This Overlooked John Carpenter Classic is Now Streaming on Netflix
One of my earliest ever writing assignments tasked me with ranking the entirety of John Carpenter’s filmography. That wasn’t an easy task, especially since I had to comb through decades of films to fill in any blind spots. Yes, I’ll admit it—prior to writing the piece, I’d never seen Starman before. Glad I did, though. A genuine banger of a film. When John Carpenter was locked in, there were few quite like him.
You can check the piece out here if you’re curious about my labor of love, but suffice to say, for as much as I love Carpenter, his filmography is more diverse than most. That’s a nice way of saying that, while there’s something worthwhile in everything he touches (even Ghosts of Mars), it’s pretty inconsistent across the board. Case in point? One of my lowest entries, Vampires, often stylized as John Carpenter’s Vampires. I wasn’t a fan, but since the film is slowly morphing into a cult hit, I was keen to revisit it. You can do the same since Vampires is now streaming on Netflix.
Per Netflix: Vengeful vampire slayer Jack Crow meets his match in powerful kingpin Jan Valek, who seeks a talisman that will let bloodsuckers hunt in daylight.
I’m always willing to admit when I’m wrong, and I think I might have been too hard on Vampires back in the day. There’s a brand of lunacy I’m not quite sure I appreciated at the time, though in retrospect, it works really well for this specific, Western breed of vampire. I think I was rejecting the sort of excess and sensationalism present in Vampires that would define Carpenter’s later work. What doesn’t work in Ghosts of Mars ends up working really well here.
In a fascinating turn of events, too, I revisited some contemporaneous critical reactions alongside my Netflix rewatch. Turns out, famed critic Gene Siskel was a huge fan of the film. Color me surprised. Siskel not only remarked that the “film that should put John Carpenter back on the map as a horror director and a film director in general,” but later shared an earnest plea to see James Woods nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. Roger Ebert was more lukewarm, but even he appreciated Vampires’ “mordant humor and charm.” Long live the vampires of John Carpenter’s Vampires. Sorry I didn’t appreciate you more at first.
What do you think? Any plans to check out Vampires on Netflix? If you do, let me know what you think over on Twitter @Chadiscollins. While you’re there, let me know which John Carpenter movie is your favorite!
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