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Vampires (1998)


Commentaries on this disc:

Commentary 1: Director John Carpenter Rating:5.6/10 (5 votes) [graph]Login to vote or review
Reviewed by frankasu03 on October 13th, 2012:Find all reviews by frankasu03
I love John Carpenter. I'm admitting that up front. To me, just one of the masters in genre film-making. The reason I own most every DVD of his work? The commentary tracks. Commentary fans know of the shear entertainment brilliance that greets ones ears upon listening to Carpenter and his fellow commentator. But, sadly, this track nails home the one true fact of Carpenter commentaries: He NEEDS a "co-pilot." Whether it's Debra Hill, Kurt Russell, Keith Gordon, or any number of actors who have joined him in the past (Peter Jason, Jeff Bridges, Jared Harris, Hell! Even Natasha Henstridge). When Mr. Carpenter goes solo, as in "Vampires," he becomes seemingly disinterested and is prone to repeating the same recollections. In between some semi-long pauses there are repetitions of shooting conditions, ("This was really cold here.") locations ("This is a set, this is in New Mexico,"), and numerous accounts about the music you're hearing in the score. It's alright, hearing that James Woods liked to improvise, and that many of the location were used in other films like "Young Guns," is pretty neat. But, this could all be covered in a 10 minute "Behind the scenes" featurette, or learned by glancing through "ImDB" trivia. The best tracks are when JC is engaged, especially when his partner is Kurt Russell. I especially love the way he'll turn the tables and pry info from his "star" or coworker. This track, like the main villain in "Vampires", well...it sucks. 4/10