Highlights
- John Carpenter’s Vampires is an underrated movie that deserves more recognition in Carpenter’s filmography. It has gained a cult following over the years.
- The movie was way ahead of its time in terms of its depiction of vampires, coming before the vampire sub-genre exploded in popularity.
- Despite mixed reviews from critics, many fans enjoy the movie for its fun and lighthearted approach, leading to the release of two sequels.
One of the all-time visionaries of the horror genre is without a doubt, John Carpenter. He is responsible for some of the best horror movies ever made, including Halloween, The Thing and Christine. He’s also written a lot of his own work, and even composed the score for many of his own movies. One of the last movies he directed was John Carpenter’s Vampires in 1998, and it wasn’t given the credit it deserved upon its release, but like many of his projects, it has gained a cult following as the years have gone by. It starred James Woods, Daniel Baldwin and Sheryl Lee, and was distributed by Colombia Pictures.
John Carpenter only directed two more movies after Vampires, but despite this, he has kept busy over the years. Until his recent return to directing with an episode of his new true crime horror series, John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams, he hadn’t directed anything since The Ward in 2010. He has continued to compose music for movies, most notably his own Halloween franchise, when it was rebooted by David Gordon Green in 2018.
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But John Carpenter’s Vampires remains his most underrated movie, and it’s well worth a watch. In many ways, it was way before its time with the depiction of vampires. Fans are obsessed with vampire movies now, but in 1998 it was still gathering pace, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer only being released the year before that. Since then, the vampire sub-genre has exploded and they are everywhere.
What is John Carpenter’s Vampires about?
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Director |
John Carpenter |
|---|---|
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Writer |
Don Jakoby, based on Vampires by John Steakley |
|
Cast |
James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith |
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Release Date |
October 30, 1998 |
|
Runtime |
108 Minutes |
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Rotten Tomatoes Score |
42% based on 52 reviews |
|
Box Office |
$20.3 Million (domestic) |
Jack Crow is a man with one purpose in his life- to kill vampires after his parents were murdered by them. He has a crew of vampire hunters, as well as the support of the Catholic Church, which allows him to roam the New Mexico desert looking for the location of these bloodsucking monsters.
Jack Crow leads his team of vampire hunters to an abandoned house in New Mexico, and they raid a “nest” full of vampires, and take them under control using guns, wooden stakes and a crossbow which has an attachment to pull the vamps outside into the sunlight and burn them to death. However, they fail to find the head vampire despite disposing of most of the others.
The group come across a roadside motel where they celebrate killing the vampires by getting drunk, and cavorting with sex workers. Until they are interrupted by Jan Valek, a vampire with extra incredible powers. Jack has finally met his ultimate match, as Valek bites one of the sex workers and turns her into a vampire. He then murders the hunters, leaving Crow and his sidekick, Tony Montoya to escape alive as the only vampire survivors. The mission is to track this evil vampire down before he can wreak more havoc in the desert.
What did critics say about John Carpenter’s Vampires?
Some critics were not kind to John Carpenter’s Vampires, but overall, the reviews were varied, with it strangely appearing on both best of the year and worst of the year lists compiled by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a 43% rating based on 53 reviews, with the critic’s consensus being that it’s “Nothing but one showdown after another.” However, the audience score puts it at 47% and that is based on 50,000+ ratings.
Many critics were negative about the movie because it lacked an actual plot and likable characters. But maybe Carpenter was ahead of his time, because characters don’t necessarily have to be likable in modern day cinema. However, the 90s were a different time, and the critics weren’t convinced by this original movie.
Did they make any sequels to John Carpenter’s Vampires?
Many fans find the movie great fun to watch, as it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and despite the critical and commercial flop of John Carpenter’s Vampires, enough people liked it to warrant a sequel. Yes, there is a sequel out there, but it didn’t get a cinematic outing.
Vampires: Los Muertos is the sequel to John Carpenter’s original, and it went direct to video back in 2002. Movies used to get an instant video release before the days of streaming. Carpenter produced the movie but handed directorial duties over to Tommy Lee Wallace, and the story introduces all new characters, but does make reference to those who perished in the first movie. Jon Bon Jovi took a break from his successful music career to take the lead as Derek Bliss, another hunter on the trail of a pack of vampires.
Vampires then became a trilogy with the release of Vampires: The Turning in 2005, but Carpenter had absolutely no involvement in the production of this direct-to-video entry, and it has no link to the first two, other than the use of the Vampires title. It introduces martial arts into the story, and as much as martial arts and vampires put together sounds interesting, the movie is not good.
John Carpenter has certainly left his legacy on the horror genre, and people will always talk about his big hits like Halloween and The Thing, but Vampires is an underappreciated vampire movie that deserves its place in his varied filmography.
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