John Carpenter’s Vampires

Based on a book by John Steakley, John Carpenter’s Vampires follows slick vampire slayer Jack Crow as he sets out to find and destroy the centuries-old bloodsucker responsible for the deaths of his various teammates. There’s little doubt, ultimately, that John Carpenter’s Vampires fares best in its over-the-top yet completely captivating first act, as filmmaker John Carpenter, working from Don Jakoby’s screenplay, kicks the proceedings off with a thoroughly promising opening stretch that benefits substantially from its admittedly unique approach to a very familiar genre – with the compelling atmosphere heightened by Carpenter’s predictably eye-catching visuals and a stirring star turn by Woods. (It doesn’t hurt, certainly, that Thomas Ian Griffith delivers appropriately menacing work as the picture’s sinister villain.) And although Carpenter takes his time developing central character and establishing his primary mission, John Carpenter’s Vampires progresses into an erratic yet entertaining midsection that’s been punctuated with a series of visceral action sequences – which ensures, unfortunately, that the ineffectiveness of the movie’s second half feels far more pronounced than one might’ve anticipated. By the time the rather underwhelming final third rolls around, John Carpenter’s Vampires has cemented its place as a passable Carpenter effort that peters out to an all-too-palpable degree and isn’t, in the end, as good (or consistent) as it probably should’ve been.

**1/2 out of ****