John Carpenter is clearly the best filmmaker in the horror genre. With films like Halloween, The Thing and In the Mouth of Madness, I looked to Vampires with great anticipation. Alas, this film was not what I hoped for but it's certainly better than Village of the Damned and Escape From L.A. The biggest disappointment is that it's not scary. Many of Carpenter's best films evoke a sense of doom, whereas this movie is more of a light-hearted romp with some stunning special effects.

In Vampires, James Woods plays Jack Cross, a really edgy vampire killer who is hired by the Catholic church to kill the first original vampire Valek, a priest turned vampire played by Thomas Ian Griffith. Woods is assisted by Daniel Baldwin and a group of partying vampire hunters.

Carpenter tries to have fun with the story in the same way Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez did with From Dusk Till Dawn. It would have been nice if Carpenter made a scary movie instead of a light-hearted one. Still, this film has enough to recommend, including strong performances from Griffith and Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks). They play their roles straight instead of for laughs. I can only hope that the next time Carpenter sets out to make another horror film, he sticks to what he does best--scaring the hell out of me!