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Vampires: Music From The Motion Picture

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Vampires

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Refreshingly Different: John Carpenter’s Vampires
by Christian De Matteo

Solid

I like vampire hunter flicks when they are well done.  My requests are simple, I want blood, creative vampire killing techniques, increasingly formidable bad guys, and cool, clever, funny but not corny lines from the hero as he offs the vamps.  Two movies always spring to mind when I think of solid attempts at this formula:  From Dusk till Dawn and Blade.  Both are fun, exciting, and don’t take themselves to seriously.  That’s the key:  Know thy movie.

John Carpenter’s Vampires is a strong, strong entry to the genre.  Shot like a western and fun throughout, Carpenter (The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China) weaves a different tale, adding enough new flavor to the mythology that even when things aren’t dying, you sit intrigued.  The plot is minimal but substantial enough to make the film more than a simple bloodbath.  But not too much more, and that’s a good thing. James Woods plays the lead, a tough guy raised by the Catholic Church to be a vampire killer, who knows no other life and cares to know no other.  Woods (True Crime, Diggstown), always a great actor, plays the part convincingly, obviously having fun, but believably tough and even frightening at times, pulling off lines that only Bruce Willis can get away with normally.  Excellent casting on Carpenter’s part. Together with Daniel Baldwin (the chunky one), he kicks ass and stakes all prisoners his whole way through the movie, unforgiving and devoid of fear.

Another qualification of the vampire killer flick is that the slaughters make you ooooh and aaaah like Fourth of July fireworks.  Starting four minutes into the film we see one innovative way after another to take out all levels of vampire (from goons to masters) and Carpenter sustains this at a solid clip till the intense and brutal climax.  And, within the first fifteen minutes, Carpenter warns you that all bets are off, and anyone, yes, anyone, can die.

Ever striving to do something just that much different, the legendary John Carpenter delivers a Solid vampire killer film, excellent for pizza and beer and good for a quiet night at home.  Entertaining, funny, bloody-as-all-hell and engaging, Vampires is a very fun watch.

Soundtrack
Vampires: Music From The Motion Picture

Soundtrack
     John Carpenter is a genius, he makes great movies, sure, but he's also an accomplished musician.  And Vampires is one of his best soundtracks.  Next time you watch this fun ride, pay attention the the music.  It's not so easy because it's perfect.  It's got some great rock 'n rollers on it too.

DVD
Vampires

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James Woods goes beyond a John Wayne shoot-em-up western, and then there's even a naked Syerl Lee.
by Jorge Solis

Huge

Imagine opening the door for a killer. The first thing he does is attack you. Then he goes after everyone you care about. There is no stopping him. After this is over, the killer will continue night after night searching for more victims. This is John Carpenter's Vampires.  

Uncredited as a screenwriter but you know this is John Carpenter's material. Jack Crow is the vampire hunter of John Steakley's novel, Vampire$ but another creation to John Carpenter's line of tough guys. Dan Jakoby and John Carpenter have written a great book adaption. They made a tough guy even tougher; that's how great the adaption is. Jack Crow is mean, gruff, and most of all, violent like Snake Plissken but he chooses to have emotions. James Woods, in the Kurt Russell role, brings sarcasm and coolness into his character. He is the antihero who offends with his jokes about religion, priests, and women. He walks away from an explosion so cool like nothing is bothering him.

This is a great horror movie because it has all the necessary ingredients. There is blood and gore whenever a vampire is in a scene. You're going to see a man sliced down in half. There's decapitated heads everywhere in this movie. The fight between Father Adam and the vampire in the elevator shaft is suspenseful and exciting. You will laugh as James Woods shoots at a vampire's head nonstop. And if you're into nudity, you get to see a naked Sheryl Lee.  

John Carpenter's Vampires is a new kind of western. This is a pulse pounding, shoot-em-up western. James Woods goes beyond John Wayne in this movie John Carpenter composed the music with to make it sound like a western. You have the ultimate showdown between Jack Crow and the master vampire. Because this is a western, you have the mandatory guns. You have to see James Woods as Jack Crow jump at the master vampire, Valeck, while shooting. For a western, it is edited very well thanks to Edward A. Warschika, who also edited Village of the Damned.

James Woods returns as Jack Crow in Vampires: Los Muertos. I know James Woods will do a great job with this character. It seems like James Woods and John Carpenter were destined to work together. Here's hoping that John Carpenter will make a sequel better than the original.

DVD
Vampires

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Jorge Solis  
Resident John Carpenter Expert