VAMPIRES (JOHN CARPENTER'S)
RATING: 7 / 10 --> Good movie
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
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$.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
Movie Reviews by Berge Garabedian
Movie Reviews starting with "V"
Related Reviews: