gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale. In its positive reviews, Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail called it "crude, rude, nasty fun". Robert Gonsalves of efilmcritic.com gave the film four out of five stars, calling Vampires "grungy, disreputable fun...a beautifully shot, yet nightmarishly haunting spaghetti western/horror." Dan Moore of Tulsa News On 6 awarded the film with an A−, saying Vampires "has a distinct personality and entertaining style, one ripe to inspire future generations" and "could very well be Carpenter's next masterpiece". Sean Axmaker of Stream On Demand gave the film 3.5 stars out of four, calling it "Carpenter in his prime form", giving particular points to its world building and acting. Negative critics such as The New York Times''' Lawrence Van Gelder said it was "ridiculous without being awful enough to be hilarious". Michael Dequina of The Movie Report was also unimpressed, giving the film 1.5 stars out of five, saying "there's no real plot" further believing the film featured "some of the most unlikable characters in recent memory". Susan Stark of Detroit News called the film "misogynistic and disgusting", questioning if Carpenter hated women, giving the film one star out of four. Paul Tatara of CNN gave the film a particularly hostile review, lambasting Carpenter as a filmmaker and finishing his review by saying "as foul as it is, I'd argue that the main reason kids shouldn't see 'John Carpenter's Vampires' is because it might stunt their emotional and creative development." Other critics saw the film as mediocre at best. Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, and noted that it "has a certain mordant humor and charm", but was ultimately "not scary, and the plot is just one gory showdown after another." John C. Puccio of Movie Metropolis was also lukewarm about the film and gave it five out of ten stars, describing the film as "little more than an excuse to watch people kill each other in the most brutal possible ways" but acknowledged that the film was well shot, directed, and acted, and that the film had an interesting visual style. Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle gave the film three stars out of five, stating he enjoyed the film's cinematography, which he described as "a comic book brought to life", but further noted that the film takes itself far too seriously and