by Ed Travis
John Carpenter, that great lover of American westerns, has remarkably never made a straight western himself. Assault on Precinct 13 is more or less a remake of Rio Bravo, and there are western elements in the fabric of such films as Big Trouble In Little China, Escape From New York, and They Live. But it is almost certain that, as of 2015, John Carpenter’s Vampires is the closest the man will ever get to doing a western of his very own.
Set in the wide open expanses of the American southwest, Vampires sought to do in 1998 what about a million films have attempted since then: to reinvigorate vampire lore and mythology for a new age. It isn’t wholly successful as a western or as a reimagining of vampires, but it does have its charms. The most notable charm being the casting of James Woods as a wisecracking, badass action hero and vampire killer. Other charms include writer Don Jacoby’s (Death Wish 3, Lifeforce, Double Team) adaptation of John Steakley’s novel of the same name. As mentioned, Vampires attempts to put its own unique southwestern American stamp on vampirism. Whereas the vampires in this film are still about sex, (Carpenter suggests that if vampires aren’t about sex, they aren’t vampires) they are not sexy. They aren’t gothic and romantic. Crosses and garlic won’t phase them. They’re just plain tough to kill! But sunlight will do the trick. And wooden stakes through the heart or crossbow bolts through the head will go a long way as well. There’s nothing that feels revolutionary here, especially today with every vampire variation and broken rule or lore experimented with cinematically. But the tenacity of these vampires does allow for a couple of really entertaining set pieces, most notably the film’s opening, with Woods and his cadre of well armed (and sanctioned by the Catholic church, complete with their own priest assigned to them) vampire killers rooting out a nest in search for a master vampire. There the movie gets to shine, showing off this team’s penchant for reeling vampires out into the daylight with a winch on a truck. They’re old pros, with the best tools and tough attitudes to get the job done.
But because this is a movie, they have to make contact with a master. And not just a master, but THE master. The original vampire, Jan Valek; here played by Thomas Ian Griffith in a suitably powerful and menacing way. Valek actually has all the best parts in the movie. He gets to outright cut people in half with his clawed hands, complete with wonderful practical gore effects. He gets to fly around through the air on invisible wires in the films most successful visuals. Valek’s entrance to the film does some major damage to Woods’ team, and this massacre is probably the high point of the movie. Which is a shame because there’s a whole lot of movie left to go after that.
Vampires has never been my favorite John Carpenter film. I don’t think it’s anyone’s. Perhaps the greatest shortcoming of the film is that Carpenter, my very favorite director of all time, is none the less not the greatest shooter of action. And Vampires is more or less an action movie, even if it’s also full of monster/horror elements. The set pieces I’ve already mentioned as highlights of the film are indeed fun, but suffer from poor staging and rhythm, which, if corrected, could have made them great sequences. Compare in your mind, for instance, a John Carpenter-directed moment in which James Woods leaps through the air, firing a gun at a villain, versus a John Woo directed moment in which Chow Yun Fat leaps through the air, firing a gun at a villain. The difference is night and day. There’s a climactic battle between Woods’ Jack Crow and Valek’s forces of evil that is staged as a classic Western complete with a showdown/standoff, but if executed with more style and rhythm, the sequence could have flourished instead of floundered. I love John Carpenter without reservation, but so much of what makes his films work are his ideas, his sense of humor, his casts, and the tone he’s able to create. The staging of the action set pieces, which should be Vampires’ greatest strength, are instead its greatest weakness. Well, that and the fact that only a few of the cast members really seem to stand out and make the film pop.
There’s also a mean streak in the main characters that seems to unfortunately be meted out on the very few women in the film to an inappropriate degree. But even as I felt that, Carpenter addressed it in his commentary and insisted that Woods’ Jack Crow was designed to be an equal opportunity abuser, treating women, priests, his best friend (Daniel Baldwin as his right hand man Montoya), and even himself, with absolutely no respect. Upon reflection, I have to agree. Woods is a real bastard in this movie, albeit a wisecracking one, and although I still wouldn’t suggest Vampires is a bastion of feminism by any stretch, I also think it avoids previous concerns of misogyny by treating literally all of its characters abusively.
So while it’s flawed and dated, this was also my strongest viewing of the film, working on more levels than it ever had before. On top of this being a vampire movie and a western film, it’s also a bit of a buddy film and a road movie. Valek is on a quest for a macguffin that will allow him to walk in the daylight. Crow and Montoya are on the hunt to destroy Valek before that happens. And the screenplay is quite focused and tight in a way I hadn’t appreciated before. There’s an efficiency to this film, and a focus on a few key relationships which allows it to stand up more strongly upon rewatch. Baldwin is perhaps the strongest he’s ever been here as tough guy sidekick and as smitten lover with a woman who’s on the road with them but has been bitten and is slowly turning. He’s the beating heart of the movie and surprisingly holds his own.
Vampires is a mixed bag. It’s clear that John Carpenter is still having fun whilst making this movie. And John Carpenter having fun is something the world generally benefits from. James Woods as a leather-clad, shades-sporting vampire killer is a gift Carpenter has forever made a reality for us. It gives us all just a little “mahogany”, as Crow would put it. And it’s great that Carpenter vampires are just so damn hard to kill. But with poor staging that makes set pieces intended to feel grand instead feel rushed and underwhelming, along with a mixed bag of a cast with some pretty bad supporting roles, Vampires has enough problems to really hold it back from being a significant entry in the vampire subgenre.
The Package
While John Carpenter is my favorite director, he’s not necessarily my favorite commentary track-recorder. Pair him with Kurt Russell on a commentary track and you’ve got pure gold. But on his own in a studio, he’s a little dry, and that is the case here on this release. Despite all that, I did genuinely glean some interesting facts and anecdotes from listening which crept their way into this very review and might have contributed to this being my favorite viewing yet of this flawed and imperfect film. (Can’t help but note that Carpenter points out a cameo from Frank Darabont which I had completely missed. Very fun). Carpenter drops knowledge, but there’s not a lot of verve there, which makes it a mildly tough listen. That said, it’s wonderful to have a high definition copy of Vampires that does include a commentary from the Master Of Horror.
While the film is set up as Carpenter’s western and has the southwest setting to back that claim up, it often uses some weird late ’90s filtering and coloring to redden the look of the film. It doesn’t hold up all that well and the visual palette of the movie feels dated, none of which has anything to do with Twilight Time’s digital transfer of the film, but rather everything to do with the creative choices made upon the film’s production. Even as it isn’t Carpenter’s best film, it also isn’t his prettiest.
Regardless of all that, Twilight Time has released a fun film from one of America’s most beloved filmmakers. There’re bonus features, liner notes, and Twilight Time’s signature Isolated Score Track (featuring Carpenter’s own score, no less). It’s a great release of a mixed bag film from one of our greatest filmmakers.
And I’m Out.
