Vampires (1998)

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It was a good movie though I wasn't really expecting it to be that good. Underrated. Probably the last of John Carpenter's best films. I saw this movie because of my love for vampires, and John Carpenter being one of my favourite directors. There aren't too many great vampire movies out there, and this should be among your watchlist. What I enjoyed the most about this movie is the character – Jack Crow! his character was awesome, and it was mainly him that made this film a success in my view along with the person who played that main vampire. It was like seeing Good v Evil taking each other on. The movie has some flaws though that shouldn't disrupt your enjoyment of the movie, but it is pretty scary at times. I actually had nightmares on a few occasions after watching this movie, but that's normal for me because horror movies are not really my thing, and is something I try to avoid – not that I'm scared or anything. Anyway, Vampires is a movie worth watching especially if your a fan of vampires. Great to watch on Halloween or something...

There's something to be said about a vampire flick that dispenses with the usual lore and goes for something new and creative. You won't find garlic or the fear of crosses in Jack Crow's (James Woods) arsenal, he's dealing with a Master Vampire who's determined to crack the taboo of bursting into flames with the first hint of sunlight. The entire scenario is placed under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church, with a crooked Cardinal Alba (Maximilian Schell) forsaking his vows to team up with the indomitable Jan Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith). Since I don't know any better, it appeared to me that Montoya's (Daniel Baldwin) emphasis on reciting Rules for Hunting Vampires might have been the inspiration for a similar treatment in "Zombieland" a decade later. That one was done for kicks, however Montoya was pretty straight up and serious about the whole thing. My favorite would have been 'You can't kill a Master at night'. Considering their camaraderie throughout the picture, it made sense that Crow would catch Montoya a break at the end of the story. Until they met again of course, and then he'd have to get the wooden stake ready for his buddy. I'm sure there was some kind of unstated rule on that too.

Unknown to the rest of the world, a group of men have been organized by the Catholic Church to hunt and kill vampires. The leader of this group is a man named "Jack Crow" (James Woods) and he is as tough and non-relenting as they come. As it so happens, however, after one particularly successful event in New Mexico in which 9 vampires are killed while nesting together an abandoned house, the group convenes at a motel that night to celebrate. What they don't realize is that the master vampire by the name of "Jan Valek" (Thomas Ian Griffith) has found out where they are and he is in a very vengeful mood. To make things even more perilous for them is the fact that there is a traitor within their ranks who is working with Jan Valek for alternative reasons. Now rather than divulge any more I will just say that, even though the film starts out rather pretentiously, the action soon kicks in quite nicely which results in a pretty good vampire movie all things considered. Admittedly, there are some scenes which seem to focus more on gore over suspense or horror, but the overall plot and acting make up for it in the long run. Above average.

There's only really two Carpenter films that I didn't enjoy – The Ward and Village of The Damned. Everything else has at least something to offer, and Vampires has quite a bit. James Wood (who is pretty miscast) plays Jack Wood, a bad-mouthed leader of a crew of mercenaries tasked with taking down Vampires around the Mexican desert. Think Snake Plissken, only uglier, older and a whole lot less likable. Everything about the film is rough and ugly, from the language and acting to the cinematography and set pieces. No political correctness bullshit or sparkling blood-suckers here. That's one thing that Vampires has going for it. You would have thought that Carpenter would've made a vampire film back in his hay-day the 80's. Not so. Still I came away from the film pleasantly surprised at first. However, it is a movie that, the more you think of it, the more of a dud it seems to be. There isn't much that you remember from it, aside from one decent shootout. Carpenter's signature moody keyboard loops were replaced by guitar solos. Oh, and it's the first time I noticed this irritating fade-in fade-out style of editing that Carpenter adopted in his later films, where a normal, satisfactory scene would be ruined by making it seem like a dream sequence. This was even present in the action scenes!Best Scene: I remember there being a most satisfactory butt-shot, but my vote will go to the opening shootout.