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John Carpenter's Vampires

Vampires
Vampires (1998) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Carpenter
Produced by Sandy King
Screenplay by Don Jakoby
Based on Vampire$
by John Steakley
Starring
Music by John Carpenter
Cinematography Gary B. Kibbe
Edited by Edward A. Warschilka
Production
company
Film Office
JVC Entertainment Networks
Largo Entertainment
Spooky Tooth Productions
Storm King Productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • October 30, 1998 (1998-10-30)
Running time
108 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $20 million
Box office $20.3 million

Vampires (also known as John Carpenter's Vampires) is a 1998 American independent horror Western film directed and scored by John Carpenter and starring James Woods. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by John Steakley.

Woods stars as Jack Crow, the leader of a team of vampire hunters. After his parents were bitten by vampires, Crow was raised by the Catholic Church to become their "master slayer". The plot is centered on Crow's efforts to prevent a centuries-old cross from falling into the hands of Jan Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith), the first and most powerful of all vampires. The film also stars Daniel Baldwin as Tony Montoya, Crow's friend and fellow hunter; Sheryl Lee as Katrina, a prostitute who has a psychic link to Valek after being bitten; Tim Guinee as Father Adam Guiteau; and Maximilian Schell as Cardinal Alba.

The film was followed by two direct-to-video sequels, Vampires: Los Muertos (2002) and Vampires: The Turning (2005).

A team of Vatican sponsored vampire hunters led by Jack Crow rids an abandoned house of vampires in the middle of New Mexico, only to be wiped out by a master vampire called Valek. Only two members of the team survive, Jack Crow and Tony Montoya as well as a prostitute named Katrina who was bitten by Valek. Crow later meets his boss, Cardinal Alba, who introduces him to Father Adam Guiteau.

After Crow reluctantly allows Guiteau to come along with him, he tells the priest some of his past, about how his father was bitten by a vampire, killed his mother and came after Jack, who ended up killing him. He then asks what it is Valek is after and Guiteau tells him that Valek is seeking an ancient relic called the Black Cross of Berziers and that Valek was once a fallen priest who was thought to have been possessed by demons. The Bérziers Cross was used in an exorcism that was cut short but the result was that Valek was forever changed into the first vampire.


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