The Vampires Collection [DVD] [2005]

I was originally looking for just the first film in this series when I saw this boxed set and probably wouldn't have bought the other two films if I had seen them individually. Having said that, however, I did enjoy all of the films and anyone who enjoyed the first one will probably enjoy all three.

The first film, John Carpenter's Vampires, is by far the best of the three following the remains of a team of vampire slayers funded by the Catholic Church who were slaughtered by an extremely powerful master vampire. Accompanied by a rookie priest and a prostitute who is in the process of tuning into a vampire, the slayers must track down the master vampire and stop his plans that would see him become almost unstoppable. Not a masterpiece by any standard this first film is enjoyable, however and most vampire fans would enjoy it.

Vampire: Los Muertos on the other hand is not really that good and although it does have a few good ideas few of them are all developed fully and some of the acting is quite poor. This film is a follow on from the first with another master vampire trying to do what the first one failed to do. Trying to stop her is a ragtag group of slayers lead by a freelance slayer played by Jon Bon Jovi. This film is definitely the worst of the three.

The final film, Vampires: The Tuning is quite good. Moving the action to Thailand, the film has little in common with the other two in the boxed set, despite having the same feel to it. The Turning sees an American tourist getting caught up in a war between two groups of vampires, one good the other bad, when his girlfriend is bitten and abducted by Niran, leader of the evil vampires. This film is surprisingly enjoyable with a mixture of western and eastern vampire myth with a smattering of martial arts thrown in. The idea of having the film from the point of view of the tourist rather than that of the slayers or vampires is interesting and works reasonably well.

Al together these three films are well worth watching, although there are quite a few poor bits in them, most of them in the middle film.

The Vampires trilogy. Three loosely connected films. Well the first two are slightly connected, the third isn't really.

it started off with John Carpenter's Vampires. I'm a big fan of John Carpenter's films and was left slightly disappointed with Vampires. I think because of the idea of Carpenter doing a Vampire film got e so excited that when it turned out to be an average movie I couldn't help but feel slightly let down. Things start well. James Woods heads a vampire hunting team who track down nests of Vampires and kill them off along with the master vampire. The opening scenes of such a kill are really cool. Thrown into the mix is the fact that a priest accompanies them on these hunts. It turns out that he catholic church help fund such vampire hunting units. A great start to the film. However, it's a bit downhill after the first 20-30 minutes and goes from a potentially classic film to an average vampire movie. If you are a Carpenter or vampire fan then it's definitely worth checking out but it's not a classic unfortunately. 5/10

John Carpenter's Vampires: Los Muertos has tenious links to the original film although it has a new cast. The film stars Jon Bon Jovi and who puts in an average performance. However, the story and more importantly visually this is a pretty awful film. Don't ask me what happened in the second half of the film as my mind was starting to wander. One of the problems with this film is IT ISN'T SCAREY! A big flaw for a horror film. It's a shame that Carpenter's name is a associated with this film. It's only worth checking out if you're a Jon Bon Jovi fan. It's not surprising that this was a straight to DVD release. 3/10

Vampires: The Turning doesn't fare any better. The concept is actually appealing. American tourist couple are in Thailand and stumble across vampires. There are good vampires (who don't attack humans) and bad vampires who do (including the female in the couple). Through is some on location filming with martial arts and you should have a winner. Unfortunately you don't. Due to a low budget and some dreadful acting (how bad is the male lead!), this film really disappoints. it has a bad American made for TV feel about it. Shame as it sounds good on paper. At least John Carpenter's name isn't associated to it. 3/10

If you're a Carpenter fan then this box set might be of interest if you are a completist. However, the latter two films are pretty awful and after you've watched them once you won't want to bother again. However, at this reasonable price I felt that I was buying the original Vampires and getting the next two for free. Just as well because it isn't worth paying for those two!

Overall 5/10 because of the first decent film and the fact that it's a nice set for the price. Just don't get your hopes up for the latter two films.

As vampire films go these are pretty good viewing, glad I bought them. Good viewing for cold dark nights around Halloween.