HELLBOY: Based on the comic book series by Mike Mignola, Guillermo del Toro's gleefully eccentric film follows the supernatural adventures of Hellboy (Ron Perlman), a cigar-chomping, horn-filing demonic hero enlisted by an occult scholar (John Hurt) to fight evil in the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Along with the fire-throwing Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and the amphibious psychic Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, with the voice of David Hyde Pierce), Hellboy is joined by new recruit John Myers (Rupert Evans), a squeaky-clean FBI agent assigned to keep the big red devil's exploits in check. Things get out of hand, however, when a vicious monster is unleashed by the villainous Rasputin (Karl Roden), leading to events that may set off an apocalyptic nightmare for humanity.JOHN CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES: Bitter, tough-as-nails vampire hunter Jack Crow (James Woods) leads a specialized team, funded by no less than the Vatican, that is dedicated to destroying the race of vampires that inhabit the earth. The team is successful, and becomes lazy in its success, eventually falling victim to an elaborate ambush set up by a powerful master vampire. Crow and two others of his team are the only survivors, and are determined to get revenge for the massacre. Carpenter takes the genre to new heights with powerful action scenes, nifty vampire-killing weapons and great special effects. James Woods is wonderfully over the top as the head vampire hunter who has no love for the Vatican and a mysterious past that is never far behind him. VAMPIRES is based on the book by John Steakley, adapted for the screen by Don Jakoby. The score is creepy and powerful, a typical characteristic for a Carpenter film. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.