Vampires: Los Muertos

Vampires: Los Muertos
DVD cover
Directed by	Tommy Lee Wallace
Produced by	John Carpenter
Written by	Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring	Jon Bon Jovi Cristián de la Fuente Natasha Gregson Wagner Arly Jover Diego Luna Darius McCrary
Cinematography	Screen Gems Storm King Productions
Distributed by	Destination Films
Release date(s)	September 24, 2002
Running time	93 min.
Language	English

Vampires : Los Muertos is a 2002 sequel to John Carpenter's Vampires starring Jon Bon Jovi in the role of a vampire hunter. The film is not a direct sequel but takes place within the same universe as the first film. This film is produced by John Carpenter. Cristián de la Fuente and Natasha Gregson Wagner also star as Father Rodrigo and Zoe. The film was written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. A third film was also released, Vampires: The Turning, but features a completely different vampire origin story.

Plot

In Mexico, a freelance vampire slayer, Derek Bliss (Jon Bon Jovi), is hired by an unknown client provided he build a team of slayers. Father Adam Guiteau (played by Tim Guinee in the first film) is shown to have been killed in this one. This team ends up including the vampiress Zoe, who is fighting her affliction with medication, Father Rodrigo, a helper who pretends to be a priest, and Sancho, a brave fourteen year old boy who aids Derek in killing some vampires at the beginning of the movie, in finding a large nest of "suckers" and their powerful leader, a vampire princess named Una (Arly Jover). She is seeking a legendary black crucifix: the Berziers Cross, the same crucifix used unsuccessfully in the first movie to perform a ritual which will enable vampires to walk in sunlight and be invulnerable.

The movie starts out with a man on the streets looking for a prostitute. When he finds one, the man pulls out a razor and threatens the woman. Derek then comes up and points an odd-looking gun to his left temple. After the man backs away, the prostitute thanks Derek and asks if she can do anything for him. He turns the gun on her and shoots her with three stakes, and it is revealed that the prostitute was a vampiress. Derek drags her to an abandoned car lot and watches her catch fire in the sunlight while filming it on camera. When he gets back to his hotel room, the Van Helsing Group leader calls him and informs him that he has a new job. He goes down to Mexico to a convent where a group of vampire-hunting priests are staying. He has a strange vision, and one of the priests conclude that the vampires may be linking up with him. In the night, Una and her fledglings attack and feed upon a human man. The next day, Derek goes looking for people on a list he has been given. Unfortunately, most of them are dead or crazy, and the last living ones are killed. Derek goes to a coffee shop and asks for a man named Jesse. He is there, and tells Derek to wait while he finishes up something. Derek then meets Zoe, and he grows suspicious when she asks him if he works in the "undead" business. He leaves to go to the bathroom, and finds out that Zoe is a vampire by using a special lens, becoming sad as he thinks she's cute. In the split second it takes him to throw a paper towel in the trash, Una comes in, slashes the throat of every customer, and kidnaps Jesse.

When Derek comes out and sees that Zoe has also fled, he concludes that she must have done it. The next day, he pulls over when sees her on the side of the road. They argue; Zoe tells him about special pills she takes to fight off her vampire side. She has a vision of a monastery, and Derek realizes that it is the one where he just left. They drive back and find all but one priest slaughtered. "Father" Rodrigo tells them of the Berziers Cross, and shows them something a fellow priest was working on in his spare time: a huge van complete with all the necessary vampire-slaying tools. Derek hears a noise in the trees, and finds a teenager that he had met before. His name is Sancho, and he has a permission slip from his mother, stating he can go on the vampire hunt with Derek.

The group meet up with another hunter, Ray Collins from Memphis, and go after Una. Una seduces Ray and convinces him to leave Zoe's pills where she can get them. When they reach the village where the vampires are hiding out, they are welcomed because they want the vampires killed. Una, now able to walk in daylight, goes out and kidnaps Zoe. Derek aims the gun at Sancho and says he must have given the pills to Una. However, a villager realizes that Ray did it, and shoots him before Derek shoots Sancho. Derek and the gang go after Zoe to and rescue her, at the cost of leaving Rodrigo to properly perform the ritual. They go back to a clinic, where Zoe's vampire blood is exchanged for human blood. Derek knows how to save Rodrigo; the vampire blood pumped into his body.

The team goes after Rodrigo and find out that he was not a real priest. Una is not daunted, and she responds by lighting a fire beneath his feet. Derek saves Rodrigo, and goes after Una. They almost kill her, but she escapes when the cord that is dragging her into the sunlight snaps. She catches Derek, and he grabs what is left of the cord. Before they reach the sunlight, Derek blows her head off and sends it flying into the sun, where it catches fire. Her body turns to stone with a black beating heart in the chest. Derek drives a stake into the heart. Sancho and Rodrigo decide to stay in the village, but Zoe and Derek drive for Mexico City in the sunset.

Cast

• Jon Bon Jovi as Derek Bliss
• Cristián de la Fuente as Father Rodrigo
• Natasha Wagner as Zoey
• Arly Jover as Una
• Darius McCrary as Ray Collins
• Diego Luna as Sancho

External links

• Vampires: Los Muertos at the Internet Movie Database