Vampires (1998)
A Film Review of John Carpenter's Vampires
by Mark O'Hara visit Online Film Critics Society at http://www.ofcs.com
Why not start a review with the parts of the movie I didn't enjoy?
I could have done with a dozen fewer graphic and inventively twisted murders on screen. OK - the severed heads didn't look all that realistic, and John Carpenter sometimes goes so over-the-top with the violence that I found myself chuckling at the excess. But the first group-slaying carried out by Jack Crow (James Woods) and his Church-paid crusaders lets us know that extreme means and extreme caution are the method of operation needed here. Do we have to witness friars flying about their mission's courtyard, the fountain running with their blood?
That said, Vampires is a tightly told action film, a hybrid of horror and spaghetti Western, an intense and sometimes campy entertainment. When Crow and Tony Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) swing open the doors of a converted armored truck to let out the rest of their goon-killing squad, we know we're in for a ride.
The premise pivots on the motivation of the original vampire - not Vlad but the similarly-named Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith). This vampire master was created 600 years ago by the Catholic Church, when an exorcism went wrong and Valek's dead body was left inhabited by his condemned soul. This bit is one of the more striking among the many original additions to vampire mythology. Of course Valek possesses superhuman strength, and dominates any confrontation with unarmed humans, even scores of them. Valek is searching the American Southwest for the black cross, the one used at the time of his death. What Jack Crow and his men are charged with is not only ridding the world of nests of the undead, but stopping Valek before he can use the cross in a ceremony enabling him to walk during the day.
In this adaptation of John Steakley's novel Vampire$, Carpenter and screenwriter Don Jakoby make a few more notable alterations to bloodsucker lore. I found it fascinating that Crow is equated with a warrior in the Crusades; his quest is, after all, a sacred one. In a low-key but stunning connecting scene, we watch Crow - exhausted from "burying" most of his slaughtered slayers to keep them from "turning" - hunched over the wheel of his truck. Woods seems off guard for a change, almost wincing from weariness, when he suddenly focuses on the rosary hanging from the rear-view mirror. Crosses become a clear motif in the narrative (even though they do no good when flashed in a vampire's bluish face). Another nice touch is the weaponry used by the slayers. Crossbows with tethered arrows, shiny spontoons and even a neckpiece made of mail - these instruments look good when pulled from the truck and even better when employed in close combat with the vampires. Especially riveting are scenes in which vampires, impaled on the small harpoons, are dragged shrieking and shuddering out into the sunlight, where they burst into nifty little holocausts. Good special effects.
We are supplied with little information about Jack Crow. His parents are dead, the circumstances involving vampires. Crow is a Bruce Wayne-like figure, a loner obsessed with hunting vampires, raised by the Church, in fact, to do so. It's more economical that the film follows the small but wild scope of his world. James Woods is all business in this role, particularly in verbal riffs addressed to Father Adam (Tim Guinee) and Valek.
Daniel Baldwin brings a cool toughness to the second-in-command slayer, Montoya. He is also skilled in showing the camaraderie crucial to warriors: he's a big, good buddy to have on your side in a fight. As he slowly falls in love with a hooker, Katrina, Baldwin's Montoya lets slip an uncharacteristic tenderness. As Katrina, Sheryl Lee is talented at depicting a beauty that is at once alluring and repulsive - reflecting what is probably Carpenter's aim.
In scenes perhaps inspired by stylized Westerns , and most recently seen with the Armageddon astronauts fanned out and walking toward the camera, we see first the band of slayers and then, the film's conflict mounting, Valek and seven other vampire masters, stares menacing and black clothes flicking in the wind. Several other variations on things Western lend the film tones that are both serious and campy. It's a good bet that if viewers are not intrigued by dialogue or plot twists, they'll be amused.
John Carpenter's range as an artist is impressive. The score is his original music. Although all I can remember now is a repetitive bass guitar phrase, the music does a fine and transparent job of complimenting the scenes.
Simply put, I enjoyed Vampires more than I though I would. There were no extended scenes involving dark rituals, even though I was mildly creeped-out by Valek's attempt to reenact his exorcism. The film is out mainly to pack in as much action as it can. I'd say to see Vampires, especially if you're a fan of other Carpenter works, like The Thing and The Fog. Don't go if you can't stomach gore, though, and don't take along any living person under 16.
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