| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: James Woods,
Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith,
Tim Guinee, Maximillian Schell
Screenplay: Don Jakoby
Country: USA |
Originally a vehicle for Dolph Lungren to be
directed by Russel Mulcahey, who instead made Silent Trigger, John Carpenter's Vampires is another example of
the fine direction of Carpenter, and the ultra
cool exterior of James Woods. A match made in
Heaven…or Hell. The production of this film
faced a severe problem as just before filming
began, 2/3 of the budget was cut but this did
not stop it from receiving 1999 Saturn Awards
from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and
Horror Films USA for Best Actor (James Woods),
Best Score ( John Carpenter) and Best Make up.
Based on a novel by John Steakley, Vampires utilizes much of his original dialogue, but hardly
any of his plot. The film removes all the romanticism
of the vampire and keeps it to a few rules; drinks
blood, cannot go into the sun, and stakes through
the heart kill them. Limiting the enemy's
abilities allows the story to move along at a
great rate, giving opportunities for heaps of
bloody and gory mayhem. As usual, Carpenter uses
long lingering shots, which border on being akin
to Sergio Leone, which in some scenes shows the
arid desert of Western America in great detail.
Jack Crow (James Woods) leader of vampire hunting
group known as Team Crow are put on assignment
from the Vatican to destroy every vampire they
can find. After attacking and killing all the
vampires in a 'nest', Team Crow are
decimated by a master vampire known as Valek (Thomas
Ian Griffith) who is looking for an artifact known
to increase the power of the vampire race. If
he finds this icon, in the form of a large black
cross, Valek and his brethren will be able to
walk the earth in daylight, and none shall be
able to stop them. It is left up to Crow, his
surviving ally Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), newly
assigned priest Father Guiteau (Tim Guinee) and
tag along hooker Katrina (Sheryl Lee) to make
sure that this never happens.
Sporting some great over the top effects, John
Carpenter's Vampires is
good old fashion dumb fun. The gang of vampire
hunters in this film is the perfect antithesis
to the traveling vampires of Near Dark;
actually, if you are a fan of Near Dark,
this film is in a similar vein. Taking elements
of Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
and overdosing it on testosterone and booze makes
John Carpenter's Vampires an arse kickin', drunken redneck vampire
huntin' pile o' excitement, the way
they do it in Texas.
Heaps of fun reduced to table scraps by Roadshow,
who again deliver a pathetic bare bones Region
4 DVD release. |
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