All Rise...

Appellate Judge Patrick Bromley is a Vatican-sanctioned film critic.

The Charge

From the master of terror comes a new breed of evil.

The Case

John Carpenter made so many great films over the course of his career that genre geeks like me often hold him to a higher standard than his contemporaries. When you've made Halloween and Assault on Precinct 13 and The Thing and The Fog and Escape from New York all in under a ten-year period, it can be difficult for fans not to expect a masterwork every time you step behind the camera again. The truth is that even lesser Carpenter is better than more than half of what's out there. For proof of this, look no further than his 1998 vampire western Vampires, now out on Blu-ray in a limited run thanks to Twilight Time.

Adapted from John Steakley's 1990 novel Vampire$, Carpenter's film casts James Woods as Jack Crow, the leader of a team of bounty hunters paid by the Vatican to rid the world of vampires. When a powerful new enemy named Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith, The Karate Kid III) wipes out most of Crow's crew, he and his second in command (Daniel Baldwin, Harley Davidson and The Marlboro Man) and a recently-bitten prostitute (Sheryl Lee, Twin Peaks) go on the run to stop the bloodsucking threat once and for all.

It's no secret that Carpenter's work is primarily influenced by westerns. Like Howard Hawks, he's interested in stories about groups of men who live by a code and must work together to complete a mission or face a challenge. Vampires—which, as of this writing, appears to be one of the last movies we'll get from Carpenter (he released only two films in the 2000s)—is one of the director's most western-influenced works, with Carpenter leaning all the way in to the familiar tropes of the genre and in particular the western iconography. It's no mistake that the film takes place almost entirely in the desert of New Mexico.

At 108 minutes, Vampires is one of Carpenter's most languidly paced films. Therein lies perhaps its biggest flaw: it moves too slowly. There's a solid 90-minute film in here stretched out and over extended. Even Carpenter's editing feels logey. Gone is the lean and clean tightness of his previous work, replaced here by overlapping dissolves that make the movie feel like molasses. James Woods does what he can to compensate, bringing his usual nervous twitchiness and barking delivery to the character of Jack Crow. He's a modern day Van Helsing, only he totally hates vampires and doesn't miss a chance to curse them out and brutally murder them in any way possible. The character is a little repetitive, but it's the real standout of the movie. That's good, because Thomas Ian Griffith's work as the villain just isn't up to par. He cuts an imposing figure—he's enormous—but lacks either the charisma to be interesting or the ferocity to be truly scary.

Vampires comes to Blu-ray in a limited run of 5,000 units from Twilight Time, licensed from Sony; together, the two companies have taken great care with the 1080p HD upgrade. Previously available on Blu-ray only in an edited version in Europe, Twilight Time's disc restores those cuts and restores Carpenter's original warm orange palette to the film that was previously brightened up on DVD. Fine detail is strong throughout, film grain is consistently visible and though the image is often dark (deliberately so) it very rarely succumbs to crush problems. This is a fantastic looking transfer of the film, well worth Twilight Time's usual asking price of $29.95 (despite the litany of complaints from Blu-ray collectors that the prices are too high, which isn't really accurate—we're just used to paying far too little). The lossless 5.1 mix is excellent as well, with clear dialogue, a powerful guitar score (courtesy of Carpenter) and plenty of booming gunshot effects and splashing blood sounds. Many Blu-ray upgrades can end up being little more than a lateral move, but this disc is a true improvement over what was previously available.

Carpenter's commentary from the original DVD has been carried over here. His solo commentaries are never as engaging as when he's joined by someone else (whether it's Jamie Lee Curtis on the most recent release of Halloween or especially Kurt Russell on the discs of their collaborations)—they tend to be somewhat dry and contain gaps of silence—but there's enough information here to make it worth the time for fans of the movie. Also included are an archival EPK-style featurette and the original trailer. As is always the case with Twilight Time's releases, there is an isolated score option for those that want to hear Carpenter's music without all of that pesky dialogue getting in the way.

While I'm a huge fan of John Carpenter, I have little interest in revisiting his work from the aughts: Ghosts of Mars and The Ward. That makes Vampires his last best film, and while it has its share of pacing problems and a disappointing villain, James Woods' performance and Carpenter's embrace of western iconography—plus some excellent horror movie gore—make it a fun way to spend two hours. Even a passing fan would be wise to invest in Twilight Time's Blu-ray of the movie, which looks and sounds great and is closer to Carpenter's original intent than previous home video releases have been. Get it now before it sells out, because it will.

The Verdict

Maybe not one of his best, but it's worth owning every Carpenter movie on Blu-ray.

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