Synopsis for
Vampires (1998)

Jack Crow [James Woods] kills vampires. He and his team of slayers just routed out a nest of nine vampires in the New Mexico desert but, disappointingly, the master vampire--Jan Valek--was not there. Still, the team is partying at the Sun God Motel, rejoicing in their victory. Unbeknown to the slayers, Valek [Thomas Ian Griffith] is in the adjoining room, biting and raping Katrina [Sheryl Lee], a hooker hired for the party. Before Jack is even aware of Valek's presence, Valek has slain his entire team as well as all the hookers. Only Jack, Katrina, and Jack's partner Montoya [Daniel Baldwin] manage to escape.

After beheading and burning the bodies, Jack goes directly to Cardinal Alba [Maximilian Schell] for further instructions. Alba has more bad news. Their European team was also wiped out three days ago near Cologne (Germany), and a portrait of Jan Valek was found there. According to archivist, Father Adam Guiteau [Tim Guinee], Valek was a 14th century priest who turned against the church and was burned at the stake for heresy. After his death, however, Valek became a vampire, the first of his kind. The Vatican wants Jack to rebuild his team, and they give him Fr Guiteau as his first replacement. Jack wants nothing to do with this lily-livered bookworm, especially because he suspects the team's slaying was a setup, and it could just as easily have been Guiteau as anyone else in the church. After kicking Guiteau's butt a few times, Jack levels with him. He shows him a map of where nests of vampires have been killed in the Southwest since the 1800s. It shows a pattern of an ever-widening circle, and Jack thinks that they're searching for something. Furthermore, he thinks it might be a black cross that he heard of when he was young.

Meanwhile, Montoya and Katrina are holed up in a hotel. Katrina hasn't turned yet and, when she finds out that she's been bitten by a vampire and that Montoya wants to keep her around because of her telepathic link to Valek, she tries to commit suicide by jumping off a ledge. Montoya manages to pull her back through the window, but he cuts his arm while doing so, and Katrina grabs it and starts sucking. Montoya knocks her out and then burns the bite with a lighter, hoping to sterilize it. When Katrina awakens, she starts having visions. The first one is of Valek in a church in San Miquel County. The next vision shows Valek looking at a map and then killing a priest. Fr Guiteau offers to get a list of all the churches in the county, and that leads them to Father Molina, whose body was found decapitated and laying alongside a dirt road. Why would Valek be interested in a small parish priest whose only claim to fame was that he was a scholar of Catholic history in the US? Because, as Guiteau finally confesses, Molina was the only one in the world who knew the whereabouts of the black Bersier cross, an ancient relic that was used in the exorcism meant to drive the demons from Valek's body. Unfortunately, the exorcism resulted in turning him into a vampire, it was never completed either, leaving Valek vulnerable to the sun. He needs the cross now to finish the ritual. If he succeeds, he will be able to live in the daytime. A master vampire able to walk in the sun would be unstoppable.

It's sundown, and vampires are rising from the ground where they sleep. Through her telephathic connection to Valek, Katrina can tell that he is accompanied by seven other master vampires. She can see them headed into a small Spanish mission. She can see the vampires slaying the mission clerics. And she can see Valek taking down the black cross. "He's got it!" she smiles. The next day Katrina is fighting to hold on to her humanness. She leads Jack and Montoya to the small, deserted town of Santiago where she says Valek is hiding in the best-contructed building in town--the jailhouse. With only three slayers and as many as 30 vampires, Jack, Montoya, and Guiteau have their work cut out for them. As the day wears on, Guiteau lures out the vampires, Jack shoots stakes into their chests from his crossbow, and Montoya drives the winch that pulls the vampires out into the sun where they burn up. The sun is setting. Time to end the day's work before the other vampires wake up. Too late. Montoya and Katrina escape in the jeep, Guiteau hides behind a counter in a restaurant, but Valek catches Jack and ties him up. Jack wonders why Valek just doesn't kill him. Suddenly, Cardinal Alba steps out of the shadows. It was Alba who betrayed the slayers. It seems that Alba has made a deal with Valek. Immortality for finishing the ritual that will complete Valek's transformation. Meanwhile, Katrina has completed the change. She bites a chunk out of Montoya's neck, drinks some of his blood, and then leaves him in the jeep. Montoya shoots off a few rounds with his gun and then places the hot barrel to his neck, hoping to sterilize the bite.

The ceremony is beginning, and Jack discovers that he is to part of it, because the ceremony requires a ritual sacrifice by crucifixion of a slayer at the moment of dawn. The vampires tie Jack to a cross, and Alba begins by slicing Jack's stomach, collecting the blood, and passing it to Valek to drink. As the sun begins to rise, Guiteau (who has been listening to everything from his hiding place in the restaurant) shoots Alba. With no priest to finish the ritual, Valek tries to force Guiteau to do it, but Guiteau turns the gun on himself. Just when it looks like Guiteau might have to shoot himself, Montoya appears in the jeep. He fires a stake into the cross and, using the winch, pulls it down. Guiteau leaps forward and cuts Jack free. As the sun continues to rise, the vampires run for cover, Jack and Guiteau following. They trap Valek, who leaps at Jack. Jack holds up the Bersier cross and Valek lands on it, impaling himself. As Valek attempts to pull out the cross, Jack pulls down the dilapidated ceiling. The sunlight streams in, and Valek bursts into flames.

Epilogue: Knowing that they have more vampires to kill, Montoya finally admits to Jack that he's been bitten twice by Katrina, who is lying in the back of the truck in order to stay out of the sun. He also says that he can no longer function as a slayer and that he intends to take Katrina south where he can take care of her. Guiteau tries to kill Montoya, but Jack steps between them. Knowing that Montoya was first bitten two days ago but still saved his butt in the fight with the vampires, Jack figures he owes Montoya two days. However, he promises that, when those two days are up, he will hunt down Montoya and Katrina and kill them. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]