DIRECTOR ISN'T THIRSTY FOR `H20'.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

John Carpenter hasn't bothered to see ``Halloween: H20'' - which, of course, was spun off his original ``Halloween.''

He notes that Jamie Lee Curtis ``was very happy with it, and I was glad about that ... I'll see it when it comes out on video.''

His latest endeavor, ``John Carpenter's Vampires,'' will finally be released on Oct. 30 - 14 months after completion. Why so long on the shelf?

Carpenter explains that the ``Vampires'' production entity, Largo Entertainment, made a U.S. distribution deal with a new, independent distribution company - which proved unable to actualize its plans for putting out the chiller. Sony later picked up ``Vampires'' for U.S. release, says the director. He also says that the movie - in which James Woods plays a modern-day bounty hunter of vampires who is hired by the Vatican - has been playing successfully in France.

By the way, Carpenter reveals there is a third installment of the Kurt Russell ``Escape From New York'' and ``Escape From L.A.'' franchise waiting to be done - ``Escape From Earth.'' Don't wait for it.

``We won't do it,'' he notes. ``The last one didn't make enough money.''

It's a mail thing

Jonathan Silverman says he had a blast - no pun intended - playing a pistol-packing postal investigator in Showtime's Sept. 20 cop thriller, ``The Inspector,'' with Lou Gossett Jr.

``Usually, if I am given a profession, it's a lawyer or writer ... I never got to get dirty and put the sirens on before,'' says the former ``Single Guy.'' ``But in this film, I got to run around with a gun and badge and chase the bad guys ... It was a childhood dream come true. Lou and I play investigators who work for the United States Postal Inspections Service. I did my research and hung out with these guys. Anytime there's any sort of crime concerning the mail, these are the guys who have jurisdiction over everybody. These are the guys who took over the Unabomber case. They are an amazing group.''

As much fun as he had playing macho cop, Silverman says he'll never turn into ``a gun freak. Just to hold a gun was terrifying enough for me. I don't own any and don't care to own any. What I did get into was the handcuffs. I had a good time just slapping those on everybody's wrists. They wouldn't let me take those home though ... so I bought my own.''

Mixing media

Fans of Command & Conquer video games may have a feature-film spinoff of those 21st century military strategy adventures to look forward to. Westwood Studios, the Las Vegas-based game and software company responsible for Command & Conquer, is now developing a movie based on the games, with producer Donny Miele supervising the adaptation. Westwood is a subsidiary of Virgin Interactive Enterainment, which, in turn, is a subsidiary of Spelling Entertainment Group. The company's already been successful in turning movies into hit games, with Blade Runner and Dune II to its credit.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) ``John Carpenter's Vampires'' is slated for release Oct. 30.

(2--3) Jonathan Silverman, left, finally gets some movie action as he and Lou Gossett Jr. play postal cops in ``The Inspector.''