John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)

Starring - James Woods; Daniel Baldwin; Sheryl Lee; Thomas Ian Griffith & Maximilian Schell Director - John Carpenter MPAA - Rated R for strong vampire violence and gore, language and sexuality. John Carpenter's Vampires was not what I expected. I expected a run of the mill vampire film with an OK story and a few scares. Well, there were no real scares in Vampires but the story was first rate. While there were no scenes that made the audience jump in their seats, there were a few that kept them hanging on the edge of them. John Carpenter's Vampires is about vampire hunter Jack Crow (James Woods), who works for the Catholic Church in their bid to rid the Earth of the undead. A creative idea in itself, but when you add to it the fact that assisting him in his job are a bunch of mercenaries, also on the church's payroll, you have the makings of a great story. Throw in the fact that that the Catholic Church has very strong ties to the most powerful vampire on the planet and you have yourself the formula for a hit movie. I'm forced to confess that even though I'm a James Woods fan, I wasn't completely sure that he could pull off the part of an action hero. But upon further reflection, who better to cast as someone who does battle against the undead than the man who plays some of the nastiest villains in film. After seeing this film I can think of no other actor in Hollywood who could have done a better job than Woods. I can think of no other director than John Carpenter, Hollywood's king of horror, to make a vampire film this much fun. Unlike most vampire films, the vampires don't live in mansions or wear expensive suits. They live in abandoned barns and farm houses and are seriously lacking the style of the traditional vampires that appear in most films. This more down to earth feel was a refreshing change and part of the reason that I enjoyed the film as much as I did. This is not a commentary of the overall look of the film, which was well done and really changed the way I look at vampire films. As expected, special effects now play a big role in vampire films, as well as makeup effects, and Vampires doesn't disappoint in either case. The production values for Vampires are high from start to finish (quite a difference from the film that made Carpenter's career -- Halloween). Carpenter also gives this movie more than just a bit of tension. The scenes where Woods and company are actually in the act of hunting vampires are as intense as anything that you are ever likely to see in a horror film. I never go into a horror film expecting Shakespearean quality performances from the cast. James Woods excels playing the typical ill-tempered character that he has built his career on. The rest of the cast including Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee and Tim Guinee fill their roles nicely but none really stands out from the crowd. Thomas Ian Griffith, playing the vampire leader, brings with him a slightly over the top performance which makes him a lot of fun to watch in the role. Vampires brings some new twists to the traditional vampire movies of days gone by. All add to the film and breathe new life into a genre that has seen little action over the past few years. Along with 1998's other big vampire film, Blade, special effects are used to great advantage and with considerable success. Which I hope will assure that there are more vampire films coming down the pipe in the near future. 7/10 Reviewed November 1, 1998 by Joe Chamberlain