Moderators: lazyben, static14, texasvinyl

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By Hatter313
#62102
OK, so this one has been popping up here a lot lately ever since i brought it up months ago, and I’m sorry it has taken me so long to post.

My deep cut is the score to the 1984 anime film Vampire Hunter D, composed by Tetsuya Komuro.
It was released on Epic Sony in 1985.

I didn't even know if this existed for sure until this board helped me out, and the always awesome @MONSTERWORSHIP had one to sell.

Based on the first of a long running series of novels (27 novels as of this writing, i've read the first 10 or so...) by Hideo Kikuchi (who also wrote Wicked City, that film's impressive soundtrack just got the ace wax treatment from our guy here @TigerLabs) it was followed years later by a sequel in 2000, which features a more traditional but no less impressive score.

the art design for the series has always been done my that most awesome of illustrators Yoshitaka Amano, whose orginal design can be seen on the sleeve and interior gatefold of this very cool release (check out @TheCultLeader's recent purchases post for some cool shots of the gatefold.)




its a great mix of horror, western, electronica, with some crazy instrumentation and some really memorable melody lines that are both sinister and beautiful.

here's the opening track:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkkBVSX ... 5n&index=1[/video]

The Piano parts in this really set the mood for the whole film, sad and melancholy:
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-_4sg8 ... 5n&index=8[/video]

This variation on the hero's theme comes during a grisly fight and an escape from the vampire's castle. the end, where the theme comes in feels out of place at first, but I can't imagine the scene without it.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV_iLmC ... n&index=10[/video]

and of course, every vampire needs a good theme, something he can really make an entrance with. Count Magnus Lee was based partly on Christopher Lee in Hammer's Dracula series, and while that doens't really come through in the anime adaption of the novel, his theme certainly fits:
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqI721L ... vjkGlmpN5n[/video]

This is really a great score to an awesome flick. Vampire Hunter D was probably the first anime i saw, aired on Cartoon Network when i was a kid, and there are certainly some adult moments i didn't process until years later.

For those of you who haven't ever listened to Anime music, there's a lot of crap out there, but some of it truly shines in a way only Japanese culture can seem to manage, traditional yet experimental, and completely off kilter.

Anyway, hope you like it.
By BurningTapes
#62118
Nice one Hatter. I pretty much burned out my VHS copy of this film back in the day and sadly haven't seen it since. I have some fond memories of it and the atmosphere the music helped create. Hopefully Tigerlab will get on this one for the future.
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By freshoj
#62154
thanks Hatter, I think I saw the film many many moons ago, am looking forward to revisiting.
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By monsterworship
#62157
U can watch the film on YouTube. It's currently Oop.
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By Hatter313
#62161
hoping for a bluray soon, seems to be happening for a lot of other classics and my DVD mysteriously vanished in the last move 2 years ago.