Vampires (1998)

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Maximillian Schell

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: From the master of terror comes a new breed of evil.

Plot: A vengeful vampire hunter must retrieve a cross before it falls into the hands of the undead, that could produce dire consequences for humanity.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Would I watch it again? Probably

If there could be one reason I would recommend this movie it's because of James Woods. He's obviously having a blast playing his character as a serious-to-the-bone-badass. I kind of got the impression that it might have been written with Kurt Russell which isn't a stretch considering the number of times Carpenter and Russell worked together. The dialogue had that Carpenter pacing associated with Russell's characters - quick and sharp.

Woods is a badass in VAMPIRES but a badass you laugh with all through the picture. He doesn't take any bullshit and has no time for amateurs, even from a priest. He's got a job to do - kill vampires.

The western setting is great. I'm a huge western fan so whenever there's a genre film like horror that takes place in the West (especially the Old West) I'm all over it. So that gets points right there.

The real downside is that somewhere about 2/3 into the picture it starts to grow tiresome and by the time the big fight at the end comes around I'm ready to wrap things up and go. It's still a fun ride and I really like the different take Carpenter gives the vampire story. Like in the way they are disposed of for example. There's a heavy duty truck outside with a wench. Inside our hero(s) has a crossbow with a large wooden stake attached to the cable from the wench and once a vampire is struck with it he/she is dragged outside into the daylight and catches fire. THAT is cool. The only problem I have with that is they do it one after another which isn't possible unless you go back outside, get the cable again, and reload. But I guess we're not supposed to think about it that much.

I certainly recommend it but it's not great. There are plenty of interesting things along the way to make it different and fun. There's something that happens early on in the picture that, as you see at the end, sets us up for a sequel but given the time since the film came out doesn't look like we'll get it. And I'm OK with that.