20 GREAT Monster Movies NOBODY Talks About

It is widely recognised that John Carpenter's best work came directing Halloween in 1978, while there are other, later works that couldn't be further from how his masterpiece was received. Between the best and worst of the man's catalogue are a handful of underrated outings, including the likes of In the Mouth of Madness and Vampires.

Based around James Woods' Jack, leader of a crew of vampire hunters, Vampires very much relies on Carpenter's competency as a filmmaker, as well as the performances of the likes of Woods, rather than its story or plot. It was received as something of a love-it-or-hate-it release at the time, though many in the latter category may wish to revisit and reappraise it in the wake of the works that Carpenter followed it with.

The undead can be a tough sell on the big screen at the best of times, and taking a popular novel and changing much of the plot likely didn't help, but this was one of the genre's greats showing that there was still something left in the tank.

Is the movie his best work? Of course not, and with Blade following just one month later, it wasn't even the best vampire hunter story of 1998. Still, that doesn't mean that there isn't still something to be taken from it.