a scrolling text biography and notes on Yoshitaka Amano which lasts about four minutes; a ten minute making of featurette with interviews from Ashida, the director, and several voice actors; and weblinks. All the trailers are in full frame, for the exception of the new Vampire Hunter D theatrical trailer. The new trailer is very cool; I can't wait to see the new version of Vampire Hunter D. The making-of featurette is fairly interesting, though I wish it had been a bit longer with some more behind the scenes stuff.

Summary:
Vampire Hunter D is a great anime movie that fans of the genre should check out, as it is only held back from Highly Recommended category by a questionable transfer. Fans of the movie will definitely want to pick it up, if only for the remastered sound and the extras.