Blade (1998) on Netflix
Blade, a half-vampire Daywalker, hunts vampires. When a hematologist named Karen Jenson is bitten, he and Whistler shelter her, while Deacon Frost's younger vampires challenge the elders.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.1/10335,948 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes59%
Trailer
Plot summary
A vampire attacks a pregnant woman in 1967; she goes into premature labor, and her baby survives. That child becomes Blade, a Daywalker with vampire strengths but almost none of their weaknesses, apart from a craving for human blood. He strikes a rave club controlled by the vampire Deacon Frost. A wounded vampire is taken to a hospital, where he bites Dr. Karen Jenson and escapes. Blade brings Karen to a safe house, and Whistler treats her. Whistler tells her that he and Blade have fought a hidden war against vampires using sunlight, silver and garlic. Since a bite has marked Karen, the two urge her to leave the city. Pure-blood elders then scold Frost, who leads a faction of younger vampires, for trying to stir a war; he and his followers are not natural-born and are seen as inferior.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Blade (1998)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- New Line Cinema originally wanted Blade to be almost a spoof and at one point asked if the character could be white; writer David S. Goyer convinced the studio otherwise. Director David Fincher worked on the script with Goyer while attached to the project.
- The first cut of Blade ran 140 minutes and had a disastrous test screening; heavy edits and re-shoots delayed its release by more than half a year, including a final sword fight between Blade and Deacon Frost that was not in the original cut.
- Despite the film's success, Marvel received only a flat fee of $25,000 for Blade, rather than a share of its box office.
- Writer Marv Wolfman unsuccessfully sued Marvel and New Line Cinema for $35 million after Blade's release, arguing that his 1972 work-for-hire contract did not bind him; he and artist Gene Colan received a 'based on characters created by' credit.
- Michael De Luca, head of New Line Cinema, suggested Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes and Laurence Fishburne for the lead, but Goyer always wanted Snipes; the finished script went to Snipes and no other actor was seriously considered.
- The 1998 film Blade was banned from showing in Malaysia, which is widely considered to have the most controlling censors in Southeast Asia.
- The British techno band the Prodigy was approached to do both the soundtrack and the score for Blade, but turned the offer down because of other commitments.
- All sets for Blade were constructed, and all on-set filming took place, in what had formerly been the Redken Shampoo factory in Canoga Park.
