A team of mercenaries must hunt down vampires and retrieve the Black Cross of Berziers, an ancient relic that, should it be obtained by vampires, will allow them to endure the sunlight.

This film is way overdue a rediscovery!

I’ve spotted a trend recently with a lot of websites talking about films that need to be ‘rediscovered’ and whilst I’m all for films of the past being brough back into the spotlight once again, there’s one film I’ve never noticed being mentioned.

It’s funny really as I’ve always considered this one of Carpenters overlooked films, sure he has a line of classics for it to get lost behind but I feel like if people are out there hunting down films that may have passed them by then I want to share one with you.

This feature isn’t Carpenters usual style, it’s quite fast paced, action packed and has a rough edge to it that I love and there’s more humour here than we usually get from him. His trademark visuals and style are still there though, so it’s a great mixture.

Also, this has to be one of Carpenters goriest features which will satisfy any gore hound. One thing that’s always stood out to me is that everyone seemed to have a great time making this feature and that oozes off screen and makes for fun viewing.

Being a fan of Carpenter, horror, vampires, westerns and action this film has always been a favourite of mine. I mean what’s not to love about it?! It has everything you want for a fun time, so go and ‘rediscover’ it.

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If you want to see the “John Carpenter’s Vampires” trailer then just click on the video below:

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Miscellaneous facts about the film:

Despite being a horror movie, John Carpenter stated on the audio commentary that he did this movie because it closely resembled a western to him.

John Carpenter had a good working relationship with James Woods on set. Apparently Woods has a reputation for being difficult to work with, but Carpenter got along with him just fine. They had a deal: Carpenter could film one scene as it was written; the other Woods could improvise. Carpenter found to his delight that many of Woods’ suggestions were brilliant.

Bruce Campbell was Carpenter’s first choice to play Montoya.

The film that convinced John Carpenter to stay in directing. Feeling burnt out after a string of critical and financial failures, John Carpenter had lost his love for filmmaking and was heavily considering going into retirement following the failure of Escape From L.A. because in his words “it stopped being fun”. However, when Carpenter was offered the job for Vampires, he was intrigued by the promise of making a horror-western hybrid, something he had wanted to since the 70’s. He made a deal with himself: make one more movie, and if it still isn’t fun, retire. Carpenter would later go on to heavily enjoy his time on directing Vampires.

For this film, John Carpenter wanted to stay away from the stereotype of gothic vampires and wanted to make his vampires “savages” and not be “brooding loneliness in their existence. They’re too busy ripping and tearing humans apart.”

Just before production began the studio cut the budget by 2/3, and the filmmakers had to furiously rework the story to fit. According to John Steakley, who wrote the novel, the finished film contained much of his dialogue and none of his plot.

The search to find an actor to play Jack Crow proved to be difficult. Carpenter’s first choice was Kurt Russell, but Russell had to decline due to prior commitments. Carpenter had also wanted R. Lee Ermey, but the studio declined this offer because they felt that Ermey lacked the star power. The studio had offered Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, and Danny Glover the role, all of whom declined. Dolph Lundgren, who was originally attached to play Crow before Carpenter took over, was asked by Carpenter to return but this time as the villain, which he declined.

John Carpenter’s only financially successful film of the 90s.

James Woods accepted the lead role because he had never played an action hero before.

Producer and John Carpenter’s wife Sandy King cast Thomas Ian Griffith as Valek because they both wanted “someone who looks formidable, but is also alluring. There always has to be something alluring about the evil nature of the vampire.”

John Carpenter cast James Woods because he wanted his character Jack Crow “to be as savage as the prey he’s going after.” Woods himself took interest in the project because it was something different for him.

The MPAA took issue with the film’s over-the-top violence, threatening to give it an NC-17 rating unless some of the gore was cut. Sandy King said, “We satisfied the ratings board by just cutting short of a few things that went into really gruesome stuff.” The only things cut from the film were a few brief shots of extreme gore, including a shot that shows a priest’s head getting blown up from a shotgun blast, and a monk getting graphically disemboweled by a vampire. The only scene that was entirely removed was a moment where the vampires awake from their slumber and brutally slaughter a pack of coyotes. Though this scene was fully shot, it had to be completely removed.

When Largo Entertainment approached John Carpenter with this project, they gave him two scripts, one by Don Jakoby and another by Dan Mazur. Carpenter read the scripts and the novel and saw a potential in the movie that he had been interested in, which was to do a western disguised as a horror film. So Carpenter and friend Larry Sulkis worked together to create a new screenplay, taking elements from both Jakoby’s and Mazur’s scripts, the novel, and some of their own ideas. Jakoby, for whatever reason, received sole writing credit.

Alec Baldwin had briefly accepted the role of Montoya before declining it early into pre-production and passing it onto his brother, Daniel. John Carpenter had not seen any of Daniel Baldwin’s work and had the actor read for him.

Back when Russell Mulcahy was attached to direct, one possible idea was that the film would take place in a distant future, where a decent amount of the human population has been turned into vampires, and vampire hunters are as abundant as police officers. The vampire hunters would’ve used futuristic high-tech gadgets and equipment to hunt down the vampires, who were plotting to take over the world by transforming the Pope into one of them. Dolph Lundgren was slated to play protagonist Jack Crow while Willem Dafoe was being eyed to play the vampire antagonist Valek.

John Carpenter cast Sheryl Lee after seeing her on Twin Peaks (1990).

The symbol on the necklace that Daniel Baldwin wears in the movie is the Nordic rune meaning “Protection”

The opening weekend box office take of $9.1 million is the highest of John Carpenter’s movies, beating Escape from L.A.’s $8.9.

There are many similarities with this and another vampire film made the same year, Blade (1998). Both are about a vampire killer, and they both have a similar plot of vampires trying to complete an arcane ritual that would allow them to move about in daylight. They also both feature a female character slowly turning into a vampire throughout. In addition, Tim Guinee appears in both films.

According to STARLOG magazine, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was unhappy with his role in the film. He tried speaking to John Carpenter several times about his character’s back story and motivation, but Carpenter rebuffed him. This left Tagawa feeling like he was little more than a glorified stuntman.

According to John Carpenter, Gary B. Kibbe was shortlisted for the Best Cinematography at the 71st Academy Awards.

John Carpenter did a uncredited rewrite on the script.

Thomas Ian Griffith’s third villain role, after The Karate Kid Part lll (1989) and Kull the Conqueror (1997).

The Slayer van is a 1980 Ford F-800 ‘Armorer Truck.’

Film’s climax shot in Cerrillos, New Mexico. The same town featured in Young Guns (1988).

The film’s cast includes 1 Oscar winner: Maximilian Schell and 2 Oscar nominees: James Woods and Frank Darabont.

Clint Eastwood, R. Lee Ermey, Danny Glover, Tommy Lee Jones, Al Pacino, Bill Paxton, Joe Pesci, and Kurt Russell were also considered for the part of Jack Crow.

Jack Crow’s handgun is a Jericho 941 R.

Anthony Montoya’s revolver is Smith & Wesson Model 629 “Classic Hunter”.

This was John Carpenter’s last feature film of the 20th century.

The shotgun Father Adam Guiteau finds and uses at the end is a J.C. Higgins Model 21 Deluxe.

Montoya drives a, 1997 Jeep Wrangler [TJ].

Frank Darabont cameos as Man With Buick.