MovieChat Forums > Vampires (1998) Discussion > Comes so close to being excellent...

Comes so close to being excellent...

posted 6 years ago by sONOMArEturns (1253)
7 replies | jump to latest

Almost everything about this film is top notch: the directing, the gorgeous stylized cinematography, the excellent performance from James Woods, the catchy yet atmospheric music, the snappy and witty dialog, the effects and makeup...just all fantastically done. This movie would've been perfect had the screenplay not sucked. The movie throws out a few awesome plot ideas but never really capitalizes on them and instead flounders around for about 90 minutes. Unfortunately, the script is the most important thing to a movie, and this film proves that a sandwich with the best bread, lettuce, and onions will still suck if the meat is rotten.

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 5 years ago

I mostly agree. I think that most of the movie was working, but the script was weak and, as a result, the whole thing is brought down a lot. I wouldn't say that the movie "sucked", but it got a lot of clout which I don't think it totally deserves. James Woods is awesome, though, and the fact that they didn't go for a completely happy ending was gutsy.

[–] papamihel (1616) 4 years ago

They should have gone with the book story

[–] TandyMan (11096) 4 years ago

It's a strange movie for sure. Clearly they set out to just slap together a cheap low budget campy movie. But everybody ended up bringing their A game. It absolutely looks like they had a blast making it. I think everybody tried too hard cause they were having fun. They got all passionate. Except, as you say, the screenplay was never there to begin with. It's like the opposite of when the cast and crew botch would should have been an awesome movie.

[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 7 months ago

Totally agreed. Vampires is an awesome movie for about 30 minutes, before you realize there's basically no story and the plot goes nowhere. It's a shame because I loved this movie's first act and was wondering why people didn't like it very much...until I kept watching. It's not an atrocious movie or anything, but the 2nd act is just so boring and the climax doesn't do enough to redeem itself. There are several directions the story could've gone in and it stinks that the best they could come up with was a bunch of guys hiding in a hotel room beating up a prostitute.

[–] moviechatterer (15583) 7 months ago

its been awhile but isnt the plot "vampires are searching for some relic that will give them much more power" ?

Thats pretty inventive - none of the other movies have that

[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 7 months ago

True that is what the vampires want, but that info isn't dumped until the 3rd act. Had that been established early on it could've made for a pretty good "catch me if you can" kinda hunt movie.

[–] blue1981 (7735) 2 months ago

My only complaint I have is if it had a higher budget there are some scenes that could be more elaborate like Jack and the Priest killing more Vampires at the end. That scene is reduced to just being a montage. I have a special place in my heart for Vampires as it was one of the first R rated horror movies I saw in theaters.