THE POWER OF AN IMMORTAL. THE SOUL OF A HUMAN. THE HEART OF A HERO.

Blade (Wesley Snipes), a human-vampire hybrid who hunts bloodsuckers, saves a doctor (N’Bushe Wright) from certain death; together, they go after a younger vampire (Stephen Dorff) with a dangerous agenda.

Before the MCU, we had this bloody adaptation of a Marvel comic book that became a solid hit for Snipes, who provides his anti-hero with martial arts skills. The film begins at a disco for vampires and continues in the same absurdly blood-soaked fashion.

Visual effects may have aged less than gracefully, but they’re creative, and all the action makes us forget the silly story.

1998-U.S. 123 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Stephen Norrington. Screenplay: David S. Goyer. Comic Book: Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan. Cast: Wesley Snipes (Eric Brooks/Blade), Stephen Dorff (Deacon Frost), Kris Kristofferson (Abraham Whistler), N’Bushe Wright (Karen Jenson), Donal Logue, Udo Kier, Traci Lords. 

Trivia: Co-produced by Snipes. Denzel Washington and Laurence Fishburne were considered for the lead role; Jon Voight as Whistler. Followed by two sequels, starting with Blade II (2002), and a TV series, Blade: The Series (2006).