Lady Death: The Movie

Plot synopsis

The movie begins in 15th century Sweden. Hope, the beautiful and innocent daughter of Matthias (a skilled mercenary who is in actuality Lucifer himself), is accused of being the devil's consort. Hope is sentenced by the town priest to be burned at the stake. Matthias, through a proxy, offers her life if she surrenders herself to him and joins him in Hell. At first she agrees to his terms, but Matthias's plan to corrupt her is soon met with unanticipated resistance, as Hope rejects his scheme and eventually finds herself transformed into the powerful warrior Lady Death, who challenges Lucifer for control of Hell itself.

Differences between the film and Comic

Many of the events from the comics are altered in the animated film. Instead of summoning a demon with whom she bargains for her life, Hope's spell summons a pair of flying demons that carry her physically to Hell (restoring her badly burned body in the process), dropping her in the court of her father, who intends for her to join him by his side. When she refuses, he casts her out, only for her to side with the master blacksmith Cremator, an escaped slave of his, and to lead an army of hellspawn creatures against him. In this continuity, her curse is to be trapped in Hell for as long as one of Lucifer's allies remains alive. Unlike in the comic, Lady Death is presented as more of a heroine whose goal isn't to destroy all life on earth, but to liberate Hell from Lucifer's tyranny.

Details

The castle of Matthias is based on Duurstede Castle.

Cast

Reception

General reception has mostly been negative. Mike Dungan of Mania.com (then known as AnimeOnDvd.com) gave the film a C. Dungan states that the script limits the appeal of the movie. However, the animation and acting were fine in that this was a good first effort for ADV.