British director Stephen
Norrington helmed this David S. Goyer adaptation of the Marvel Comics
character created in 1973 by scripter Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan. In
the Tomb of Dracula comic book origin, just before Blade's mother gave birth
to Blade, she was bitten by a vampire, which made Blade immune to vampires.
Now a vampire hunter, Blade, joined by vampire detective Hannibal King and
Dracula-descendent Frank Drake, stalks vampires. In the 1990s (in Marvel's
Nightstalkers), Blade teamed with Drake and King in an agency created to
fight a variety of supernatural beings. The Marvel origin is retold in this
1998 Norrington film, with Blade's mother dying as he is born. Thirty-some
years later, Blade now exists somewhere between the two worlds, not human
but not fully vampire. He has become a relentless and superhuman vampire
hunter, out to avenge the death of his mother and protect the rest of
humankind from the evil vampire race. In this pursuit, Blade storms a
notorious vampire nightclub and in a virtual bloodbath manages to wipe out
most of the blood-lusting denizens. But the burnt corpse of vampire Quinn (Donal
Logue) is reanimated at the hospital morgue and bites hematologist Karen
Jenson (N'Bushe Wright). Blade magically appears at the hospital just in
time to whisk Karen to his hideaway, a machine-shop run by his mentor
Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), who once rescued Blade and who now
produces a antidote to keep Blade from turning into a full-fledged vampire
and who builds custom weapons for Blade to use against his evil foes.
Meanwhile, Blade's vampire arch-nemesis Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) uses
computers to translate the Book of Erebus, with the ultimate aim of bringing
down the old-guard vampire council, headed by Dragonetti (Udo Kier), and
triggering the Blood Tide - an event in which everyone in the world becomes
a vampire.| Wesley Snipes | Blade |
| Stephen Dorff | Deacon Frost |
| Kris Kristofferson | Whistler |
| N'Bushe Wright | Karen |
| Donal Logue | Quinn |
| Udo Kier | Dragonetti |
| Arly Jover | Mercury |
| Traci Lords | Racquel |
| Kevin Patrick Walls | Krieger |
| Tim Guinee | Curtis Webb |
| Sanaa Lathan | Vanessa |
| Eric Edwards | Pearl |
Genre/Type Fantasy, Action, Comic-Book Superhero Film, Martial Arts
Produced by Amen Ra Films / Imaginary Forces / New Line Cinema
Released by New Line Cinema
Running time - 121 min.
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000, Yoshiaki Kawajiri)
Vampires (1998, John Carpenter)
Razor Blade Smile (1998, Jake West)
Daredevil (2003, Mark Steven Johnson)
Breed (2001, Michael Oblowitz)
Spider-Man (2002, Sam Raimi)
The Immortal (2000, David Straiton)
Faust: Love of the Damned (2001, Brian Yuzna)