MovieChat Forums > Vampires (1998) Discussion > The house in the opening sequence

The house in the opening sequence

posted 15 years ago by puirt-a-beul
5 replies | jump to latest

Yeah, it looked cool and all, with shafts of sunlight fanning in all directions. The designer really went to town on this one.

But all I could think was "Why would a vampire, who bursts into spectacular fizzing flame immediately on exposure to sunlight, live somewhere where every wall and floor is ribbed with shafts of sunlight?"

And when the vampire bursts down on them from the ceiling, you can see open sky behind him. So what, he was sleeping on some sort of sunroof?

Style and set design are all very well, and John Carpenter knows how to make his movies look cool, until they start to interfere with the scene making sense. That's when JC should have stepped back and said "Wait on a minute ..."

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] proteus122 13 years ago

"And when the vampire bursts down on them from the ceiling, you can see open sky behind him. So what, he was sleeping on some sort of sunroof?"

One word: Attic.

I've got the scene frozen on my compy right now and there is no "open sky" behind him. There are slats from the roof above him with a little bit of reflected light on them.

[–] MichaelM24 11 years ago

It was a great set. According to Carpenter's commentary, though, it wasn't even built for VAMPIRES. It was an existing location in New Mexico that had been built in the '60s. I think he said it was built for an Italian western, but he never mentions the name.

[–] spudjustice 11 years ago

You mean the New Mexican $h!+hole?

Now that I have my coffee, I'm ready to watch radar.

[–] brightmidnight71 11 years ago

I always had to wonder. Why not just burn down the damn house?

[–] aclockwork_oranges71 9 years ago

Where was the hotel that burned down located it?