TL;DR: a decent watch.
Synopsis: man is contracted to save a girl from another Vampire.
All of the movies I’ve seen Kawajiri direct are all similar: they look good, have a lot of sex and violence, and not much in terms of depth.
Besides the director, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust also shares something in common with Wicked City: twitter edits of the film’s footage compelled me to watch it. The art was just that good.
There’s not much to comment on this movie, really. The visuals are great, it’s exciting, the story is decent, and the ending was great. Nothing revolutionary or deep, but a great movie does not need to contain either of those things. I definitely enjoyed it on an animalistic/intuitive level.
I think the movie has a lot of character development for such little dialogue. In most “half blood Prince” stories the HBP’s main struggle is overcoming ostracization, but the Dhampir accepts that he is a monster and is motivated by making sure another Dhampir doesn’t arise. Meier is also mostly silent but is redeemed by his unwillingness to turn his lover into a vampire, because he ultimately knows it is torture. The only truly evil character in the movie is Carmella, who is just the classic Vampiress anti-human type. Vamp flicks are at their best when they emphasize the sacrifice of vampirism, rather than portraying the vamps as gluttonous elites. Vampires sacrifice their soul for eternal life on earth, an impossible illusion. One day, you’ll get a bad hand, especially in a world of vampire hunters, and even if you don’t you will life to watch everything wither and decay. You become a monster who cannot control himself, and extremely lonely. There’s no good deal with the devil.
It’s funny watching this after watching Netflix’s castlevania about a year ago, because it succeeds everywhere that abominable disgrace failed. Vampires are evil because they’re monsters, not because it’s haves vs have-nots. Vampires pay dearly for their sinister gambit. Your problems aren’t all caused by le church, and there is no hacking death.