VAMPIRES (JOHN CARPENTER'S) RATING: 7 / 10 --> Good movie
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The major release this Halloween is this film based on the John Steakley-penned novel Vampire$ starring the ever-intense James Woods, and directed by the man who brought us real fright in THE THING (8/10) and real fun in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (7.5/10): John Carpenter.
PLOT: Led by Jack Crow (Woods), a team of vampire-killers roam the United States searching for and obliterating nests of vampires still wandering the Earth. One day, they meet up with the Master of the vampires, Valek, who is ready to move his nighttime gig into day. Crow, along with his trusty companion Montoya (Baldwin), attempt to find and kill the Master by telepathically connecting to him through some hooker whom he once lovingly sunk his fangs into. Generous helpings of bloodsucking and murders ensue.
CRITIQUE: Gory, bloody, well-timed, interesting modern tale about vampires chomping their way into daylight, radiates some original theories, but slows down in the middle, and winds up weak at the finish line. I loved the first 20 minutes of this movie, which is pretty much what they've been showing in the trailers up until now, but didn't care much for the slower second act, and the over-the-top third. The confrontations with the actual vampires are the most exciting part about this movie, along with the great special effects and makeup. But halfway through this movie, I did find myself counting the number of overdone close-ups of the very ugly actor James Woods, and his overrated sunglasses.
Having said that, the ending did also contain some very cool fight scenes, but the authenticity of the conclusion left something to be desired. On the whole, the acting was good, with Woods playing an excellent vampire-slayer, who's own father was once bit by a vampire and tried to kill him. Daniel Baldwin, (the fatter, less talented brother of Alec) actually came through as the tough side-kick who slaps girls around (doesn't he always seem to play this role?), while Sheryl Lee was pretty much wasted as the token whore who also generated waaaaaay too many close-ups of her face as well. The master vampire, Thomas Ian Griffith, played his part eloquently and left many a chill in the audience's spine. The man was just a cool vampire!
Overall, the style of the film was very slick, as well as the John Carpenter-based score, which had that whole Tex-Mex feel to it. The special effects and the fighting sequences were also very bloody and totally awesome, but I suppose the credibility of the last few scenes could have been quite stronger. I would suggest this film to all vampire, John Carpenter, and James Woods fans, because it does feature some entertaining stuff from all three. On the other hand, if you're sick and tired of vampire movies, or if you expect to find one redeeming woman character in this entire script, look elsewhere, because this blood-infested gore-ride is not here to win any political points. Religious types might also want to stay away, unless they enjoy the sight of priests and monks being slaughtered by the handful, and the extreme verbal and physical abuse that the "good priest" in this film receives. I personally took this film as it was presented to me, a Halloween-released fun and bloody-carnage based movie, with lots of killings, a little humour, and no real redeeming point.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: John Carpenter has also been credited on various pictures as Frank Armitage, Johnny Carpenter, James T. Chance , John T. Chance, Edmond Dantès, Rip Haight and Martin Quatermass. James Woods is alleged to have an IQ of 180. Scored a perfect 800 on his verbal SATs and a 779 on the math section. He also fired his agent for not telling him of Quentin Tarantino's offer to star as Mr.Orange/Freddie in 1992's classic RESERVOIR DOGS (9/10). Looks like he really IS smart!!! John Carpenter is known to reuse character names from classic movies, for example, his John T Chance pseudonym comes from the John Wayne character name in RIO BRAVO, while Donald Pleasance's character name in the original HALLOWEEN (6.5/10), Sam Loomis, is the name of Janet Leigh's boyfriend from original PSYCHO (7/10). Some fun trivia about John Carpenter includes the fact that he loves Elvis and old cadillacs, is a major NBA fan and has a satellite dish installed on his location trailer to keep up with the games, and always has a portable basketball hoop on location. And of course, my personal favorite is that his favorite meal of the day is breakfast - any time of day (what a man!) Director and writer of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (8/10), Frank Darabont, has a cameo in this film as the "man with the Buick" who gets relieved of his ownership duties by Baldwin's character. Sheryl Lee is famous for being "Laura Palmer" from the cult-famed David Lynch TV show "Twin Peaks", as well as the film version, TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (4/10). Producer Sandy King was script supervisor on at least three previous Carpenter films including THEY LIVE (7.5/10), PRINCE OF DARKNESS and BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (7.5/10), married John Carpenter in 1990, and remains married to the director of this film to this day (She's also known as Sandra Ann Carpenter.) This film was originally known as VAMPIRE$.
Review Date: October 31, 1998
Director: John Carpenter
Writer: Don Jakoby (based on novel by John Steakley)
Producer: Sandy King
Actors: James Woods as Jack Crow
Daniel Baldwin as Tony Montoya
Sheryl Lee as Katrina
Thomas Ian Griffith as Valek (the Master)
Genre: Horror
Year of Release: 1998
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(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
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