Vampires

Plot synopsis:
Jack Crow (James Woods) is a professional and Vatican-funded vampire slayer. He and his team of slayers have just rooted out a nest of nine vampires in the New Mexico desert but, disappointingly, the master vampire--Jan Valek--was not there. Still, the team is partying at the Sun God Motel, rejoicing in their victory. Unbeknown to the slayers,
Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) is in the adjoining room, seducing and biting Katrina (Sheryl Lee), a hooker hired for the party. Before Jack is even aware of Valek's presence, Valek has viciously slain his entire team as well as all the hookers. During the battle, Valek says Jack's name, which takes the slayer by surprise. Only Jack, Katrina, and Jack's partner Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) manage to escape.After beheading and burning the bodies of his team (to make sure they don't turn into vampires), Jack goes directly to Cardinal Alba (Maximilian Schell) for further instructions. Alba has more bad news. Their European team was also wiped out three days ago near Cologne, Germany, and a portrait of Jan Valek was found there. According to archivist,
Father Adam Guiteau (Tim Guinee), Valek was a 14th century priest who turned against the church and was burned at the stake for heresy. After his death, however, Valek became a vampire, the first of his kind. The Vatican wants Jack to rebuild his team, and they give him Guiteau as his first replacement. Jack wants nothing to do with the milquetoast bookworm, especially because he suspects the team's slaying was a setup, and it could just as easily have been Guiteau as anyone else in the church. After physically abusing Guiteau a few times, Jack levels with him. He shows him a map of where nests of vampires have been killed in the Southwest since the 1800s.It shows a pattern of an ever-widening circle, and Jack thinks that they're searching for something. Furthermore, he thinks they might be searching for a black cross that he heard of when he was young.Meanwhile, Montoya and Katrina are holed up in a hotel. Katrina hasn't turned yet and, when she finds out that she's been bitten by a vampire. Montoya wants to keep her around because of her telepathic link to Valek. She tries to commit suicide by jumping off a ledge but Montoya manages to pull her back through the window, but he cuts his arm while doing so, and Katrina grabs it and starts sucking. Montoya knocks her out and then burns the bite with a lighter, hoping to sterilize it from the sickness that will convert him. When Katrina awakens, she starts having visions. The first one is of Valek in a church in San Miguel County. The next vision shows Valek looking at a map and then killing a priest. Guiteau offers to get a list of all the churches in the county, a clue that leads them to Father Molina, whose body was found decapitated and laying alongside a dirt road.After further brutal interrogation by Jack, Guiteau finally confesses that Molina was the only one in the world who knew the whereabouts of the black Bersier cross, an ancient relic that was used in the exorcism meant to drive the demons from Valek's body. Unfortunately, the exorcism resulted in turning him into a vampire was never completed, leaving Valek vulnerable to the sun. He needs the cross now to finish the ritual. If he succeeds, he will be able to live in the daytime. A master vampire able to walk in the sun would be unstoppable.It's sundown and Valek with a new group of vampires are rising from the ground where they sleep. Through her telepathic connection to Valek, Katrina can tell that he is accompanied by seven other master vampires. She can see them headed into a small Spanish mission. She can see the vampires brutally slaying the mission clerics. And she can see Valek taking down the black cross. "He's got it!" she smiles.The next day Katrina leads Jack and Montoya to the small, deserted town of Santiago where she says Valek is hiding in the best-contructed building in town -- the jailhouse. With only three slayers and as many as 30 vampires, Jack, Montoya, and Guiteau have their work cut out for them. As the day wears on, Guiteau lures out the vampires, Jack shoots stakes into their chests from his crossbow, and Montoya drives the winch that pulls the vampires out into the sun where they burn up. With the sun setting rapidly, it is time to end the day's work before the other vampires wake up. Montoya and Katrina escape in the jeep, Guiteau hides behind a counter in a restaurant, finding a shotgun, but Valek catches Jack and ties him up.Jack wonders why Valek just doesn't kill him. Suddenly, Cardinal Alba steps out of the shadows. Admitting he was the one who betrayed the slayers, he says he's struck a deal with Valek, to give him immortality for finishing the ritual that will complete Valek's transformation.Meanwhile, Katrina has completed her change. She bites Montoya's neck, drinks some of his blood, and then leaves him for dead in the jeep and rejoins Valek and his vampires. Montoya shoots off a few rounds with his gun and then places the hot barrel to his neck, hoping to sterilize the bite.The ceremony is beginning, and Jack discovers that he is to part of it, because the ceremony requires a ritual sacrifice by crucifixion of a slayer at the moment of dawn. The vampires tie Jack to a cross, and Alba begins by slicing Jack's leg, collecting the blood, and passing it to Valek to drink. As the sun begins to rise, Guiteau (who has been listening to everything from his hiding place in the restaurant) shoots Alba. With no priest to finish the ritual, Valek tries to force Guiteau to do it, but Guiteau turns the gun on himself. Just when it looks like Guiteau might have to shoot himself, Montoya appears in the jeep. He fires a stake into the cross and, using the winch, pulls it down. Guiteau leaps forward and cuts Jack free. As the sun continues to rise, the vampires run for cover, with Jack and Guiteau following.They trap Valek, who leaps at Jack. Jack holds up the Bersier cross and Valek lands on it, impaling himself. As Valek attempts to pull out the cross, Jack pulls down the dilapidated ceiling. The sunlight streams in, and Valek bursts into flames.In the final scene, knowing that they have more vampires to kill, Montoya finally admits to Jack that he's been bitten twice by Katrina, who is lying in the back of the truck in order to stay out of the sun. He also says that he can no longer function as a slayer and that he intends to take Katrina south where he can take care of her. Guiteau tries to kill Montoya, but Jack steps between them. Knowing that Montoya was first bitten two days ago but still saved his life in the fight with the vampires, Jack figures he owes Montoya two days. However, he promises that, when those two days are up, he will hunt down Montoya and Katrina and kill both of them. The soon-to-be-turned vamp Montoya and the vampire Katrina drive away while Jack and Guiteau stay behind to clean up the town of the surviving vampires before pursing them.[Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: comedy, gothic, murder, violence, cult, good versus evil, revenge

Review:
James Woods is great as the grim, dedicated man sworn to destroy all vampires and as the true shocker, the generic Baldwin appearing in the movie does a really good job as well!
While fans will always compare Carpenter's later movies with his early genre classics, "Vampires" is excellent entertainment, even if it isn't an "important" or "milestone" horror event.James Woods is not the most likable of heroes here but he's very watchable.
Callan's explanation of how he views god, as well as several other references by Crow and Montoya underline the basic belief of the vampire hunters while maintaining their no-nonsense attitude.With that back to why I liked the movie so much: it is in its own way as stark and streamlined as the best samples of its genre; the cinematography is just perfect with the right mixture of visual and non-visual storytelling; the dialogue is engagingly humorous throughout, feels real and allows each character his or her own voice; there are several deeply moving scenes, either visually or characterwise moving, which will stay with the audience; there are enough novelties incorporated to make this rendition of the vampire theme fresh and quite frankly, I liked Carpenter's score a lot too.What wins me completely over is the very obvious fun all the actors had with their roles.
The movie opens with a trained, fully-equipped team of vampire slayers, led by Jack Crow (James Woods), methodically purging a "nest" of its fanged occupants.
Be that as it may, this movie does have some good dialogue, interesting characters, a unique idea or two, and an actual plot--which makes John Carpenter's "Vampires" stand head and shoulders above most of the horror movies that are out today.
The modern American west has been overrun by bloodsucking ghouls, and the Catholic Church hires a crew of fearless exterminators to hunt down the undead and drag them into the sun.I can certainly sympathize with Jack Crow's (James Woods) partner Anthony (Daniel Baldwin).
The crusader Jack Crow (James Woods), Anthony Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) and their team are vampire slayers working for the Catholic Church under the command of Cardinal Alba (Maximilian Schell).
However, Valek comes to the motel, bites the hooker Katrina (Sheryl Lee) and kills all the vampire slayers but Jack and Montoya that flee taking Katrina with them.
Will they succeed?John Carpenter's Vampires is an entertaining underrated film with a perfect combination of terror, action and humor.
Despite a few fake looking wounds or rubbery stakes, Carpenter delivers a polished & stylish film, on par with movies costing 10 times as much (better in some cases).
Ever since first renting this on it's first release on video i absolute loved & went out & brought it straight away,JAMES WOODS is Fantastic as Jack Crow a very violent vampire hunter who leads a team of hunters & WOODS performance is so much fun to watch & my favourite of his movies.
The vampires themselves are very scary & wild like savage beasts so yeah carpenter has made a fantastic Vampire movie with plenty of brutal Action & gore & great fx & some very funny moments with James woods!!!
James Woods is really funny as Jack Crow at times, altough Daniel Baldwin isn't really "great", nor is Tim Guinee.
Okay staring this review off I want to say I do love this film but I'm I'm no way going to let my love for the film get in the way of my review if there's flaws with this film I will surely point them out.........okay so we follow Jack Crow the head vampire slayer played but James Woods which did a really good job you can defiantly feel John carpenters hands all over this film as it feels almost like a western and vampire mix the characters are very sharp and had a lot care put into the script which isn't unordinary coming from a novel based film.......the vampires are scary,bloody and what vampires are suppose to be the plot overall works but at times I find myself wanting more vampire scenes!
Other than that the direction the film took I think couldn't have gotten much better John carpenter as well as all the other people involved with the making of this film did an excellent job and this film deserves more cult followers than it has I being one of the only ones if your a fan of vampires and classic scary vampires then defiantly give this film a watch.
It's just good fun.It's in my opinion that in Carpenter's old age he's become too tired and cynical to make films that audiences or critics would find to be works of masterpiece, for example, his Apocalyptic Three (Thing, Prince of Darkness, Mouth of Madness).
No, he's instead content with making sarcastic films that lampoon mainstream movies.Ghosts of Mars is much like Vampires in this way...
Now Jack, his partner, the prostitute and a naive but a young helpful priest (Tim Guinee) have to fight Valek before has the omnipotent power to walk in the daylight.Directed by John Carpenter (Escape from New York, Ghosts of Mars, Memoirs of a Invisible Man) made a flawed but strong entertaining horror/action/thriller.
Her character is the only mature character in the whole thing and the only one with any sense...As for Mr. Woods' character Jack Crow...I have never seen a character I've hated so much since watching that other travesty of a vampire movie "From Dusk Till Dawn" and having to put up with Quentin Tarrentino until he is thankfully killed.
It is easily one of the worst films I have ever seen, and I am a massive John Carpenter fan who like vampire films!One of its many problems is it looks so cheap and is so unexciting.
I like Carpenter's earlier work like The Thing, Halloween and The Fog among others but Vampires fails to be a great horror film.
Carpenter is legendary horror director but this time he seems to be pretty tired.The film deals with a vampire hunter played by James Woods who is catching vampires with his "army".
John Carpenter's Vampires is a straight and serious horror film, although it's not Carpenter's best, I had a blast watching the action unfold.
With that said, Vampires only goes to show that whatever talent Carpenter may have had is virtually gone for good.Jack Crow (James Woods) is a vampire hunter working for the Vatican.
At the same time, with the help of a young priest (Tim Guinee), Crow discovers that Valek is looking for the Berziers Cross, which if done correctly in an incantation, can grant all vampires the ability to walk in broad daylight.A plot like that would you to believe that Vampires would be full of tension, suspense, and action.
John Carpenter proves that he is still capable to make very good films even if they're not busting through the roof of the box office.Unlike John Carpenter's classics like "Halloween", "The Fog" or "The Thing" I think this movie was not intended to be scary.
Daniel Baldwin does okay and Sheryl Lee is a hot...uhm...actress.A very enjoyable film overall, not scary but perfect to spend your Saturday evening with.My rating: 8/10 (if you want more information: DVD contains an interesting audio commentary by John Carpenter himself!).
The characters are their lines are straight out of cliche hell.Now I know John Carpenter's style is a little quirky, almost cheesy at times, but this is the guy who literally created the art of tension building in scary movies.
John Carpenter's Vampires (1998) is very underrated vampire horror slasher action movie that I love it to death!
Also the film is worth of watch because it is fun on all the actors had with their roles.James Woods was perfect as sardonic, illusion-free Crow and his brushing "campiness" with the tip of a finger, yet withdrawing just in time, is priceless.
After Vampires is the last good John Carpenter film.
The main plot about this film: In the blood-chilling tradition of Halloween and Village of the Damned comes John Carpenter's unique vision of the ultimate killing machines, VAMPIRES.
When Master Vampire Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) decimates Jack's entire team, Crow and the sole team survivor, Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), set out in pursuit.
As Valek nears the climax of his 600-year search for the Berziers Cross, Jack and the new Team Crow do everything humanly possible to prevent him from possessing the only thing that can grant him and all vampires the omnipotent power to walk in the daylight.I am giving this film a 10/10 because it doesn't deserve all the hate from fans and critics!!!
Adapted from the novel Vampire$ by John Steakley, the film stars James Woods as Jack Crow, leader of a Catholic Church-sanctioned team of vampire hunters.10/10 Score: A Studio: Film Office, JVC Entertainment Networks, Largo Entertainment, Columbia Pictures Starring: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith, Maximilian Schell Director John Carpenter Producer: Sandy King Screenplay: Don Jakoby Based on Vampire$ by John Steakley Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 48 Mins.
Perhaps the movie's creators felt the plot was too weak to develop a story that is spun from the interactions of James Wood's gritty, no bs character and the vampires he kills.
As allways in John Carpenter film there's a kick ass soudtrack (which i listen to this day) that gives the movie a western, action and horror vibe to the viewer.
James Woods carrys the movie on his own, Baldwin does an ok job i guess, Tim Guinne probably had his best on screen appereance perfomance of his career as a young priest and he nails it, and we even have the great Maximilian Schell wich is reason alone to adore the film.
A band of professional, Vatican-sanctioned vampire hunters, led by hardened slayer Jack Crow (James Woods), battle a powerful master vampire called Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith), who is attempting to repeat the ritual that turned him into a vampire and which will enable him to walk in daylight.Director John Carpenter is, of course, capable of much better than Vampires, but the film is also a long way from his worst (Ghosts of Mars, please stand up!).
The plot plods at times, especially when the director focuses a little too much on style over content, but any film that features James Woods as a mean sonuvabitch vampire slayer, the gorgeous Sheryl Lee as a sexy hooker turned bloodsucker, some impressive set-pieces (the vampires burning up in sunlight being amongst some of the best bloodsucker deaths committed to film), and lots of outstanding gore effects by the brilliant KNB effects group is never going to be a total waste of any horror fan's time.6 out of 10, bumped up to 7 for Mark Boone Junior's awesomely bloody demise (split up the middle by Valek's talons), the savage decapitation of a priest, and Sheryl Lee's nude scene (we don't really get to see her 'twin peaks' but we are treated to her delightful derrière)..
Vatican-funded vampire hunter Jack Crow (James Woods) and his sidekick Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) search for centuries-old vampire Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) that killed their friends.
They find a prostitute (Sheryl Lee) bitten by Valek and, using her telepathic link to the vampire, they try to track him down.James Woods is really the whole show, hamming it up like the expected Carpenter cheesy macho anti-hero.
The combination of Carpenter, Woods, Baldwin and vampires got it made, and it made its money back, so it was exactly as good as it needed to be.
I think the idea is an interesting one--I enjoyed James Woods' hilariously brutal scenes with the Priest--but I just can't watch a film in which the female characters are simply there for...
They're all trying so despretly to be "cool" you feel like watching a couple of really young teenagers hallucinating about horror movies.One time mister highest Vampire flys faster then a car on full speed, then he somehow is unable to move a few steps sideways in less the 5 minutes.
Not because it's a masterpiece by far, but because it is entertaining for what it is.Jack Crow (James Woods) is the leader of a pack of Vampire hunters working under the leadership of the catholic church.
The Vampire movies i appreciate the least are ones like "Queen of the damned" which is basically two hours of moaning and sexual innuendo.James Woods delivers a solid performance as usual, and he really seems to enjoy himself here.
However, in this day and age, when all the vampires seem to be brooding, good looking teenagers who try to avoid killing people, it feels good to watch a movie in which vampires are what they're meant to be: monsters.The film starts with a group of vampire hunters, lead by man named Jack Crow, attacking a nest of vampires in New Mexico.
Jack decides to hunt down Valek who turns out to be the oldest and most powerful vampire.This film is not meant to be anything more than an entertaining popcorn movie to relax with and then go on with your life, and it works like that.
So VAMPIRES is not truly memorable film, but if you want to watch a little better film from director John Carpenter's 1990's works, where James Woods is at his best and vampires are not brooding teenagers, then this is a film for you.
An atmosphere typical of spaghetti-westerns.Carpenter creates good characters like Crow, a great and rough James Woods, the faithful friend of fatigue Montoya, very acceptable and cool Stephen Baldwin and a terrifying villain like Valek, great acting and characterization of Thomas Ian Griffin.The action is well filmed, the secondary ones are quite correct, like the novice curate and the bite bitten by Valek, it has a good arid and gothic atmosphere and the music of Carpenter fulfills so much.It has pretty good sequences like the massacre of Crow's team, that of the priests of the monastery, which I thought was brutal, like almost all of Valek's murders, the girl's telepathic connection with, as well as Crow's dialogues, which are discouraging.
John Carpenter's desire of making a movie closely resembling a western which features blood-sucking vampires, truly payed off.
There's also a special appearance by Maximilian Schell, who is remember by his spectacular award-winning performance in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nüremberg.A fine addition to the collection of any self-respecting fan of vampire movies, made by the master John Carpenter.
Mind you, that you need to have several years pass in between every time you do sit down to watch John Carpenter's "Vampires".The story is fairly simplistic if you think about it, and actually is rather generic for a vampire movie.
I saw this movie because of my love for vampires, and John Carpenter being one of my favourite directors.
This film follows Jack Crow (played by James Woods), a vampire hunter seeking vengeance against the blood-thirsty monster Valek (played by Thomas Ian Griffith) who brutally slaughtered his crew at a motel room, with Anthony Montaya (played by Daniel Baldwin) and a wounded Katrina (played by Sheryl Lee) who is endangered of turning into one of those bloodsuckers.
Without the heavy weight of expectation for a return to form for John Carpenter, it proves to be a schlocky and bloody good time.James Woods stars as a Vatican backed vampire slayer, something he does with considerable relish.
Jack Crow (James Woods) leads a group of vampire hunters organized by of the Catholic church.
This movie dose not take long at all, it goes straight into the vamps actions in first 5 to 10 mins and I liked how the vamps were killed in this movie.I did not expect this movie to be as gory as it was, the party scenes in the movie, blood and guts were flying all over the place and the vampires were decent and kind of creepy at times.The acting was great from cast, as was the effects and make up effects were really well done.
John Carpenter takes a dive into vampire terrain, and the film gets off to a cracking start, with James Woods as Jack Crow, one of the coolest protagonists in Carpenter's work, leading his vampire-slaying team into a nest of bloodsuckers in New Mexico.
After dealing with them, it's time to let their hair down for some hellraising and hookers, despite Crow's intended target, master vampire Valek not being at the nest as he'd thought.Things take a turn for the extreme worse for our protagonists when Valek himself strolls in, has a little fun with Sheryl Lee's hooker character, before single-handedly slaughtering most of the vampire hunters in a spectacularly gory orgy of ultra-violence.When the three survivors, Crow, Montoya - played by Daniel Baldwin, and Sheryl Lee, escape, the film seems to lose it's vibe.
Sheryl Lee has just become infected by a very powerful Master Vampire, and Woods exploits her psychic link with the master to try to hunt him down.Like most of Carpenter's work, the film uses special effects subtly, minimally and very effectively.
sometimes i get tired of seeing all of the digitized effects on movies today so carpenter gets a thumbs up on this even though they might be a little over the top.so all in all great one-liners,great special effects,great action,great cinematography,great music score.by the way don't waste your time with vampires 2 it is an absolute piece of trash.`.
Pretty good, for a bad John Carpenter movie.
Like so many other John Carpenter films, this one combines a rebellious attitude with action and enough of a plot to carry a story.
James Woods' acting usually has its moments; sadly, none of them are in John Carpenter's "Vampires".This movie is so bad and the expectations preceding it have been so high that the whole thing makes me furious.