John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)

A vampire isn't a romantic figure in a frilly shirt with a euro-trash accent. This week we're strapping on the crossbow and heading into the New Mexico desert for John Carpenter's Vampires (1998) — the wildest, most unapologetically savage, and most criminally underrated vampire film of the entire 90s. This is the anti-Interview with the Vampire. This is what happens when John Carpenter decides to make a vampire western.Directed and scored by John Carpenter and adapted from John Steakley's novel Vampire$, the film follows Jack Crow (James Woods) — a lifelong vampire slayer raised by the Catholic Church after his parents were murdered by vampires — who, after his entire team is wiped out by Jan Valek, the most powerful vampire who ever lived, must hunt down and destroy the monster before he gets his hands on an ancient relic that will allow vampires to walk in sunlight. Daniel Baldwin plays Crow's loyal partner Montoya, Sheryl Lee plays Katrina — a woman with a psychic link to Valek after being bitten — Tim Guinee plays the nervous young priest along for the ride, and Maximilian Schell appears as the Cardinal pulling the strings. Thomas Ian Griffith is absolutely terrifying as Valek.We're going deep on everything: Carpenter's deliberately un-gothic vision of vampires as pure savage predators — "There isn't a second of brooding loneliness in their existence. They're too busy ripping and tearing humans apart" — the film's extraordinary opening raid sequence which remains one of the greatest cold opens in 90s horror, Carpenter's own twanging steel guitar score that gives the whole film the feel of a Spaghetti Western from hell, and why the dying Gene Siskel passionately advocated for James Woods to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for this performance in his final "Memo to the Academy" segment — one of the most remarkable behind-the-scenes stories in 90s horror history. Carpenter had considered Clint Eastwood, Kurt Russell, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci for the Jack Crow role before settling on Woods — and his reasoning was perfect: he wanted the vampire slayer to be as savage and menacing as the monsters themselves.We're also asking the big questions: is this John Carpenter's best film of the 1990s? Is Jack Crow the greatest vampire hunter in movie history? And does John Carpenter's Vampires deserve a serious reappraisal as a genuine genre classic?Whether you're a John Carpenter devotee, a James Woods fan, a vampire movie completist, a horror western enthusiast, a lover of late-90s practical effects horror, a Spaghetti Western admirer, or just someone who wants to watch a movie where vampires get dragged into the sunlight by steel cables attached to jeeps — this episode is for you.Topics covered: John Carpenter's Vampires 1998 | John Carpenter | James Woods | Jack Crow | Daniel Baldwin | Sheryl Lee | Thomas Ian Griffith | Maximilian Schell | Jan Valek | best vampire movies | vampire westerns | horror western films | John Carpenter filmography | late 90s horror | best horror films 1998 | Gene Siskel Oscar advocacy | Carpenter score steel guitar | practical effects horror | Catholic Church vampire hunters | anti-gothic vampires | underrated horror films | best vampire hunters in movies | John Steakley Vampire$ novel | best 90s horror films | horror movie podcast | film analysis | New Mexico horror | From Dusk Till Dawn comparison | best John Carpenter films ranked | most underrated 90s horrorSubscribe, rate, and leave us a review — and settle it: is Jack Crow the greatest vampire hunter in horror history? And is this John Carpenter's most underrated film?YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@RegularorMentholContact us: [email protected]