Let me say that John Carpenter has shown that he is the master of horror movies!  Vampires is his latest installment, and it succeeds!  James Woods plays Jack Crow, a master vampire slayer, who, along with his team of well-equipped slayers, hunt down hordes of vampires at a time.  They are backed by the Catholic church, and are dedicated to their mission.  Everything is going fine until they find a nest without a master vampire.  This worries Jack, but he soon dismisses it as the gang unwinds with a sinful night of brooze and hookers.  Unfortunately, it is now when this master comes to kill them all.  A massacre ensues at the hands of this immensely powerful vampire named Valek (Tomas Ian Griffith).  The entire crew is dispatched including their own padré, Father Giovanni (Gregory Sierra), but Jack and Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) escape along with a hooker named Katrina (Sheryl Lee) who's been bitten in a most provocative way.  After an exciting nighttime chase sequence, the dawn comes, and Jack goes back to see Cardinal Alba (Maximilian Schell) to get answers.  The answers he receives are shocking, but the more immediate questions is not answered - how did Valek know the slayers were coming, and how does he know Jack's name?  Jack & Montoya are now joined by the young and timid Father Adam Guiteau (Tim Guinee).  Meanwhile, through Katrina's growing psychic link with Valek, Jack slowy puts together the master vampire's plan, but can his out-numbered and weakened team stand up to a horde of master vampires and a possible betrayal within their ranks?

To start off, James Woods owns this entire goddamn movie!  He commands the screen like any no-nonsense gritty hero.  He takes no shit, and knows nothing of subtlety.  Simply put, Jack Crow is not a social being.  The backstory of his character is very painful and traumatic, but he's not a sympathetic hero.  He's the flipside of another Carpenter bad ass - "Snake" Plissken.  Where Plissken was pretty soft-spoken and forced to trust in people in bad situations, Crow is a hard ass that doesn't much give a damn about the odds.  He's got a vendetta to settle with Valek now, and he's not gonna stop 'til he gets some blood spilled.  Still, he's keen and focused.  Crow doesn't get blinded by rage or vengeance.  He's a hunter, and that's the instinct he follows the most.  He has great scenes with everyone in the film, and really shows no fear even in the face of apparent death.  The guy's got an attitude to spare, and I couldn't think of anyone but James Woods tackling this character.  He's got such an energy, intensity, and authority that allows him to easily carry the entire film, if need be.

Though, Valek is portrayed extremely well by Thomas Ian Griffith in a savage, confident, creepy, and sadistic style.  Valek does have a rage, but it is controlled.  He knows what he wants, and goes about it with lustful passion.  He really holds his own against Woods, and makes Valek a very powerful and memorable villian.  Daniel Baldwin plays Montoya with a lot of different tones.  He's a bit cynical and vulgar at first, switches over into a real mean streak, but also shows us some hurt at the end.  It's very solid performance by him.  Sheryl Lee is not only very talented, but she is sizzling HOT!  We see some very nice bare skin, but nothing frontal.  She has some very intense stuff to tackle here, and does so superbly.  Tim Guinee plays the timid and inexperienced Father Adam with an endearing quality.  You feel sorry for the guy when Woods is smacking him around and ripping on him (literally).  And of course, Maximilian Schell brings his fine Shakespearian acting talents to grace this film with a wonderful performance.  I'd like to say more about it, but it would force me into a spoiler.

John Carpenter has always been a big fan of the westerns, and that is never more apparent than in this film.  Vampires
has distinct elements of those great Spaghetti westerns of the 60s and 70s.  The southwestern American landscape is used to strikingly stunning degrees, and provides a unique backdrop for a vampire film.  The cinematography from Gary B. Kibbe really brings an amazing beauty to this classic old west style envirnoment.  Kibbe also lensed Prince of Darkness & In The Mouth of Madness which both also had fantastic and dramatic cinematography.  Carpenter & Kibbe have worked on other pictures as well, and they seem to really mesh well as a team.

This movie is a great one for gore fans!  KNB EFX Group delivers again for the horror fans!  As I've believed, they get better with every film they work on, and their work here is amazing!  Bodies ripped in half, throats slashes wide open, blood everywhere, and creepy vampire makeup really brought this film a major shock and gross-out factor.  I'm talking a TON of blood here flowing and splattering everywhere.  It makes Valek even more of a violent, powerful threat to show he can produce this much carnage alone.

At the time of release, I can honestly say that this was the kind of horror we had been missing for the past 8-10 years.  I don't think since the first two Hellraisers had there been this much blood and gore soaking the screen.  This film gives everything you've been looking for in a horror film!  Just make sure you have a semi-strong stomach for gore, or else this maybe a very messy viewing experience.  As always, Carpenter gives us a lot of horror with a dose of humor, but also some great action!  Plus, the score is absolutely awesome!  The heavy blues guitars for the "slayers' theme" is a great piece, and is paired with some very chilling and intense orchestration.  It really rounds out the film well, as any of Carpenter's scores have.  I've owned the score since the film was released, and it's still as good now as it was when I picked it up.  This is a MUST-SEE for any horror fan, and a no-brainer for John Carpenter fans (which I am one)!  James Woods just really makes this movie worth more than your while.  Even the late Gene Siskel believed Woods deserved an Oscar nomination for this performance, but we know how those awards shows view genre fare.  But in any case, I highly recommend this film.  I would caution you not to watch the trailer first because it does contain important spoilers which I intentionally avoided in this review.  I give the film a 9.5/10 just because the utlimate climax seemed to end a bit cheaply, but overall, it's a very enjoyable and kick ass horror film by one of the masters of the genre!