Who the hell are the bad guys in this film? The warriors on the side of the light abuse people, swear, expect the towns they are assisting' to provide alcohol and prostitutes for the group while they're in town and are just generally unpleasant. The vampires just kill people.

This latest John (Big Trouble in Little China) Carpenter film begins by introducing us to one of the Vatican-approved vampire hunters and showing them going about their job: complete with blessing, profanity, blasphemy and absolute ruthlessness. They then return to town where we meet the true characters of these men, see aforementioned prostitutes, alcohol et al. In the middle of their revels a master vampire, Valek, (played with teeth-gnashing gloom by Thomas Ian Griffith), whom they missed earlier, appears and kills everybody except of course two of our brave, intrepid hunters, Jack Crow (James Woods) and Tony Montoya (Daniel Baldwin) and one of the whores, Katrina (Sheryl Lee) whom Valek is turning into a vampire.

Righto, let us go through the checklist. Over the top gore and odd violence. Check. Ultra-tough human characters. Check. Vampires that can break steel, look cool and Gothic and dress only in black. Check. Betrayal. Check. A race against time to save the human race. Check. The whore with a heart of gold. Only if a charm bracelet counts. The wimp who find his power. Check. John Carpenter composed soundtrack. Check. Teletubbies. Nope. [Damn it! - Ed]

This is silly, over-the-top and uneven. But somehow, it's still a whole lot-a-fun.

Charles Lee Ray was a murdering psychopath who finally met his demise when he stumbled into a toy store and was shot dead by police. Or so they thought. Little did they know that Charles had spent time mastering the ancient and mystical art of voodoo, which allowed his sickeningly evil demon spirit to transcend the bounds of our physical reality and continue on, by imposing itself on a seemingly innocent child's toy doll. With this convenient physical agent, Charles is able to continue his work in our world, bringing to his many victims a cruel and swift death. They have tried to stop him - oh yes, they have tried. Three sequels worth of powerful corporations, the police, the U.S. Army, movie critics - but all in vain. Not even the most annoying of child actors can lighten this intense dark entity that is perpetuated by the fear and suffering of his unfortunate victims. The power is breath taking and extravagant, filling the cinema goer with a bizzare sense of awe, all the while being held down by a chilling grip which seems to thrust from the screen, straight into the heart of the unsuspecting viewer.

I suppose uncultured moviegoers may perceive Child's Play Movies as a doll running around killing people. But that is far from the case. This time he has brought back his old girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) to give him a hand, and what ensues is great camp horror, and a film much more entertaining than I Know What You Did Last Summer, but that which will please approximately the same audience. However, if you have some kind of irrational prejudice against killer doll movies, and for the life of me I can not understand why, it is just your loss. [Didn't Martin Bryant watch Chucky movies? - Ed]