JOHN CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES (1998)
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 108 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 & 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith, Maximilian Schell, Tim Guinee
This Western action-horror hybrid is about as close as director John Carpenter ever got to making a traditional Western film, set in the sun-fried New Mexico desert we have a Vatican-sponsored vampire kill-squad lead by the bad-ass Jack Crow (James Woods, Videodrome) who at the start of the film is launching an assault on an abandoned house they suspect hosts a nest of bloodsuckers. Armed with cool leather jackets, high caliber guns, modified crossbows and spears they lay siege to the house uncovering the nest, dragging the vampires into the sunlight where they burst into flames. Clearing the house of vampires they do not find the Master vampire, which Crow notes is odd. That night the team blows off steam at the Sun God roadside hotel, drinking lots of booze and enjoying the local prostitutes. During the celebration the master vampire shows up - which I guess shouldn't be that much of a surprise to these seasoned vamp-killers, right? - and massacres nearly everyone in the place, announcing himself by thrusting his hand through one of the vamp-killers chest and then ripping him in half! It's a gory blood-soaked encounter, the only survivors being Crow, his right-hand man Tony (Daniel Baldwin, Trees Lounge), and a prostitute named Katrina (Sheryl Lee, Twin Peaks) who has been bitten on her inner thigh by the vampire!
Fleeing the scene of the slaughter Crow decides to keep Katrina close as the psychic-link that victims have with master vampires might prove useful in locating the bloodsucker for some much needed revenge. Crow leaves Tony and a tied-up Katrina at a hotel and regroups with his Vatican handler Cardinal Alba (Maximillian Schell, Disney's The Black Hole) who teams Crow with a new priest, Father Guiteau (Tim Guinee, Blade), since the previous one was killed in the hotel massacre. It's during this meeting the Cardinal informs him that this strangely strong and powerful master vampire that attacked them is none other than Valek, the first vampire created 600-years ago, which leads to a cool little origin story involving an exorcism gone wrong, one of several cool lore-flourishes here. We also learn that Valek has been searching for an ancient relic called the Black Cross of Berziers, which could potentially give him the ability to walk in daylight.
With that bit of knowledge Jack and Tony, along with the new Padre, use Katrina's psychic-link to Valek to track him down to an old Spanish prison for a final showdown complete with Crucifixion, Catholic betrayal, torn loyalties and lots of bloodsucking and bloodshed.
Vampires has a great Western setting in the arid golden-hued environs of New Mexico that give it classic cowboy feel, with the hard-living vampire hunters feeling like rebel bounty hunters of yore, but instead of tracking down bandits they're hunting bloodsuckers. Woods is a hoot as the hardened Crow, he didn't get many lead action roles like this one and he's giving it his all as the wisecracking, cigar-chompin' anti-hero, I loved it. Daniel Baldwin does good work here as his second in command, looking a bit swollen as he always does, the guy struggled with addiction during this period, but still pulls off the role with a good amount of Baldwin-family charisma. Poor Sheryl Lee is really put through the wringer here, her character comes off as a bit of a junkie as she spirals towards being a full-on vampire. Her characters is handled roughly by both Baldwin and Woods characters throughout the film, basically a pawn in their end game, it's a bit of thankless role in a way but I totally felt for her character, so she did good work.
The special effects here done by Greg Nicotero are damn good, the vampires bursting into flames and then the massacre at the motel are a great start to the film, that combined with the western aesthetic, violence and action film bravado makes this a truly entertaining watch.
Audio/Video: John Carpenter's Vampires (1998) arrives on region-A locked Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. There's no information about this being a new scan of the film elements, and after comparing it to the previous Blu-ray from Twilight Time this looks near identical to me, and is most definitely the same master licensed from Sony. That fine because the source is in great shape with well-managed film grain, colors are strong and the black levels are solid throughout with excellent shadow detail, no complaints from me whatsoever, a strong and crisp presentation with excellent clarity.
Audio comes by way of both English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 mixes, mirroring the previous Twilight Time release, plus they carry-over the lossless isolated music score (DTS-HD MA 2.0) highlighting the cool Carpenter score. The surrounds get plenty active during the action stuff, it's a potent and satisfying mix throughout, optional English subtitles are provided.
Scream Factory carry-over all the extras from the now long Out-Of-Print Twilight Time release, including the candid audio commentary with John Carpenter, a 24-min making of EPK, theatrical trailer and the isolated music score. In keeping with their excellent work on Carpenter's filmography Scream Factory go above and beyond with a wealth of new supplemental material, beginning with a 12-min look back at the film with composer/director John Carpenter, producer Sandy King Carpenter and cinematographer Garry B. Kibbe, the Carpenter's get t the production, scoring the film and the main cast, even touching on the Tommy Lee Wallace directed sequel a bit. Star James Woods shows up for 22-min interview discussing the action starring lead role, and his relationship with Carpenter and the cast, and how Carpenter let him to several takes including letting him ad-lib lines, some of which made the cut and some which didn't. Kind of surprisingly he comes across likable enough, I've always loved him in his film roles, but the guy comes off as a bit of douche on social media and in interviews, probably because I tend not to agree with his political views, so I was a bit surprised how cool he seems here.
Actor Thomas Ian Griffith who played the vampire Valek discusses landing the role, having to get hair extensions, and how a night out on the town with the stunt team resulted in some of those extension being ripped out. Make-up FX legend Greg Nictoero speaks for about 10-min about creating some the effects on the film, breaking them down, while Tim Guinee who played the Padre speaks about Carpenter flying him onto set in a private jet with a surprising pilot, and a funny fart story.
Extras are buttoned up with that aforementioned EPk-style vintage making of featurette with cast and crew plus some b-roll footage, a theatrical trailer, several TV spots and an image gallery. This is a nice rounded set of extras, though it's a shame Scream couldn't get an interview with Sheryl Lee for this release, she's the only really notable cast member (sorry Daniel Baldwin) that I was missing.
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork plus a new illustration from artists Devon Whitehead, whose work I usually dig, but this one not so much, I think it's a bit too cartoonish, preferring the original artwork this time around. The disc itself also features the new illustration.
The only extras that the Twilight Time disc offers that this one does not is the 8-page collector's Booklet with new writing on the film from TT staff-writer Julie Kirgo. I am just gonna slip that booklet inside this release before I trade in the TT release, as this Scream Factory Collector's edition renders all previous releases obsolete, including the region-free Indicator release in the UK.
Special Features:
- NEW Time to Kill Some Vampires – an interview with composer/director John Carpenter, producer Sandy King Carpenter and cinematographer Garry B. Kibbe (12 min) HD
- NEW Jack the Slayer – an interview with actor James Woods (22 min) HD
- NEW The First Vampire – an interview with actor Thomas Ian Griffith (10 min) HD
- NEW Raising the Stakes – an interview with special effects artist Greg Nicotero (10 min) HD
- NEW Padre – an interview with actor Tim Guinee (13 min)
- Audio Commentary by composer/director John Carpenter
- Isolated Score
- Vintage Making of Featurette (6 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- TV Spots (3 min)
- Still Gallery (6 min) HD
I never really understood the distaste for this particular John Carpenter film, it's a solidly entertaining genre mash-up that still holds-up for me, probably more so now then when I first saw it in the cinema in the late-90's. That said, I think it's been slowly winning over fans since arriving on home video. I'd kind of compare this to Dario Argento's Opera (1987) in that it's the last truly excellent film in Carpenter's filmography, coming right before Ghosts of Mars. This Collector's Edition from Scream Factory is hands-down the definitive version of the film on home video, arriving with a wealth of archival and exclusive new extras that make this an easy recommend for both fans and newcomers.