Cinematic Vampires

John Carpenter's Vampires is a brand new release, as of October 30, 1998. I saw it on Halloween. The movie is about a band of vampire slayers, backed by the Vatican, going up against the first known vampire while he attempts to become immune to sunlight.

We first meet the team leader of the slayers, Jack Crow, played by James Woods. In Vampires he is a dedicated, tough S.O.B. who will stop at nothing to rid the world of vampires. We learn that his parents were both vampires, and he was forced to kill them at an early age, hence his drive to eradicate the species. I've seen James in tons of movies, and he is a superb actor. I loved him in this movie because his role is pretty different from most other movies I've seen him in. He is tough and serious, but wise-cracking, foul-mouthed, almost an asshole on the outside, but pretty tender-hearted on the inside. I don't know if his words were meant to be, but he ends up being fairly hilarious throughout the movie.

Vampires die in sunlight In the beginning of the movie, Team Crow is cleaning out a vampire nest. Crow is accompanied by his team of vampire slayers. They kill an assortment of vampires, but fail to find the nest's Master. Later, while celebrating at a motel, the Master appears and carnage reigns. We are introduced to Father Giovanni for a brief time. Giovanni is the team's priest, played by Gregory Sierra. Then Father Giovanni is killed. We also meet Crow's right hand man, Tony Montoya, played by Daniel Baldwin. Tony and Jack seem like perfect team mates at first, hard-assed, closed-hearted vampire slayers. But, we see Tony's fa�ade break first.

In addition to Jack and Tony, another soul is saved from the motel carnage. Well, sort of. This is Katrina, played by Sheryl Lee (of "Twin Peaks" fame). She's a hooker, caught in the motel and preyed upon by Valek (the Master who sought vengeance). Apparently, once she starts to turn (into a vampire) she will have a psychic link with Valek that Tony and Jack can use to track Valek and kill him.

Crow sends Montoya off to babysit the fledgling vampire while he rendezvous with the church backers to find out info on this powerful Master. We meet Cardinal Alba, and then Father Adam. Father Adam becomes the over-enthusiastic, under-experienced replacement for Father Giovanni.

Throughout all of this carnage and plot conspiring, we are introduced to that vampire, Valek., played by Thomas Ian Griffith. Valek is supposedly the first vampire, the oldest, the most powerful, and after a cross that can give him power over daylight. He doesn't talk a whole lot. Most of his scenes are filled with blood.

We see a lot of backup vampires, though none of them are named. After Valek's nest is taken out in the beginning, he calls up some powerful Master's to join him, and they then create some underlings. Oh, and then Katrina turns, despite Tony Montoya having fallen in love with her.

Of course, by the end of the movie, we do see some vampires staked, beheaded and burned.

The movie was pretty good. There was a lot of gore and there was no escaping that. The vampire effects were pretty cool. The plot was a little hokey, but hey, it's vampires after all. The movie was actually even a little funny, and the soundtrack sort of sounded like cuts from From Dusk 'til Dawn.

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