This is one of my favorite Vampire movies of all time. I rank it up there with Bram Stokers Dracula and Interview With A Vampire. It is much different from those particular movies in terms of sincerity and art directions, but it has it’s own unique and satisfying characteristics.

I went into this movie with the attitude of not expecting too much. I love John Carpenter but he has had his share of clunkers over the coarse of his career. Have you ever seen Ghosts of Mars? Need I say more?

Unlike the aforementioned titles above, this movie takes place in the modern era and revolves around Jack Crown (James Woods) and his team of vampire hunters tracking down “nests” of vampires. They work for the Catholic Church and have a rockstar / pompous mentality about their work and how they should be perceived. Right now, you are probably picking up similarities from movies such as Blade and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; this film however is much different than those films

Unfortunately Jack stumbles upon the first vampire ever created, Jan Valek, played by Thomas Ian Griffith (One Tree Hill) who is the most powerful and dangerous vampire Jack has ever faced. Valek has been searching the country for years looking for a special cross that can open up the door for vampires to be able to live in the day and night. Throughout the movie Valek kills Jack’s team one by one leaving only Jack, his best friend Anthony (Daniel Baldwin) and an infected Prostitute, Katrina, played by Sheryl Lee (One Tree Hill).

Jack and Anthony have to use Katrina to help track Valeks next move, find the mythical cross and defeat Valek and his nest of vampires before he becomes too powerful. With a few twists in the story and some betrayal mixed in, it will keep your interest peaked.

I like this movie for the originality of the screenplay, mild humor and nice death scenes. The movie is filled with suspense and some nice fake scares sprinkled throughout the film. There are some nice kill scenes and a really cool kill where Valek cuts one of the vampire hunters in half with his bare hand.

The characters do a decent job of acting and the story has a very nice flow to it. The ending is very good with a final conflict of doing the right thing or doing the honorable thing.