John Carpenter flicks always face their story in a tongue in cheek way, so to speak. He is somehow preaching to the already converted, playing with well known and accepted stereotypes. Not that I dislike that, but usually I tend to prefer more "authentic" fare. This film surprised me. I found it true to its aim. The story unfolds at a fast pace, the carachterisation is great, believe it or not James Woods makes a convincing action hero, and the story is as original as it's needed. It plays as a western where the Indians would have been substituted by vampires and the cavalry is in the payroll of the catholic church, an institution that is portrayed as withholding terrible secrets and involved in a war with evil that has been going on for centuries and will never finish. Woods and his men are just pawns in the game, in a difficult position, since they are facing terrible enemies with limited means.