A return to form for John Carpenter after some iffy movies. This is a jaunty tale of vampire hunters in the South West, a modern day Western with James Woods as the bounty hunter equivalent out for baddies. He has a posse which is wiped out (the film's best sequence), except for Woods and Daniel Baldwin.
Baldwin gives the film some camp appeal, with his chubby cheeks and faux macho posturing. His "romance", I guess, with hooker Sheryl Lee, who is bitten by the head vampire is very rapey and awkward (he takes off her clothes and chains her to the bed and they fall in love). Lee is beautiful but looks downright uncomfortable in a lot of scenes.
Woods is another attraction with his method intensity and leather jacket. He seems to be having the time of his life. He is given a priest sidekick - no reflection on that actor but I wish the sidekick had been a nun.
I think the other flaw for me was the relationships between Lee and Baldwin and Woods and Baldwin. These are is the emotional core of the film - if this had worked I feel the movie would be remembered more fondly.
Still it's a solid story, and is basically well done by Carpenter.
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