review wanted:John Carpenter's Vampires
 

I have purchased Blade and just love this dvd. Is Vampires good action and story wise??
Al.

John Carpenter's Vampires gives the Catholic term "vocation" a whole new definition. James Woods plays Jack Crow, the leader of a group of vampire bounty hunters. Crow's exact background is unclear, but apparently the church raised him and now pays him and his fellow bounty hunters in order to rid the world of the vampires. The movie points out that the Catholic Church has a specific reason for wanting to get rid of vampires, but I don't want to spoil that for you.

Crow, despite having been raised by the Church, isn't the nicest guy in the world. He doesn't hesitate to beat up priests and has one of the foulest mouths you'll ever hear. At the very beginning of the movie the group clears out a nest of vampires. They kill the vampires first by stunning them with gratuitous amounts of firepower. Then they shoot them with a crossbow arrow that's attached to a winch line. The winch drags the vampires out into the light of day and *poof*--vampire flambe`.
They never manage to find 'The Master,' the vampire who "sires" all the vampires they kill, though.

The night after cleaning the 'nest,' the bounty hunters celebrate in a very unwholesome, un-Catholic way by getting drunk and inviting a few prostitutes. The Master, who they failed to find at the nest earlier, crashes the party and sets the plot into motion. The ways that The Master kills some of the people is truly amazing, and the movie's at least worth a renting just to see some of them.

At the party, the Master bites Katrina, the woman who was going to sleep with Crow. Twin Peaks fans know her as Laura Palmer. She has a nude scene. She is the reason I bought the DVD. Carpenter's audio commentary is pretty average, never mind-blowing. He mainly gives insight into the technical aspects of the movie and also much praise to his director of photography, who really did do a good job.

Let's see, I give it *** out of ****

I would highly recommend you rent this title before buying it. I found it laughably bad, but not in a good way.

...yes... ahh... well... ahh...

http://www.mrcranky.com/movies/vampires.html

. . . :D . . .

In my opinion, this is middle-class Carpenter. It contains many kick-ass things the director is famous for (like the music), but plot-wise it's rather weak. Which is a shame, since Woods' performance is terrific and the movie has a lot of style to spare.

Not as good as Blade, and not as good a DVD either.

Not a great film, but it has entertaining horror, and it has at least vampires that kick the crap out of people. :) However, I enjoyed it, but not more. It does not have the same kind of action as you saw in Blade.

thanks for the responses
 

I guess I will rent vampires and make up my mind then.

Let us know what you think of it...

Just buy it its a kicks ass movie with an anamorphic transfer and a commentary track. The story is great B material and its bloody as hell. Twin Peaks Sheryl Lee also makes this a must own for me. Should be available for 8-10 bucks.

It bored me to tears...

It's an ok Carpenter film. I'm a pretty big Carpenter fan, have seen Vampires but still don't have it on DVD. Does that tell you anything? The beginning through about 3/4 of the movie is pretty decent but then it goes downhill quick. The very end is, indeed, laughably bad. I didn't care for Baldwin at all, though Woods is quite good when he isn't being smarmy (mostly at the end). Sheryl Lee is a hottie and definitely helps the scenes she's in on appearance alone. I'll get it eventually but it's not a huge priority for me right now. I want to hear JC's commentary as much as see the movie again.

Rented Vampires today...
 

I thought it was worth a rent, but not a buy for me. Blade is many times better IMO. James Woods is great in it and saves the movie from being really bad.

Thanks for letting us know what you thought! I was curious because my friends and I thought this was easily one of the worst films we'd seen that year.

After seeing this movie, I have lost any appreciation for John Carpenter. I hope someone remakes this one day based off the book and not loosely based like John Carpenter did. Read the book by John Steakly or is it Steakley and then if you want watch the film. The book is a must read though.

$9.44 @ wallyworld!

"Alot of mystical gobblydgook about an inverse excorcism or something, I've never quite understood it. It does motivate the entire film though..so we needed it"

Quote from John Carpenter's commentary on Vampires

pretty much says it all he goes into detail about random odd things and then sweeps a major plot point aside
Gotta love it his commentaries always make me laugh.