John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)
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A team of Vatican-sponsored vampire hunters must track down the first and most powerful vampire to prevent him from obtaining an ancient relic.
The story
Jack Crow leads a team of Vatican-sponsored vampire hunters on a daylight raid in New Mexico to eliminate a vampire nest. After the team subdues several 'goons,' they fail to find the nest's master. While celebrating at a local motel, the master vampire, Jan Valek, arrives and bites a prostitute named Katrina, initiating her transformation. Valek murders the hunters, leaving only Crow and his lieutenant, Tony Montoya, to escape with Katrina. Crow decides to use Katrina's growing psychic link with Valek to track the ancient vampire down as they search for a mysterious object.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Jack Crow leads a team of Vatican-sponsored vampire hunters in a daylight raid on an abandoned house in New Mexico. They kill several 'goons' but fail to find the master, Jan Valek. During a celebration at a motel, Valek bites a prostitute, Katrina, and kills the rest of the team. Crow and Montoya escape with Katrina, who begins to develop a psychic link to Valek. Crow learns from Cardinal Alba that Valek was a disgraced priest who became the first vampire. Crow, Montoya, and Father Adam Guiteau (who joins the team) use Katrina's link to track Valek to a Spanish mission where he has seized the Black Cross of Béziers. Valek intends to use the cross to complete an exorcism, making him immune to sunlight. During a battle at a nearby town, Guiteau acts as bait while Crow and Montoya fight the vampire lieutenants. Valek overwhelms them at sundown; Crow is captured, and Katrina fully transforms, biting Montoya before joining Valek. It is revealed that Cardinal Alba is Valek's ally, seeking to become a vampire himself. Guiteau kills Alba to stop the ritual and holds off the horde. Montoya and Guiteau rescue Crow as the sun rises. Crow confronts Valek, impaling him with the Béziers Cross and destroying him with sunlight. Crow and Guiteau then grant Montoya and Katrina a two-day head start before heading off to kill the remaining vampires.
- First release year
- 1998
- Runtime (minutes)
- 108
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Carpenter
- Writers
- Don Jakoby · screenplay; Dan Mazur · screenplay; John Carpenter · screenplay; Michael De Luca · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- James Woods · Jack Crow; Daniel Baldwin · Tony Montoya; Sheryl Lee · Katrina; Tim Guinee · Father Adam Guiteau; Thomas Ian Griffith · Jan Valek; Maximilian Schell · Cardinal Alba
- Genres
- horror; action; Western; exploitation; supernatural
- Themes
- Vengeance; Religious conflict; Transformation
- Tone and mood
- Savage; Grungy; Western-style
- Premise and plot tags
- Vampire Hunters; Ancient Relic; Psychic Link
- Source material / true-story basis
- Vampires by John Steakley
- Franchise connections
- Vampires
- Content notes
- Violence; Gore
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews, appearing on both best-of-the-year and worst-of-the-year lists. It was praised for its acting, direction, and visual style, but criticized for its lack of a coherent plot and unlikable characters. It was a financial success for Carpenter in the 1990s.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 44% · review count: 54; Metacritic · score: 42% · review count: 19; CinemaScore · score: D+ · scale: A+-to-F
- Awards and nominations
- Best Cinematography · Shortlist · 71st Academy Awards · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was originally intended to have a much larger budget of $50 million to $60 million.; Several other directors, including Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, were considered for the project.; The film bears a 1997 copyright year rather than a 1998 copyright year.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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