The Raving Reviewer Gives a Second Opinion

If you can picture Near Dark done on a bigger budget with less finesse, then you'll get an idea what expect with John Carpenter's Vampires.

But Carpenter makes up for a lot with some pretty hot vampire battles. He goes all out with these ghouls, who put up quite a fight as they're repeatedly skewered and shot, leading up to being dragged out of their darkened Southwestern lairs as they're turned into crispy critters by the sun.

The plot goes something like this: Not surprisingly, the Catholic church has always known that vampires exist, but they've kept a low profile and, most recently, enlisted top-notch vampire hunter (with a history of his own) Jack Crow (James Woods). But things are beginning to come to a head when it's discovered that one of the most powerful vampires of all time, Valek (a spooky Thomas Ian Griffith), is closing in on a particular crucifix (that's right, crucifixes can't hurt real vampires) that will enable Valek and his brethren to walk among the living during daylight hours.

So Crow and his crew (which includes a funny -- whether on purpose or not -- Daniel Baldwin) try to stop these deadbeats. A hooker (Sheryl Lee) who's been bit but hasn't yet "turned" is along for the ride, providing a little sexual tension.

Vampires is a more than watchable Vampire flick that could've been even better if it had some of the style of that 1987 Kathryn Bigelow classic mentioned at the top.