All quotes and info from other sources are in Italics, all other text is my own reflection on the news. The John Carpenter News Archive :

News as of 27th April Show Me The Money OK, most of you have probably checked out the official JC site after my last news report, and found it still closed. I am as puzzled by this as you, my source assured me it was opening on Fri night. Sorry 'bout that, I will try and find out what is going on.
Vampires Box Office Thanks to Etienne, we can check out how well the film is doing in France - http://www.allocine.fr/boxoffice/box_fr.asp?ARG99=0&ARG140=0&ARG141=0&ARG142

News as of 24th April The Vampires Distribution Deal Some interesting stuff has come to light. Basically, the Destination Films deal has fallen through. A late development, here is a message Oggy Doggy posted to alt.movies.john-carpenter - "Studios Fight For Bite Of 'Vampires' - Largo Entertainment's gamble of opening the John Carpenter vampire-hunting action flick Vampires (or Vampire$ depending on which marketing material you want to believe) in Paris appears to be paying off if today's report from Variety's Michael Flemming are to be believed. The movie has received great buzz in the Land of Wine and Cheese according to the columnist -- outpacing new entry U.S. Marshalls. The newfound success of the film is reportedly pushing both Fox and Columbia to throw an offer at Largo for the domestic rights to the movie, which the Insider hears is pure gold for fans of both the vampire genre and John Carpenter. "This is his best work," one source told the Insider. "He's got James Woods doing more with this character than any other role I've ever seen him in." The stuff about the majors is also what I had heard, this can only be good news. It kinds reminds you of Halloween, this relatively small film getting put out there, and attracting the suits purely by virtue of its quality. Great stuff. Nice to see the 'Wine and Cheese' racial stereotypes upheld by the US. What does that make the US the land of, answers on a postcard.....
The New JC Website - Our most reliable source has dropped in with some more info on this new web project - " Meanwhile, you should check out our first website of our own. http://www.johncarpenter.com It should open tonight, and will eventually have domains for all of our projects. Right now, it's just "Vampires". We will be opening a section for each territory's release with press kits in the various languages and news clippings. Hope you enjoy it. " That e-mail was delivered this morning, so expect the new site to open very soon (hopefully tonight as it says in the mail). Just remember, in a few months time, when you are all hanging out at the official site and my site is just a dusty old cafe on one of the minor old internet routes, just remember who kept you entertained with JC stuff when the web was a wilder place (I am really feeling sorry for myself today). Seriously, the new site sounds fantastic and I cannot wait for it to come online.
Confirmation On The Razzies - I actually think the Razzies are quite a laugh, its a shame that most of the industry gets so pissed off by them. Anwyay, here is more info on JCs honours in that most prestigous of ceremonies - "THE THING was nominated for a Razzie for Worst Score in 1982 (between you and me, I don't think it really deserved it), but lost (?) to THE PIRATE MOVIE, which also took honors for Worst 'Original' Song.

Yes, VILLAGE was nominated for Worst Remake or Sequel in 1995, when the Razzies were swept by SHOWGIRLS (which was also nominated in that category, but they both lost to THE SCARLET LETTER). Obviously the awards had become as prefab as the Oscars by then. In a curious parallel, the first year (1980) the categories weren't restricted to five nominees, just like the old Academy awards. " Thanks to Mark Ozoba for that info.
Vampires Soundtrack - Seems like the last piece of news, on Harry Knowles supposedly having a Vampires CD, was a bit premature, here is what Patrick, from the Films Of John Carpenter Webpage says - "Hey Marc - Patrick here. That Vampires "soundtrack" stuff from AICN is actually just Harry on a film set listening to a mix of Carpenter soundtrack stuff (no Vampires, darn it!). Hope this clears it up. " To add to that, let me say that I have info that tells me that there will be official word on the Vampires soundtrack, so yep, there definitely will be one (as if we ever thoughut otherwise). While Patrick is here, let me say that if you find my site lacking in info on new DVD and LD and VHS JC releases, then you must check out Patricks site, he keeps it so much more up to date on that sort of info.

News as of 22nd April The Thing Razzie This interesting bit of info found its way into my mailbox - "... "trivia", so to speak, about The Thing. I dont know if you know about this, but it seems to have been nominated for a Razzie, Worst film score, in 83." Anyone know what actually won in that year? I think JC also got another Razzie nomination for Village Of The Damned, worst or most pointless remake. Did everyone catch it on Sky last Friday?
Those JC French Premire Interviews - JCs next movie? Etienne Barillier has quoted this for us from those on-line interviews I mentioned in last weeks update - " The latest issue of the French magazine "Premiere" has a fine critic of the movie, rating it with three stars (out of four) and giving it the seventh position of this year's "Top 7" movies. There's also an interview, with this fine portrait by Patrick Swirc. JC is saying (being ask about the way all his main character seems to be the same) that "My heroes are idealized representations of myself. I'm not through with them, there is still one or two possibilities left" (roughly *back* translated!). By the way the movie is out since today, there will be another interview of him on Canal+ (in the weekly 30 minutes show). There's 200 copies of the movie in France. It's a good way to see if the distributor think it will be a success (for instance "the big Lebowski" has 130 copies, "US Marshals" 415, "Event Horizon" 135, "The Rainmakers" 160...) " So, it seems that JC is definitely considering a new project. And a note on the success of the movie in France:
Vampires In France - Well, it was released last Wednesday, here is a pretty good summary from Aint It Cool News - " People are _flocking_ to see it in France, where it opened this past Wednesday! Of course, we aren't talking about a Titanic-like attendance, but still it's a pretty nice success. Some theaters in central Paris are sold out at the 10:30 PM late night screenings, and THAT'S the appropriate timing for seeing this flick. The reviews are just terrific! Not just the genre mags, but the dailies too. "Libération" had a nice Carpenter interview last Wednesday. And even the very influential "Le Monde" (which you might compare it to the NY Times), wrote "A vampire movie like no others" in the FRONT page, and carried on with a rave review in the entertainment section.

Vampire$ exceeds every expectation you might have -- it rocks, it's a carnage-fest, it's a pure Carpenter-ian masterpiece, and you might go as far as to say that this is the kind of movie that a Sam Peckimpah or Robert Aldrich would have made today if they were alive and they wanted to direct a vampire flick to show off this dreadful Buffy-like politically correct trash." Brilliant stuff, lets hope that success gets repeated everywhere.
Vampires and NC-17 Thanks for all the responses on the maybe NC-17 or R rating for the US Vampires, here is a selection of the response I have had (also, bear in mind, the OFFICIAL published word is that Vampires got an R, but that was some time ago, so maybe Baldwin knows soemthing we don't?) -

About Danny Baldwin's comment on the NC-17, I really can't see that happening. NC-17 is reserved for the most sexually explicit, goriest movies out there, and is rarely given out. "Showgirls", "Crash", and "Bad Lieutenant" are such examples. Basically, if a film is given a NC-17 in the US, it is doomed to art house theaters. - Cary Aston

NC-17 is the most rescricted rating before the movie is deemed a porno. R rating is commonplace and every violent movie gets it. But NC-17 means extremely violent and unprofitable. This movie will undoubtedly be delayed so it can have its harsher scenes edited out and be given an R-rating for late American release. - Ricardo Todd

I live in the US, and NC17 and the R rating aren't the same thing. (from the Motion Picture Association of America homepage) R: RESTRICTED. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. NC-17: NO ONE 17 AND UNDER ADMITTED. If I remember correctly, the current NC17 rating is more or less what the X rating used to be.- Dave

Thanks to everyone for the comments, one thing I think is strange is that an 18 rating is commonplace in the UK, yet an NC-17, which is effectively a milder rating, is thought of as really bad in the US. Wierd.
JC and Halloween 2 - Tom Alaerts sent in this interesting info - " in the latest french premiere there was a question on the "letters" page: "is it true that jc shot some parts of halloween 2?". the answer was "yes, but it's a secret" (we already know that) they also added: "for example, the scene in which the shape sticks a pencil in someone's eye is directed by jc". ... it could be interesting to know which parts exactly are from the hand of jc. " Hmm, anyone know more about JCs involvement with Halloween 2? PS, Halloween 7 (or H20) has finished principle photography, but they are reshooting close ups of Myers because they (JLC included) didn't like his new mask. They have had a new one made closer to the original, which I think is great news. I'm glad JLC is bringing back some class to this series.
Vampires Soundtrack - A little bit of 2nd hand, twice removed info about this, which gives a vague 'possibly soon' status on the Vampires soundtrack - "You may wish to check in with Harry Knowles at the AICN site - If I recall correctly, he states that he listened to it several times - most recently in his adventure on a set. Should be in last Thursday's news. " Thanks to Ben Wern for letting us in on that.
Vampires Trailer As many of you have noticed, my server is not the best in the world and the Vampires Trailer can be a sod to download, so here is another source for it -

VAMPIRES TRAILER - NORWEGIAN DOWNLOAD SITE

JC Interview and Vampires Review on-line If you run over to the French Premiere Magazine you will find an interview with JC and a review (a favourable one) of Vampires. Here is a tip, for this not familiar with French try Alta-Vista's Translation Service. It is not perfect but you do get the general idea.
US Certification? Thanks to Don for pointing this out, in previous news I reported that - "Daniel Baldwin interview: "it's a pity the movie got a NC17 certificate in the states...."" Now, an NC-17 rating is pretty restrictive. I thought the film had an R rating in the states. Are these the same thing?

News as of 14th April JC's Next Movie? Nope, no real news, but I just thought that seeing as this Vampires things has pretty much all been finished (as far as JCs production is concerned) then its about time we tried to find out what JCs next project is. Anyway, as I said, no hard info but this is what John Nada has to say - "An interesting point on this being his last film, he did mention .. that he was reading a couple of scripts...." So, now the hunt begins.
The Trailer Thanks to everyone for replying to me telling me they downloaded the trailer ok. To all those having problems, sorry; but I can't help you out because as far as I know it is fine. And no, I can't e-mail it cos my e-mail server does not handle files that large. By the way, after this site appeared on Harry Knowles' aint-it-cool-news over 3000 people attempted to download the trailer on the weekend! This film seems to be the most anticipated JC offering in a long while.
Dark Star Re-Release? This might make a lot of people in the US really happy - " I work for a local video store, and had numerous requests from friends about "Dark Star", the original JC flick so I called my distributor. I was told that all copies of said flick had been pulled, and discontinued, which led him and his company (Major Video Concepts) to believe that a re- release is emminent (immenent...emminant...emmanint....coming very soon)." That info was from Chip, let's hope it pans out.
Vampires Novelisation This was sent in by Etienne - " The novelization of "Vampires" is now available. The front cover is a close up of the French poster. And it looks as dull as any novelization." Hmm, is this a novelisation or just a reprint of the Steakley book?
The Stars My Destination Doug Cummings has given us a whole load of info on this JC nearly-project - " ... JC and "The Stars My Destination" (1958). He tells the author of "Order in the Universe" in the book's opening interview that he had always wanted to film "The Stars My Destination," but recently gave up the notion because he decided the book was unfilmable. TSMD (published as "Tiger! Tiger!" in Europe) is one of the major acknowledged classics of SF literature, written by wonderkind Alfred Bester. ... recently reprinted by Vintage Press, but it would require an audacious energy and visual imagination reserved for someone like Gilliam or the Coen's. OTOH, Carpenter (in lieu of "Big Trouble in Little China" and "In the Mouth of Madness") would be a much better pick than Paul Anderson ("Mortal Combat," "Event Horizon"), who reportedly was in talks with producers Walter Hill & David Giler ("Alien" series) on a script adaption they recently wrote. " Then John Nada stuck his head round the door and added this - "... he did a script of it but then realized that so much of what works in a novel, can't work in a film because it's all in the character's head. He also felt that the demands of the effects for some scenes were just too much and would look "cheeseball" when they were great moments in the book. He did admit that it might be possible to do the effects today, but that he still didn't think the film could be effecitvely translated to film and that he likes it too much to want to screw it up. " I think we have all the info on this movie, all within 5 days! Isn't the 'net fantastic?
Ecran Fantastique and French Movie Mags

The French press is well into the Vampires Press Juggernaut, this is what Etienne Barillier (who kindly sent in the above scan) has to say - " The last issue of the French magazine is almost a special "Vampires" ! You can find inside (with lot of pictures): -
a 3 pages long analysis of the movie -
an article about James Woods -
a look back over JC's past movies -
a 3 pages long interview of the Master himself -
a fine page about the *lost* movies, those movies he never mad (do you know that the laserdisc (and DVD) edition of "The Thing" will have some new scenes? It should be a test for the second opus that will come to life if it's a success : Mc Ready is accused of the murder of his former team by the soldiers who rescued him... But another survivor appears, Childs!)
- a 4 pages interview of William Baldwin - a 3 pages interview with Thomas Ian Griffith
- 4 pages with Sandy King
- 4 pages with Thomas Walsh
- 4 pages with Gary B. Kibbe (talking of his collaboration with JC since "They Live")
- 4 pages with Greg Nicotero " Wow, that is one magazine I would LOVE to get hold of! To add to this Tom Alarts shares his thoughts and info with us - "

This weekend I found an avalanche of vampires-related info in the french magazines. - .. "Les cahiers du cinema" ... a large interview (6 pags) with jc, there were some good questions, i will send snippets as soon as i have the copies, but here are 2 interesting fragments: 1. when asked about current projects, jc spoke about the thriller he had some ideas for. So this is still in an embryonal phase. and 2. When asked about the evolved filming style used in vampires, jc answered that, utilising more cameras simultaneously he wanted to create a more brutal and raw atmosphere. Still, the much adored motel massacre was filmed in vintage, pure, jc style. There was also a 4-page appreciation about jc's movies and career and of course a review of the movie. Well, the reviewer found it somewhat empty and ultimately disappointing but he also thought that today's horror audiences, who only seek skillfully made thrills, might very well like it. Typically, jc's movies almost always get good to rave reviews in "Les Cahiers...", so this was unexpected.

- Then there was the new "l'ecran fantastique". This featured a whopping 33 -yes, that's thirtythree- pages about Vampires (35 if you also count an article about modern vampire movies). You already know most photos, so I will only give a few relevant snippets: - the review: they adored it. a movie that that even gets better with multiple viewings... Stylishly made, but never a videoclip... One of the most original and "biting" movies about the myth... - Woods about Crow: "Crow is similar to William Holden in the Wild Bunch...a typical american western hero, politically very incorrect." - JC interview: Q: "the way Valek bites Sheryl Lee is original and rather evocative..." A (laughing): "Yes, I wanted to suggest the sexuality of vampirism...I have never seen this in another movie, so why not innovate a bit?" (my remark: now that gets me curious...) - a JC unfinished projects article. Well, it seems the people at ecran fantastique have impeccable taste in surfing the net, the article is in fact an almost verbatim translation of your unfinished projects page (even the funny fait-divers about "the hungry moon" is included). So why was it asking too much to print a pointer to this website somewhere in those 33 pages? - Daniel Baldwin interview: (this is a loose translation, you'll get the idea) "between the dozens of scripts i receive each week, there was one with a vampire-photo on the sleeve, I threw it immediately upon a pile with uninteresting stuff. Later I heard JC wanted me for a vampire movie, so only then i remembered the script and started reading it" "it's a pity the movie got a NC17 certificate in the states, because of the physical and verbal violence. so let's hope it gets good word-of-mouth". (my remark: USA censors, read my lips: in Titanic there were a LOT more deaths...) - Thomas Ian Griffith interview: about the scene where the vampires come out of the sand: "I am a claustrophobic so this was very difficult! (laughing) you are only under 30 cm of sand but it's already unbelievably heavy..." - Sandy King interview: about the creature of the black lagoon remake: (another loose translation) "JC partially accepted to remake village of the damned because then the studio would offer him the creature remake... Rick baker already designed a fantastic new costume...but then the production responsable of Universal changed, and the project...fell into the water. I still hope john will one day make this movie." There was a question about the nude girls in the motel, something unexpected in a JC movie. "Indeed, i plead guilty! (laughing). John doesn't really like this kind of scenes, but i convinced him it made the story more credible... and also, it ensures a bigger shock when the vampire brutally appears..." about the howard hawks tribute: "we originally would make it for canal+, as part of a video-encyclopedia made by contemporary cinema people about people who influenced movie history...after a while, we didn't hear anything about this project anymore... but then the British film institute proposed us to make the movie with them but they had a very classic idea about the documentary... so the project fell into the water because of artistic divergences, but one day ore another we'll make it." - Thomas Walsh (chief decorator) interview: the motel was specially built for the movie. - Gary B. Kibbe interview: about They live: "one of the reasons of the use of black-and-white for the alien scenes was that this way, we hoped to divert the attention a bit from the crude make up". (my remark: oh, i thought it was only for the story) about the visual style of EFLA compared to EFNY: "we changed the look of the movie so the change of place is more obvious." about the red sky when the vampires come out of the sand: "it was a dry riverbed, which already had red sand. So this was a good occasion of using a polarising filter together with a red one. This set the atmosphere for the rest of the scene". - Greg Nicotero (sfx guy from KNB) interview: about Rodriguez (KNB did the sfx for from dusk till dawn): "we'll do the sfx for his new project, written by Kevin "Scream" Williamson, which is a homage to both the thing and the bodysnatchers". (my remark: ahhh, could RR be the true heir to JC, just as JC is to Hawks ?) he also says almost all the sfx he designed can be seen in the movie. The small parts that can't were deleted because they would slow down the pace of the opening scene. about JC and Wes Craven (KNB also did Scream): they don't want to change the rhythm of a story just to show off the sfx. John and Wes have done this in the past, but have quickly abandoned this approach. that's why our sfx work so well in Scream and it's sequel" Great stuff there Tom, thanks for keeping us informed. So, does anyone from Ecran Fantastique read these pages? If so, did you use some of my info as source material? I'm not mad, it'd just be great to know that some of it is actually useful. Please, e-mail me and let me know if you have used this stuff anywhere.
Another Vampires Review We are right up to the release date now, so I guess this will be the last pre-release review. This one is from Aint It Cool News - " I was expecting this flick, since I've heard that Carpenter had replaced Russell Mulcahy on the director's chair. This project could not have been cooler. John Carpenter (The Master of the Genre) meeting the Greatest Myth of the Genre( Vampire's story). Sounds a hell of a match-up. Obviously, like everyone elses, I was disappointed by Carpenter's last work (Escape >From LA). But I knew that this baby would be good. Any movie who got Woods kicking some ass, can't be a bomb. It must have something to look forward, at least. Because you know, James Woods is one of the coolest actor around, and in this one we got the James Woods typical/Snake Plissken attitude coming from Jack Crow. Is that makes you drool ?

What makes Vampires so powerful and cool, it's the fact that this one is....Truely...a 100% Carpenter's ride. Jack Crow is a typical Carpenter's kind of hero. Jack is doing his little buisiness and he's not answering to anybody. And he's also a survivor, the only guy who see the whole BIG plan that others doesn't want to see. Jack will strand on his convictions 'till the end. Like John Carpenter's kind of atittude.In fact, Jack is an anti-hero, when he's slapping the face of a girl, it's how he is....Luke Skywalker would have never done that to Princess Leia....that's how he's so atypical....but a 100% Carpenter's character..YES. By the way, he's oftenly smoking a cigar, by this trademark he was reminding me the Comix character called Nick Fury. Same attitude, you understand what I mean.

This movie had another surprise too: Daniel Baldwin. The Unknown brother of the Baldwin's family. Frankly, I was not expecting much of him, but since he was playing Tony Montaya, I had to give him a chance. Surprise among all the surprises....you know what ?...he kick ass, like any other Baldwin did before him. He got a little, calm animals rage that will be loved by the fans. He's tough, but also a sentimental...another typical Carpenter's character. There's a scene between him and Sheryl Lee that will make

Sheryl Lee gives an honest performance, but I was not very attracted by his character. It's wrong, since I should have been attracted by her. I did not believe in his character, like I did not believe in the chicks seducing Keannu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

There's also Maximilian Schell (The Cardinal) who gives a Strong performance, full of ambiguity. The Villian is called Valek (played by Thomas Ian Griffith), an unknown for me. So I can't compare my opinion with this one and his previous performances. He's the REAL Christoper Lee's of the 90's, from a Vampire's Geek Point of view. He got a real Scary presence....but he's also a seductor. Wait to see him seduce Sheryl, you won't have seen a scene like this since....the old Lee's movies. He got a real Physical presence too, his scenes are almost the best scenes of the movie. Especially when he's fighting, a real barracuda hunting for more blood.
In fact, all the movie is based on a big Hunt. It's a team, working together , hunting Vampires. It's the simple storyline of the movie. From this notion, Carpenter is inventing some genious scenes that I had never seen on a Vampire's movies. Like you have Vampire's who are armed !!! Or that most of the scenes takes places during the day, not always by night and like the usual Darks rooms. The movie is really full of surprises, some of the characters that you will love ends up, others ends down. It's Maximum Carnage. The Scene on the motel is very an Anthological Piece, that will be remembered for a while. Graphic violence, Bloods everywhere, very gorish but also unconventionnal. The Vampires hunters are having so much funs, while killing those blood-suckers, that it's disturbing. They are like the ALIENS Team (from the director who did Pirahnas 2, I don't remember his name), but a team working for money, without any military ethics. After the Carnage of the motel, the guys are relaxing, happy to have get ridden of their preys and they are blowing away the whole motel in a final blaze of glory. Crow's team is a really cool. The film works because of them. The motel's scene is the Opening of the movie. You got the feel immediatly, and it doesn't stop from there. The Religion takes a huge place here, but I won't talk about it. You will have to understand the whole thing by yourself, make your own opinion. Warning for this movie. The Master is Back....with an attitude. 2 Toes Up ! The Lone Jedi...... " A fantastic review, another massive positive. Thanks to the Lone Jedi.

News as of 9th April Problems With The Trailer Ok, I have had loads of e-mails about the trailer. Lots of people have asked me if there is a problem with it, but loads of people have downloaded it without any problems, so no problem with it. I will say this, if you are using a Shareware MPEG player (such as VMPEG) then they have a size limit on the files they will play. I have put up the trailer in good faith, I can't do anything about it if people find their connection going down halfway through, as far as I know everything is fine this end (and a lot of people will vouch for that).
Discussion Of The Movie Now a lot of use have had a chance to see the clip and the trailer I was wondering if anyone wanted to discuss the movie? If you do check out alt.movies.john-carpenter
Fatal Attraction The Unfinished Projects section has not been updated for a while, but here is Tom Alaerts (who now owns 50% of this site by default!) to give us some more information - "JC was offered to make Fatal Attraction, this was before they asked Adrian Lyne. But jc wasn't interested because the story reminded him too much of "Play misty for me" (The 70s Eastwood movie about a DJ who is harassed by a female fan.). Anyway, I believe it would have been a seriously different movie, I think the erotic tension would have been less steamy in a jc version but otoh, it is very well possible that the terror from the 2nd part would have been more edge-of-the-seat." Cheers Tom, as one vistor to this page has said - "Without you and that Tom Alaerts guy I would be totaly clueless as to what is going on. Thanks."
The Stars, My Destination I cannot remember who told me this one (could you please e-mail me and let me know?) but JC was also considering adapting this sci-fi novel, which I think was written by Alfred Bester.
More Info On Distribution This was sent in by Casey, the webmaster at the fantastic Cabinet Of Dr Casey - "... little tidbit in Army Archerd's column for Daily Variety today that I thought you might like to hear. Apparently the U.S. distribution is not in limbo- "Producer Steve Stabler's New Destination Films scored a coup in launching as a distribution house for major product with Largo's summer horror/thriller "John Carpenter's Vampires." Destination Films beat out several majors. The picture premieres Tuesday in Paris, part of a monthlong celebration of Carpentermania featuring 23 of his films." Note the term "summer horror/thriller." Guess I'll have to make do with the trailer from your site for awhile! :) " Summer is the first mention I have heard of any release date for the US.

News as of 8th April The Trailer Is Here! (So say goodbye to the clip) I now have the Vampires trailer, supplied to me by supercool Tom Alaerts, who got it from the Cinelive magazine. This is another MPEG file, this one is 14Megabytes, so still huge but slightly smaller than the clip. As the headline says, to make room for this trailer the clip has to be removed.This is strictly copyrighted to Largo Entertainment and all other bodies associated with the production of John Carpenter's Vampires. You will need an MPEG movie player and a fast connection to the 'net (a 28.8K modem will take approx. 1 hours to download it!). Please, only download the clip if you have the bandwidth. This is not a streaming MPEG file so you will have to download 'THE WHOLE' file before you can view it.

Trailer Credits The following picture is of the credits at the end of the Trailer -

So, most of the stuff we knews was correct, no mention of Dan Mazur as a scriptwriter, and Don Jakoby is also a co-producer. There is no mention of JC also being a screenwriter, so according to these credits a large chunk of the scennplay will be from Jakoby's original.
More Info On Distribution This was sent to me by Captain Blake - "... the publicity Firm that is handling Vampires. They said that the Dimension deal is just a rumor and that a US distribution deal is close, but nothing is official yet." So it seems like the US release is back into limbo.
The Fog Retro This info was sent in by Kim August, who sadly had to close down her very cool Rob Bottin site - " The Fog retro is still up at the ex- Bottin site and would give folks something else to look at concerning the movie"
Vampires Premiere Nikola has sent us this news - "World premiere of "Vampires" was a part of BALLANTINE'S CINEMANIA film festival here, at Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Film and first reactions of the audience were great. I am not sure about the critics, though. It's a well known fact to me that JC's latest movies are not well accepted amond those "I'm a film critic, I know the best" bastards. Nevertheless, there are some die-hard fans over here (I'm definitely one of them; I like JC's movies since I was a kid) and VAMPIRES will surely be an underground film hit." So Belgrade has beaten everyone to the punch, it is good to know that the audience reaction was great.
Big Trouble In Little China 2 Patrick, over at the Films Of John Carpenter page reports this - "Falcon from the Big Trouble In Little China sequel site just dropped a note telling us he's ending the campaign to get his sequel idea, More Trouble In Little China, made into a feature film. This decision comes because of a letter to him from J.C. himself! Here's the snip from J.C.'s note:

I'm flattered that you enjoyed BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. It is one of my favorite movies of the ones I've directed. I'm gratified that many viewers discovered Jack Burton and the ghosts of Chinatown on video and cable. Because BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA was not a box office hit, there is no incentive for Taft Productions or 20th Century Fox to make a sequel.I think the idea of a television series or movie makes more sense. Regardless, neither Debra Hill nor myself have anything to do with these decisions.

News as of 7th April Who Is Going To Distribute This Thing? John Nada, that wily old dog with the supercool sunglasses that manage to cut through all the hype, has gone straight to the source and got this info from Largo - ".... publicist. Now the story is that Destination has NOT secured the Vampires rights! .. they hoped for some word soon, ...comments were "technically, the film has not been sold yet." Now, bear in mind this is not an official word yet, but it doesn't look good at the moment. Mind you, the use of the word 'technically' may be the most important, perhaps it is just a case of sorting out contracts and stuff.
Halloween 7 and JC - The Stuff John then went on to fill us in on exactly what JCs feelings were to this new movie - "... Carpenter basically turned it down for 2 reasons. One was that ... an uneeded sequel to a film that he was very pleased with and proud of. the 2nd was that the money dimension was offering wasn't sufficient to make him overlook the first reason. He did agree to not give a firm "no" until he read Williamson's treatment, but that after he did he could see no reason to change his mind. He did not read Williamson's script. " Yeah, that figures. I can't say I am upset about it, JC has done the Micheal Myers thing, let's let him move on.
Meltdown Just before running off to save humanity Nada left us with this info on the new movie being made out of an old JC script - " JC said - "I don't know anything about this. MELTDOWN is a script I wrote for hire in 1978. It was originally called THE PROMETHEUS CRISIS, it had been a book. These two young producers had the rights and wanted me to do a draft of it. What I wrote was HALLOWEEN in a nuclear plan. They shopped it around, it didn't get made. I even read it again in '84, right after STARMAN. It was interesting but boy, did it need some work. Then 4-5 years ago I heard they were going to do it with Dolph Lundgren. It was a terrorist thing now, terrorists in a nuclear plant. That didn't go. Now I hear it's going again. I'll guarantee you, it's not my screenplay. I haven't said a word to anybody about this project since probably 1980." " So, not much to get excited about there.
Those Small Icons David Fakrikian has let us in on what those icons are on the French poster for Vampires - "MCM is a TV channel, Fun Radio a radio. They are sponsors. " Etienne elaborates on this - " The icons are some advertisement... "MCM" is a musical network (available only with satelite or cable) and "Fun Radio" is a French teenage oriented, hype radio ! In France when such media are sponsoring a movie, they often do some advertisement for it during their programs (with free tickets, movie meromabilia or gift to win). If I hear of any such events, you'll hear from me ! "
Negative Vampires Review Tom Alaerts drops in this news - " I browsed the new french "Studio" magazine. it had a very short review of vampires. only 1 star was awarded (mediocre). Now you have to know that Studio is mainly a middle-of-the-road movie magazine (typically with people like Johnny Depp or Sandra Bullock on the covers). I quote this from memory, so it won't be very accurate, but you'll get the idea: "We have to admit the obvious savoir-faire of the director. But the story is really heavy and ridiculous, an uneasy mix of horror, religion and science. And everything is really done over the top, with special effects in true Ed Wood style. It seems that the days of JC as a brilliant director are definitively over." Whew, they don't hold back on slagging it off, comparing JC with Ed Wood!
The Vampires Clip I have had a few people telling me that there are problems with downloading it, has anyone managed to download it ok? As far as I know there are no problems, this is a big clip and the 'net isn't the most reliable of things.

News as of 6th April French Vampires Poster Etienne Barillier has kindly supplied us with this scan of the new poster for Vampires

That Vampires Clip Over the weekend over 350 people downloaded the Vampires clip! This is a huge amount considering that the only people who know about this clip are those who come this site anyway. This just shows how much anticipation there is for this movie.
JC The Composer As most of us know, one of the coolest things about JCs movies are his scores, my personal favourite is Halloween. At the Hollywood On-line site they have a page on the compositions of JC, light on detail but you can hear snippets from the Halloween soundtrack there.
New JC Book

Patrick, over at the Films Of John Carpenter page, reports about this "New J.C. Book: The fine french fellow Jean-Baptiste Thoret has just stopped by to let us know that his new book about J.C. (which is in French, in case you hadn't guessed) called "Mythes et masques: les fantÙmes de John Carpenter" (translation: "Myths and Masks: The Ghosts of John Carpenter") is now available."

News as of 3rd April (Late Update - 3rd April, 2pm GMT) Vampires Clip! Real, live, video clip of Vampires! After much consideration I have decided to put this up on the site, but it may not be up for long. This is an 18Megabytes MPEG clip, 2minutes playing time, from the start of Vampires. It was first discussed (with pictures) in the News section a few weeks ago. This was provided by a good friend and contributor to these pages. It was available on the French magazine Cinelive's cover mounted CD-ROM. This is strictly copyrighted to Largo Entertainment and all other bodies associated with the production of John Carpenter's Vampires. You will need an MPEG movie player and a fast connection to the 'net (a 28.8K modem will take approx. 1/2 hours to download it!). Please, only download the clip if you have the bandwidth. This is not a streaming MPEG file so you will have to download 'THE WHOLE' file before you can view it.

Update On April 1st News Ok, most of you guessed it just by looking at the date, and the name of the source (Palil Roof = April Fool), but I was sure that reference's to old JC films would really make sure everyone knew it was all a joke! As for the multi-film-project, a few people actually took me up on that one, so I guess I'll have to say I am sorry for raising people's expectations. Anyway, I had loads of people telling me they found it funny, so I am glad you liked it.
New Vampires Magazine Articles Chris drops this in "...the new issue of FEMME FATALES features a small blurb on VAMPIRES. It focuses stunt woman/actress Anita Hart who plays a vampire in the flick. She gives a detailed report of how she and James Woods battled it out. He shoots her in face five times, and the attack is so violent, a few women on the set were upset. J.C. directed the scene by instructing Woods & Hart to act like they were ex-husband & wife.

The new Cinefantasque also features a page on Vampires. Nothing new revealed here, but it does allude to the fact that this film could be a break-out film ala SCREAM for Carpenter-- IF it beats BLADE to the punch. "
Williamson On Carpenter In Fangoria num 172 (the may issue) there is a bit of a chat with Kevin Williamson, the writer of the new Halloween 7 movie. Jc is mentioned in the article - ""He wasn't interested at all...It's silly. He's a wonderful director. John was on some vampire movie and he said, 'You know what, I'm not interested in doing the same movie again,' but it's not. With this film, it's coming full circle."

News as of 1st April JC's Showgirls Some discussion has arisen on alt.movies.john-carpenter about the nude picture of Sheryl Lee in the Vampires film, and whether this has any baring on JC's often voiced wish to 'do a porno film'. Well, from an extremely well placed source, whom I shall name Palil Roof, I can reveal JCs next project will be a multimillion pound porno film, let's let Palil have his say - "Hi, cool page man, thought you might like the latest news. JC is going to do a porno film, based on April's First Child, the best selling erotic novel written by John Nada. The suits have seen the huge sucess of Showgirls and want to cash in with an even more explicit movie, and JC is their man. No cast confirmed yet, but Kurt Russel is in the running to play John Trentkent, an eyepatch wearing, John Wayne fanatic who runs a multimillion porn industry out of an old abandoned church's basement. A male sexual psychopath (with a William Shatner fetish) is on the prowl, and the two men collide in the run-down streets of LA". Should be an interesting movie, anyone else have any news on this movie?
No Show On Showgirls(Late April 1st Update, 2:15 pm GMT) - In a shocking development on the above news story, John Carpenter himself has been talking with our exclusive reporter, Palil Roof, about his future plans. Although the porno film is in planning, it is a long way off. Before this JC is going to attempt a world first, directing/writing/scoring/producing a number of movies AT THE SAME TIME. Details are sketchy, but the current list of films, all scheduled for a 1/4/1999 release date, are -

1. The Thing 2
2. Big Trouble In Little China 2
3. A remake of Rio Bravo, starring Kurt Russel
4. Escape From Earth
5. They Live 2

Palil tried to get some further info, but JC just hurried away in a daze. But, Palil did hear him mutter "... this should keep those John Carpenter Web Page bastards off my back...." as he ran off, though no one here could quite understand what that meant.