John Carpenter's Vampires: Why It's Actually Great 

JC's Vampires is an amazing flick. I love this film, the brutality is intense, the score is great, and the cinematography is wonderful. The colors are really nice too, you can practically feel the sunsets.

No need to prove to me that this movie is great. I've been singing its praises for years.

A man can't bite, he can't fight! Terry Silver as Jann Valek, the Vampire Master is amazing!

I loved this film right from the get go. Right away you’re completely immersed into the story where they’re clearing out that creepy vamp nest house like bug exterminators, with Daniel Baldwin winching them out to fry in sunlight, while whistling the whole time 😂. Then shyte got real when the head vamp showed up to their victory party!!! All this in under 20 minutes, is something you just don’t see in film? John Carpenter was a genius.

When woods asked the priest if getting punched in the face gave him wood, is the best thing ever in movies

Vampires has been one of my favorite movies since I was a kid. I just love it.

I’ve always liked the original take on the vampire mythos and origin in this movie, it’s pretty creative, plus an underrated soundtrack. Also it’s John Carpenter, even when it’s not great it’s still pretty entertaining.

I actually saw this in the theater when I was a college kid here in the Philippines. heck yea this was a solid film. James Woods did great. not your usual hero, in a great no nonsense way. this and From Dusk Till Dawn were favorites in this era

The ending scene of this film with Woods parting ways with Baldwin has so much heart, it brings a tear to my eye. Such great writing! Trust, loyalty and the willingness to do what’s right, even if you have to walk through the grey area to achieve it...I love this film! James Woods is a B.A.M.F.!

Very very underrated movie my childhood my mom had this on VCR tape this is my first vampire movie

Such an underrated movie, Woods is a badass

Great video! James Woods is badass. Watched the behind the scenes interview with him on the blu ray. If you watch carefully you see that the explosion, as he walks away from the hotel, actually lifts him off his feet. From Dusk Till Dawn and Vampires are my favorite vampire movies. Time for a double feature tonight with some beer and pizza.

Definitely one of my favorite John Carpenter movies of all time. I was obsessed with this movie when I was younger,lost it. Bought the scream factory Blu-ray recently. So glad i have it back. And the line "how you like your stake b****" always cracks me up 😂🤦.

I enjoyed this movie, and have watched it a few times over the years. Its a lot of fun, and some good twists. And James Woods was awesome in this part.

Carpenter is one of the best of all time. His 80s run is one of the best lineups of movies ever

This was the first Carpenter movie I got to see in theaters. Forget what some people think, to me it's top tier!

Vampires and In the Mouth of Madness are the crowning achievements of 90s carpenter. My only complaint with vampires is as you outlined, the first 20 minutes kinda overpowers the rest of the movie. I think they should have saved the Ragtag team for further encounters with valek and his cronies. But as it stands it’s still a satisfying movie.

I've always loved this movie. I even recently had a double feature with Day Shift because that newer flick reminded me a lot of Vampires. Wood's Jack Crow character was a great "anti-Buffy" vampire slayer which at the time was a refreshing take on your typical vampire hunter trope.

Vampires is all kinds of bad ass fun

My main problem with Vampires was that I was a big fan of the original book (Vampire$) & the film was almost completely different other than a couple of character names.

Loved Vampires, watched it on my 13th birthday with a dozen friends at my house. Props for mentioning the Subspecies series! Radu is the best and most realistic portrayal of a vampire in cinema history.

A movie just about the hunters would be awesome. They were badass for sure.

I went as Jack Crow a couple years ago for Halloween. The few people who got it, loved it. Complete with silver spray painted gigantic nerf crossbow.

Always loved this movie! From the cinematography, the script, the score and the acting. All blend seamlessly together to give us a slightly humorous and yet fun thrill ride. My first watch kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what Woods would say next.

Perfect name for a Vampire Hunter Jack Crow! When I first heard that name I thought it was awesome!

I've loved this movie since I saw it in theaters years ago. I still watch it often. There's just so many great things about it.

Carpenter's so underrated, he's a cinematic master and so underappreciated, his films are original, mostly cult classics and he will go down forever as one of the best. I'm not into re-do's but if there's one film I'd love to see a sequel or reboot of it's Prince of Darkness, amazing film but they could take it further, cheers.

Loved this movie! And, Body Bags is criminally underrated!

One of Carpenter's most under rated films and one of my favorite Vampire movies ever.

I love this movie! It is easily one of my favorites and I have re-watched it many times. I was so surprised you said it has never gotten the love it deserved. A beautifully shot horror with just the right amount of funny moments.

I was there on the opening weekend and I loved it. Wanted more!

John Carpenter's Vampires was my introduction to James Woods. And holy crap, what a first impression! He was such a badass in my eyes. Admittedly, I was much too young for the film (I turned it off the first time after The Sun God massacre, which gave me nightmares). To this day, I put Jack Crow right up there with Blade among my top favorite vampire hunters. As much as Woods has aged, I still see that badass with the shades & cigar from 1998 when I look at him. Many actors have played iconic vampire hunters throughout the genre, but NOBODY else on Earth could have played Jack Crow in my opinion. It's like trying to replace Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. Some roles are simply immortalized by the people cast for them.

I watched this a ton on vhs just before the dvd boom. One my 90s carpenter favs along with LA. When I think of James woods this is my go to movie. Great vid!

So glad to see this one be reviewed. Loved the 1st vamp concept and the way they were offed 👌

I've always loved this film. Thank you for highlighting it. Completely underrated film.

Lance nails it yet again. Good stuff

Great movie, great review man! Total originality and creativity at work!

I agree!!! 🧛🏻 Great video, thanks for sharing 😊

THANK YOU! I loved this movie! I wanted to see so many more movies with Jack Crow!

Main vampire always scared me as a kid !

I was such a fan of this movie that I bought the book it was based off of. The movie was quite a departure from the source material. Even the premise of the team was different; they weren't working for the Vatican but we're simply mercenaries that hunted vampires for profit. I should have read the book a second time because the whole time I was expecting stuff from the movie to happen and kept feeling lost. It was quite a different story altogether.

I've always enjoyed this film. I find it even more entertaining that one of my best friends looks like James Woods!

I always liked this movie and thought it was one of Carpenter's best after The Thing and Escape From New York. I don't understand why it's kinda forgotten because for me it's one of the best vampire films of the 90s.

Great review a learned some stuff I didn't know

One of my favorites, everyone in it just does an amazing job

Second favorite Vampire movie behind The Lost Boys. Vampire movies were actually good back in the day

Thanks! Actually one of my 5 favorite John Carpenter movies.

I’ll def check this out!

Great analysis!

John Carpenter's Vampires - It's like a mix of From Dusk Till Dawn & Near Dark ^_^

One of my favorite Carpenter films.

Makes me wish John Carpenter had directed BLADE.

great review. thank you

My favorite vampire movie ever! Dracula 2000, blade 2, and lost boys are all up there too

There are still a handful of John Carpenter films I need to see; this movie being one of them. I also need to see Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness and Village of the Damned. I also need to see Dark Star and Elvis, although when people talk about John Carpenter they rarely mention either of those 2 movies.

I loved this movie from day 1. Bought it on DVD when it came out!!!

Movie is awesome! Saw it back when it first came out in the theater and still a classic til this day! Also mad props on mentioning Subspecies and that the series ended at 3 lol. Good to know I'm not the only one that feels that way.

Your voice is phenomenal. 👍🏾👍🏾

My brother and I caught this on TV late one night and were blown away, great film.

I saw this in the theater and loved it!

For me Valek has been one of the scariest villains I have ever seen. Thomas Ian Griffith OWNS the role. Hes got that mysterious and sexy classic dracula thing but also delights in being a killing machine. The vampires are also scary as fuck because they are devoid of humanity, almost animal-like zombies. That makes turning into a vampire a very frightening fate, unlike most vampire incarnations with the exception being this film and 30 days of night, becoming a vampire doesnt look soo bad.

If this came out nowadays , and did better than expected... i feel they'd wanna expand on things like Valek's backstory and the origin of how the hunters became a group which would milk it too much.

I was just talking to someone about this movie now I know what it's called, thanks!

YESSSSSSS!!!!! This movie is such a guilty pleasure of mine!!!!

Glad I saw this in the theater. I wasn't expecting much, but it was a fun movie from beginning to end.

This is one Bad Ass Movie Guys ~n~Gals!!! Watch it if you have not.. Just do it.. You'll love that shit

Love this and dusk till dawn!

Yeah. I saw this as a Kid. Always liked It ! ! !

This movie is gold, and I thoroughly enjoyed this tribute to it.

John carpenter is one of my favourite directors. Love his movies

Shery Lee killed it in this. I like how they used a plot point from Bram Stoker's "Dracula" - using Mina (or was it Lucy?) to track the Count once she'd been bitten. They did the same thing with Lee's character and the OG Master Vamp in Carpenter's fun romp of a Vampire Western. Not as good as "Near Dark" but then again, what is?

I really enjoyed that film back in the days, It's still a film on the list for me with my boy when he's old enough

I love this one, it's a nice choice to watch as a doble feature with From Dusk till dawn.

The concept is genius. Blue collar vampire killers. I wish that could have been the whole film. The crew is why I like this movie.

Beginning and motel scene I'll never forget seeing it for the first time

John Carpetener x James Woods x vampires + fucking brilliance. Most underrated film of the 90s. Loved it.

Watched it back in the day as a teenager, loved it ever since. Can´t say the same about the sequel though.

This is easily one of my favorite vampire movies ever. It scratches a lot of itches. Vamps, check. Western, check Grindhouse vibe, check. Religious vibe in a horror flick, check. This ticks more than a few boxes. Nevermind all that; I'd put Jack Crow up there with Snake Plissken, Desolation Williams and Jack Burton as coolest characters in Carpenter's filmography.

Very underrated movie

This is one of the best vampire movies, all about actions and not prayers.👍👍👍

Saw this one in theaters on Halloween night the night of its premiere it was awesome walked out of the theater feeling like a badass

I'm not really into the Vampire genre (there's been a few good flicks though) for the most part, but John Carpenter's Vampires was great! No surprise as it is a John Carpenter flick. This really is probably my favorite movie about vampires. That scene where the head vampires surprise attacks the group, is pretty horrifying and really shows how deadly a vampire should be. It's like having Darth Vader show up. It really puts the rest of the movie on edge and sets up the survival horror vibe nicely. And of course all throughout is John Carpenter's own unique music tracks that set the tone and mood perfectly as always. A brilliant way to execute a flick about this subject matter.

saw it in theaters, amazing memory

This one and From Dusk Till Dawn are my favorite Vampire movies.

I love this movie. So much fun!

I agree with this entire video! One of my favorites, and Jack Crow influenced many a character I wrote or played on stage for years to come. He still is. One of the best anti-heroes ever. -I even had his sunglasses, because of this movie. (They were attachments, worn over eyeglasses. You can see the lens hooks in the close-ups.) Nobody else noticed or cared, but I did. -The book is honestly not as interesting. Lotsa stuff was changed or tweaked. Half of the book is a friggin Anne Rice backstory. Jack is supposed to be someone like The Rock, or Duke Nukem. But the author (RIP) was from Dallas, and he mentions a few things that hit close to home, as a TX boy. There's also this WONDERFUL idea that the movie should have employed: Blasting rock music from giant speakers outside to disorient the vampires before going in! -Also, that final scene between Baldwin and Woods has some of the most genuine emotion ever put into a cheesy monster movie. Back in the 90's, I'd watch "From Dusk Till dawn," this one, and "Blade." I liked to imagine that Seth Gecko, Jack Crow, and Whistler were all the same person, in that order.

One of my favourite movies and based on one of my favourite books; I highly recommend reading Vampire$ by John Steakley, the book and the movie are very different, mostly down to what works in a book can be hard to bring to the screen, but I think John Carpenter did a great job taking the essence of the story and translating it into a fun flick.

This is one of my favorite vampire movies and vampires is one of my favorite sub-genres, so if that tells you anything.

Actually watched this again very recently it's better than I remembered

5:31 that is the same hotel from No Country for Old Men, and I'm fairly certain that the clerk is played by the truck driver who Chigurgh shoots through the back of the neck. I notice there are a lot of comments so I'm sure I'm the hundredth person to see it.

I love movies like this, over the top. I grew up with movies like this. Loved cannon group movies back in the day.

I haven't seen this since picking up the DVD around 2000 and did not understand the hate this film gets. I probably should rewatch and see if i feel the same 20ish years later....that DVD is hanging around somewhere in my closet 🤣

Oh man, great vid. I even liked the second film.

Love the review! Though I'm surprised you failed to mention that Thomas Ian Griffith is Karate Kid 3/Cobra Kai legend Terry fucking Silver!!!

Watching this as a 8 year old was one of the best moments of my childhood, that first hunt was glorious to see in my impressionable eyes lol

i watch this movie at least twice a month. what an absolutely awesome flick.

I love the way James Woods flinches during the action scenes.

This is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time!

Forgot about this movie but I certainly remember enjoying it back twenty something years ago

I can watch this over and over again (and have!). What a fun film!