Not a direct sequel to the John Carpenter film, but taking place in the same universe. The sequel follows another Vatican sanctioned vampire hunter, Jon Bon Jovi, as he goes after a dangerous group of vampires in Mexico. Carpenter did not write or direct this film, but is on-board as producer. This film was instead written and directed by longtime Carpenter collaborator Tommy Lee Wallace (he even played Michael Meyers in the first film), who delivers a solid enough of direct-to-video entertainment. I did like how this sequel changed the setting a bit and made it even more so of a western than the first film, but this film does suffer by comparison to the excellent original film.

Vampires: Los Muertos starts as Vampire hunter Derek Bliss (Jon Bon Jovi) is hired by a mysterious client to recruit a team of Vampire hunters & travel to a small town in Mexico to wipe out a nest of Vampires situated there, however it seems that someone is one step ahead of him as all of his potential team of hunters are being killed off. Derek becomes suspicious & eventually assembles his own team of a half human half Vampire woman named Zoey (Natasha Wagner), a Mexican kid named Sancho (Diego Luna) & a Catholic Priest Father Rodrigo (Cristián de la Fuente) who brotherhood has been killed by the master Vampire. Derek learns that the Master Vampire Una (Arly Jover) is trying to find the anti-crucifix & perform a ceremony that will allow her to walk in daylight...Written & directed by Tommy Lee Wallace this was the first sequel to John Carpenter's rather good horror film Vampires (1998) who already has previous when it comes to horror film sequels having helmed the criminally underrated Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) & the fun Fright Night Part 2 (1988), while not as good as the original Vampires or featuring any of the original character's or even referring to the original events this sequel isn't that bad as far as follow ups go although I doubt I'd want to ever watch it again. The script feels a little routine, ideas & themes are taken from other better films such as the Mexican setting already seen in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) & the anti-crucifix aspect is ripped directed from the original Vampires. The script takes itself very seriously & plods along in unspectacular fashion, there are these people who talk about killing Vampires, drive for a bit, kill a few Vampires & then talk about killing Vampires some more in a rather underwhelming manner that gets repetitive. At 90 odd minutes long the pace is alright even if there isn't enough story to fill that time out, the character's are all dull & no-one comes across as particularly likable or interesting with the Master vampire Una only speaking a few lines of dialogue during the entire film. There are a few decent moments, there's nothing amazingly bad about Vampires: Los Muertos either & it passed the time harmlessly enough but I doubt I'll remember anything about it by the end of the week.Shot in full 2:35:1 widescreen the film looks nice enough with strong Earthy colours & nice enough locations & sets but again nothing stands out that much, sure it's competent & while it's on screen it's find but once the end credits roll you will probably forget all about it. There's some alright gore here & luckily I didn't notice any CGI computer effects, a bartender has his head punched off & his stump spurts blood over a pool table, there are slit throats, a fair amount of blood splatter, burning Vampires, decapitated heads & several stakings as well. Set mainly in the daytime at least you can see what's going on, there's none of that shaky hand-held camera crap either which is appreciated.Actually filmed in Mexico the production values are nice & it looks like Vampires: Los Muertos had some money spent on it. The acting is alright, the obvious thing of note is the casting of rocker Jon Bon Jovi as the lead Vampire hunter who to be fair does OK, Natasha Wagner is poor while Arly Jover plays another Vampire after appearing in the original Blade (1998) as Mercury.Vampires: Los Muertos is passable horror sequel fare that is neither particularly great nor particularly bad, it's just sort of middle of the road entertainment that you can watch & use to pass the time but will have forgotten about by the time the end credits finish rolling. Not as good as the original Vampires but maybe worth catching if you were a fan of it, followed by a further sequel Vampires: The Turning (2005).

This is not so much a sequel to "John Carpenter's Vampires" as it is a remake. No, really, stop and think: Although there has been real effort to add variation to avoid the obvious comparisons, the fact remains that virtually nothing happens in this film that didn't happen in the first. Even the ending is virtually the same! Because the first film was Carpenter's own, and he added a quirky touch of nihilism to the themes of the film (the only force battling the vampires is the Catholic Church, and the Church ain't doing too well, judging by the rowdy team of vampire-hunter's they hired for the job), it left a slightly bitter aftertaste, but allowed Carpenter all kinds of room to twist plot elements in on themselves - ultimately, the Master vampire is somehow more admirable than the team of losers tracking him down - at least he knows what he wants out of life (... er, death).But here the story is told straight, and without Carpenter's quirkiness, it's just your average run-of-the-mill action film, with lifeless characters. slow moments, banal action scenes. Okay for a Saturday afternoon, but largely forgettable.Too bad; Bon Jovi and the rest of the cast actually seem to be up for something more. And taking the story down to (still largely Catholic) Mexico could have provided wonderful opportunities for cross-cultural references and twists.Instead we get, well... the film we were expecting but not the one we were hoping for.Not even a good miss, just so-so.

I've seen this movie, oh, twice. I'm no Jon Bon Jovi fan but he was definitely brilliant in this movie. Can't wait to see the seqeul for this vampire movie. If they were to make a sequel I reckon they should have to fresh people play the roles instead of Jon Bon Jovi because yeah, he was good, but with someone younger like John Cena on Tom Cruise this one could've been quiet good. Plus, the bit with the priest was good, I don't really like Jon Bon Jovi but the bits with the priest were alright to me. One last thing, if someone else were to play the priest I would recommend someone like The Rock or the man who played The Exorcist, Maybe if he weren't dead, Max Schreck could've taken the role. Bottom Line: This movie was quite good.