John Carpenter's Vampires

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John Carpenter's Vampires ★★½ Vampires 1997 (R)

Vatican-sponsored vampire hunter Jack Crow (Woods) leads his team of mercenaries into the American Southwest to battle master bloodsucker Valek (Griffith) and his hordes. After destroying a vampire hideout, Crow and company are ambushed at a post-stake party. The only survivors are Crow, his buddy Montoya (Baldwin), and a hooker (Lee) with a psychic link to the vampires. Satisfying horror-western packs plenty of action and gore (along with just enough humor) to hold attention until the inevitable showdown. Woods does a good job of toning down from his usual bug-eyed crazy to merely borderline disturbed here. Based on the novel “Vampires” by John Steakley. 108m/C VHS, DVD . James Woods, Thomas Ian Griffith, Sheryl Lee, Daniel Baldwin, Tim Guinee, Maximilian Schell, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mark Boone Jr., Tom Rosales; D: John Carpenter; W: John Carpenter, Don Jacoby; C: Gary B. Kibbe; M: John Carpenter.

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