Rating: D+
Dir: John Carpenter
Star: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith
[22] If I was JC, I’d be a little wary about putting my name to it, since this modern-day vampire film comes over as limp and anaemic, not sexy or gory enough, and seriously short in the bad attitude bureau. However, I definitely exempt one person from criticism: James Woods as the “heroic” vampire-killer, who demonstrates the difference between A-movie actors like himself, and the B-movie rest of the cast. The man is utterly hardcore, even if this is the sort of film you expect to see at the start of a career, not after Oscar nominations. He is the film’s main saving grace; a couple of nice ideas (winching the vampires into the sunlight) are buried in a definite sense of seen-it-all-before. Carpenter’s career continues to sink, and may be irrevocably holed. Meanwhile, the iceberg that is James Woods sails serenely on.