10 Best Westerns NOT Set In The Old West

One of the most exciting and genuinely fun-to-watch vampire movies ever (if you're partial to mindless violence, ridiculous plots and a mix of good and oh-so-poor acting), John Carpenter's Vampires, released in 1998, is the Western genre twisted to its most extreme and enjoyable.

Jack Crow (James Woods) is a mercenary, leading a team to retrieve the "Black Cross of Berziers", an ancient relic which can allow vampires to walk in the sunlight. In a world where vampires rule, preventing such power falling into the their hands is an imperative. And, well, that's pretty much it. Violence ensues, deaths occur and characters are betrayed.

It's solid fun, and packs a lot of action into its hour and a half runtime, but as a modern Western it's pretty brilliant. Fusing horror and the Western tropes audience's love - gunfights, romance and badass loners - is a great idea, and gives way to some typical set pieces paired with some unfamiliar situations.

Like a couple others on this list, it doesn't sound like it should work, but in terms of pure entertainment it succeeds in spades whilst being an effective neo-Western. Also, it's John Carpenter. What's not to love there?