Shocktober 2026 - John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)

“For six hundred years, I've fed on your kind at will!” – Valek

For me, before Sarah Michelle Gellar picked up a wooden stake and went to war with the nightwalking bloodsucking hordes, there was this movie by horror maestro John Carpenter. Its western-like locations, its vampires and its modern take on their dispatch, not to mention the wisecracking hero make Vampires an obvious choice for this year’s Shocktober theme.

James Woods plays the bitter, cynical, profanity spewing Jack Crow who leads a motley vigilante crew of vampire hunters sponsored by the Catholic Church. They operate in New Mexico. The backstory is that the cult of vampirism was actually caused by the Catholic Church, albeit accidentally. Jack Crow is anointed the Master Slayer of vampires by the Church because his parents were murdered by vampires, and since then he has been raised by the Church and trained to be a vampire killing machine.

We catch up to the Slayer Crew as they reach a lonely farmhouse that contains a vampire nest. It’s daylight as they arrive, so you’d think they’d be relatively safe – but no. As long as they’re not exposed to direct sunlight, the vampires can defend themselves, and they do. Not that it does them much good.

The nest is wiped out with gunfire, but they need several hits to put them down, wooden spikes and Jack Crow’s trusty modified crossbow. The crossbow is used to drive a metal arrow into the vampire, who is then dragged out by a winch on the front of one of the team’s trucks to the sunlight outside, where the vampire immediately combusts.

Unfortunately, this mission although gaining them 9 dead vampires isn’t a total success. The one they’re really after wasn’t there – an older, more powerful Master Vampire. He was wisely buried a short distance away from the nest, and breaks the surface as the sun sets.

Despite the mission’s limited success, the crew still celebrate with a drunken night in a motel with the local prostitutes – until the Master Vampire, Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) crashes the party and slaughters Crow’s entire crew with the exception of Crow himself, his right-hand man Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) and a prostitute named Katrina (Sheryl Lee – if she looks familiar, she was Laura Palmer on Twin Peaks). BUT – Valek has bitten Katrina and she is becoming infected slowly, unknown to the others. But it’s worse than that - the infection, in turn, gives her a psychic link with Valek.

Crow confers with his superior, Cardinal Alba (Maximillian Schell) who tells him that he’s up against Valek – the original vampire. Over 600 years ago, Valek was a disgraced priest, who led a rebellion against the Church. He was executed, but resurrected as a vampire. He has killed a team of Vampire Hunters in Germany and is now active in New Mexico, searching for something. Alba tasks Crow with finding a new team, tracking down Valek and killing him.

What Valek is actually looking for is the Black Cross of Beziers, located in a Mission where Valek has slaughtered the friars and recruited his mini army in a deserted nearby town. What’s so special about the Black cross of Breziers? Well, when used in a ceremony, it will allow vampires to walk in sunlight. (Given that, you’d think the Catholics would’ve hidden it better. Maybe a vault in the Vatican?)

Using Katrina’s psychic link, the Team Crow track Valek down, but Crow himself is captured, to be used as a sacrifice in the ceremony – worse, Crow is betrayed by Cardinal Alba, who is in reality one of Valek’s followers.

Happily, Crow is rescued just in time, as the sun rises and Valek is impaled on the Black Cross.

Katrina and Montoya, now both vampires, are given a head start by Crow who tells them he WILL find them one day.

This seems to be one of the Carpenter films that somehow gets left out of the conversation when his movies are discussed. Maybe because it was released before Blade, which overshadowed it, being the first Marvel Movie of the modern age. But in my opinion, it’s right up there with Blade. It’s not Carpenter’s best but the only reason for that is Carpenter’s earlier body of horror movies, The Thing, Christine, The Fog not to mention he peaked early in his career with the immortal Halloween (1978), in my mind and all these years later STILL the greatest horror movie ever made.

Next time – a familiar name, a familiar actor linked with that name – but it’s not what you think it is.

Don't forget the Piercing the Veil Shocktober Special at this link.