JOHN CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES (1998)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004
One of the most annoying things about vampire movies is the lack of
explanation for public's apparent non-reaction to the existence of
those monsters. In fictional movie worlds vampires kill dozens or
hundreds of people, usually in most spectacular fashion, but
government sand media usually ignore the problem. In 1998 JOHN
CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES tried to solve this problem by offering
credible explanation why vampire-hunting is so low-profile activity.
The plot of this film is based on John Steaky's novel VAMPIRE$ and
describes the world in which at least some institution of authority has
pretty good idea about existence of vampires and ways to deal with
them. That authority is Catholic Church, but mere knowledge about
vampires isn't enough - just like in the days of Crusades and
Inquisition the really dirty work must be left to subcontractors. One
of those dedicated professionals is Jack Crow (played by James
Crow), whose team successfully raids vampires' nest in New Mexico.
Crow and his men decide to celebrate their triumph with alcohol,
drugs and prostitutes in nearby motel. Unfortunately, vampire
named Valek (played by Thomas Ian Griffin) decides to crash their
party. It turns out that Valek is more than a match for Crow and his
merry band of vampire-hunters and almost everyone in motel ends
up dead. Crow, his trusted assistant Montoya (played by Daniel
Baldwin) and Katrina (played by Sheryl Lee), one of the prostitutes,
manage to escape. Later it turns out that Katrina is bitten by Valek
and that she would inevitably become vampire; Crow and Montoya
decide to spare her life, at least temporarily, because in the
transitional phase she has telepathic connection with her "master"
and can be used to locate his whereabouts. In the meantime, Crow
and Father Adam Guiteau (played by Tim Guinee) must discover
what sets Valek apart from other vampires and what brought him to
New Mexico.
Most people associated John Carpenter with great 1970s horrors, but
this vampire story belongs more to the action genre. Desert
landscapes of Southwest USA also indicate a lot of classic western
influences. Although far from being classic, this film nevertheless
stands out among most of 1990s genre films because of its delightful
challenge to Hollywood standards of content. The film is extremely
gory, extremely violent and there is some nudity. But the most
unusual thing about VAMPIRES is its challenge to Hollywood's
"politically correct" cliches. Vampires aren't presented as some
oppressed, misunderstood minority nor some "cool" sophisticated
creatures from ancient Europe - they are nasty, mean-spirited things
that should be dealt with the methods not very different from ethnic
cleansing. There aren't any strong women in these films - they are
reduced to objects to be exploited in any way imaginable. Protagonist
happens to be homophobic and uses every opportunity to question
sexual orientation of a priest. Catholic Church is also presented as
incompetent, bureaucratic and deeply corrupt institution directly
responsible for many problems in today's world.
Carpenter and his scriptwriter Don Jakoby got away with this
because nobody, including themselves, took VAMPIRES very
seriously. This is nothing more than exploitation film with slightly
higher budget and slightly more respected cast. But the lack of
ambition didn't prevent Carpenter to display his skill and deliver few
really effective action scenes, laced with plenty of black humour.
Acting is also great, with James Woods chewing the scenery as a
cynical thug who just happens to be on the side of Good. Sheryl Lee
is also very effective in what amounts to be thankless role. Carpenter
could have made this film much better without his music that gets
repetitive and irritating after a while. But, as a whole, this is very
good example of genre cinema and Carpenter had every reason to
put his name in its titles.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
Review written on April 11th 2004
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Films Critics Society
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