John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)

"The battle that has made myths, destroyed lives, and lasted for over 700 years...ends now. Meet Team Crow, an elite group of highly trained killers. Led by Jack Crow, they will risk everything to battle the most ruthless killing machines of our time - VAMPIRES. Across country, and an ocean, Jack and his team follow the Master Vampire's bloody trail toward a terrifying climax that could either save the world or end it. As the war rages on, it is becoming hard to tell who is the hunter and who is the prey."

The Raw News	This section is a collation of all the Vampires News as it appeared in the News section of the JC site. More news - Jan 22nd 1999
The Update	This is an attempt to collate this information, it contains shooting dates, cast list, crew list, etc. Updated - Sept 25th
The Links	All the current links to Vampires related information, including links to any pictures, movies, sounds, etc. Sept 7th
The Multimedia	All The current multimedia, available on the web, for Vampires. New Movie Clips!!- Oct15th
	The John Carpenter website, host for this Vampires page.

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The Update :

John Carpenter's Vampires is based on the John Steakley novel Vampire$. In the novel a group of Vampire hunters (Team Crow) are sponsored by the Vatican to stamp out the vampire menace worldwide, though the principal action takes place in the US. This gives the novel a 'wild-west' sort of feel that JC was attracted to. After a disastrous salying Team Crow (minus a few members) learn that their leader, Jack Crow, is known to the Vampires and has a master Vampire on his trail. Crow is an enigmatic hulk of a man, very intelligent,who has dedicated his life to the eradication of Vampires from the world. They meet up with Felix (an expert gunslinger, Davette (a reporter under the influence of a Vampire) and a novice preist from the Vatican on their way to an explosive showdown.
The novel is significantly different to the movie - (An excellent John Steakley website has managed to snag an interview with him, in it Steakley discusses how much he likes JC and he is quite happy with the adaptation. It has all the dialogue and none of the original plot, that is what Steakley says. Also, there is no Felix character in the film, no gunslinger who comes in to help the crew). Various plot summaries have appeared, these are some of the more significant points -

-- The character of Davette does not appear in the movie, she is possibly replaced by a prostitute known as Katrina.
-- No Felix, But there is a character named Montoya who may be the same character.
-- Witnesses to the filming and various TV sources have reported on the steak/crossbow/flames scenes, they seem straight out of the novel.
-- An interview with JC in a French magazine "The plot revolves along a crucifix than can give the vampires protection from daylight. "
-- This plot summary was sent to me by Kim August "A squad of vampire slayers is organized by the Vatican to exterminate vampires unleashed by the Church years prior. In their efforts the squad takes a prostitute hostage, because after being bitten by the Lord of the vampires she has a telepathic link to him."
-- Valick (Thomas Ian Griffith), the head vampire, is the result of a botched exorcism from over 600 years ago. So, in a sense, the Vaticam church are responsible for creating him. Hence their overwhelming desire to stamp them out, so they secretly fund Team Crow.

So, most of the stuff we knew 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.

Cast
All of this information is speculated from movie reports and the source novel.

James Woods - Jack Crow, the leader of team Crow, the Vampire hunting team - James Woods at Mr Showbiz
Maximillian Schell - Alba, A Vatican Cardinal, the vatican secretly sponsor the team. Schell is an expert on Vampires.- Maximillian Schell
Shery Lee - A prostitue, confirmed by LA Times interview. Name - Katrina - The Sheryl Lee Fan Page
Tim Guinee - Father Adam (Priest - member of team crow) - Internet Movie Database Listing
Daniel Baldwin - Tony Montoya (Member of Team Crow) - Internet Movie Database Listing
Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa - David Deyo (Member of Team Crow) - Internet Movie Database Listing
Mark Boone Jr. - Katlin (Member of Team Crow) - Internet Movie Database Listing
Gregory Sierra - Unknown (Member of Team Crow) - Internet Movie Database Listing
Henry Kingi - Anthony (Member of Team Crow)
Clark Coleman - Unknown (Member Of Team Crow)
Tommy Rosales - Unknown
Thomas Ian Griffith - Head Vampire Valek
David Rowden - Bambi
Danielle Burgio - Vampires

Crew

Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Score - John Carpenter
Screenwriter - Don Jakoby
Screenwriter - Dan Mazur - (IMDB Information)
Producer - Sandy King Carpenter - rumoured to be screenwriter assistant
Producer - Bill Todman
Producer - Joel Simon
Producer - Gerry Laffy
Producer - David Michaels
Editor - Ed Warschilka, Jr.
Production Manager - Tom Walsh
Director Of Photography - Gary B. Kibbe
Production designer - Thomas A Walsh.
Editor - Edward A. Warschilka
Costume designer - Robin Michael Bush
Special Make up effects - Greg Nicotero
Music- John Carpenter
2nd unit Director (David M Dunlap) (IMDB Information)

Company

Largo Entertainment and Spooky Tooth Productions

Distributor - Sony (US, UK and some European countries, and Latin America), REP (Australasia)

Distribution deal cost approx $15million, which practically covers the budget.

Budget : Rumoured to be around $20 million.

Woods is rumoured to have a Seven figure deal.

Dates

Filming - Carpenter was supposed to start filming in northern New Mexico on June 2nd. Shooting is scheduled for eight weeks, though at the moment it is not clear exactly how much of that time will be spent in the area. : New Mexico Film Commission

July 20th (approx.) James Woods is interviewed by Entertainment Tonight on the set of Vampires.

The wrap date will definitely be Monday the 4th of August and Carpenter plans to start post-production the week of the 11th - source: Raptor

Aug 4th - E! airs interviews with various cast and crew members, including JC himself.

French Release Date april 22 or may 13 (premiere in france in april - feb16th)

Official US Release Date as published by Sony - 31st October 1998

Australasia Release date - Spring/Summer 98

Germany - 28th January 1998.

Locations

Las Vegas (New Mexico); Cerrillos, Santa Fe and at the Bonanza Creek movie set. : Mexico Film Commission

He (Carpenter) says that he has wanted to film in the area for some time, and wants to create something he calls "Southwest Gothic"...Locations are around Santa Fe and Las Vegas, a small town north of Santa Fe. This is a mountainous area of the state, with quite a few turn-of-the-century buildings and some interesting sites such as the Montezuma Castle, a huge former luxury hotel which is now part of the campus of the United World College. : New Mexico Film Commision

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The Links :

The Dark Horizons news web page has a Vampire$ page.

A review of the Vampire$ novel, the review is a bit miserable.

The Corona Vampires website. Corona is an excellent source of up to date information and rumours.

The IMDB Vampires page, or Vampire$ as they call it, which is the title of the Steakley novel.

Another, better review of Vampire$ novel, it does give a brief plot synopsis and the all important ISBN number so you can order the book.

The Vampires script can be purchased on-line at Video Junkie (try the Updates section if you are having trouble finding it)

The Pulp Cult Horror Highway, in the Hall Of Horrors section, has a special on Vampires, featuring Real Player interviews with cast members.

The John Steakley web page, the writer of Vampires. It also has an interview with Steakley in which he discusses Vampires.

The official Sony Vampires site which includes the US trailer.