Vampire Movies

[nuclearblues]

I've been re-watching a lot of vampire movies I like lately, with some new-to-me ones sprinkled in too, and the topic has been a big point of thought for me lately. I think they're a very fun subgenre, though not usually quite what I gravitate towards when it comes to horror. both the historical and more contemporary re-imagining of the creature have roots in a lot of different cultural anxieties which carry over in a lot of interesting ways. I think of strongest personal interest to me is the way in which they are used to discuss class-based oppression in a lot of their more classical interpretations, but I also think there's a rather profound element of contagion baked inherently into their mythos which can manifest in incredibly interesting ways across different depictions. of course a lot of these concepts and interpretations extend to other storytelling mediums, but I have a personal fixation with film and dedicate a lot more time to that than other mediums (I really need to get back into fiction reading...). I don't think vampires are the MOST visually-centered classic monster archetype, but there is a lot of intrigue and sense of claustrophobia that I think audiovisual mediums can evoke in a way that lends itself really well to these types of stories.

while going down this line of thought over the past couple months, I started penning a basic scale which I use to compare the thematic tones and stylizations of various films across the subgenre. it's not a very useful tool for examining the intricacies of the ideas being communicated, but I've found it to be pretty fun to use to quickly articulate my thoughts on comparisons between specific films. it resulted from a pretty lengthy and poorly conveyed explanation of the tonal differences between The Lost Boys and Near Dark, which came out during the same year and have ostensibly very similar plots but feel incredibly different to actually watch. so in a fairly usual fashion for me, I had to spend a week creating a solution for a problem that isn't REALLY a problem, but it was incredibly fun regardless.

for me personally, I think I tend to gravitate towards campier and sillier depictions of vampires. I think they can be an incredibly compelling archetype to use in an entirely dramatic story, but they do often have this... inherent sense of glamor which can be used to feel a bit silly. the classical platonic ideal of a vampire tends to also evoke a sense of maximalist excess which can feel really schlocky, and I absolutely love it. even ostensibly more serious or gorier flicks like the hammer horror Dracula 1958 has a bit of an element of cheese to it, which I think is partly a result of age and partly a result of an incredibly earnest intensity while on a pretty modest budget. it's incredibly delightful, and I think that ramped intensity carries well into other films that I personally find to be a bit more dramatic. my sensibilities just naturally point towards the goofier and more maximalist schools of horror filmmaking.

anyway, I'm very curious as to y'all's thoughts on the topic. any absolute favorite vampire movies I should check out if I haven't gotten to them yet? any general thoughts on the archetype, or its suitability for the medium of film? I do kindly ask that this thread avoid pointless bashing of Twilight, it's not personally my thing at all but I do think a lot of discussions of it as a way of propping up other vampire adaptations as 'scarier' or more worthy of being considered a proper story are somewhat lazy or unfair. discussion of it is absolutely fine of course, just no bashing please :P

[e-]

1983's The Hunger is a personal favorite, although it's somewhat the antithesis of your interests. It's a very slow and self-serious drama that uses vampires as more of a direct allegory for love-dependency.

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

The Nosferatu version from Werner Herzog is a hot one: Kinski in the role of the suffering vampire might be one of his best performances, also incredible set pieces and an absolutely smashing Soundtrack by Popol Vu. Even better than Murnaus (great) original. I haven't seen the contemporary Hollywood-Version, but I doubt it can add anything substantial.

Another one you should try is Vampyr by Dreyer. A really strange movie from the border of silent to sound film, but - imho - unmatched in terms of atmosphere.

I didn't liked Jess Francos Dracula, but there is an experimental movie that was made at the very same set, called Cuadecuc. This one is great. From Jess Franco, I can heavily recommend "A Virgin among the Living Dead" - not directly a vampire movie, but surely related.

From the pop department, Only Lovers Left Alive is great. The best Hollywood Dracula rendition - beside the known version with Bela Lugosi - is probably Mel Brooks "Dracula: Dead but loving it"  . Regarding Lugosi: Tim Burtons Ed Wood movie is topical and great, although, again, no Vampire Movie in the strict sense of the word.

[Memory]

That was an interesting read, I love the idea of the vamp scale and I shall be checking that out after making this post.

I tend to gravitate more towards the more otherworldly and existentially dark type of vampyre.

My personal fave vampire movies/series are:

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Mystics in Bali (1981)
Fright Night (1985)
Mr Vampire (1985)
Subspecies (1991)
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
What We Do in the Shadows (2014) (I also adore all 6 seasons of the series)
Midnight Mass (2021)
Renfield (2023)
Nosferatu (2024)

I can't think of anymore rn, though after this post I will probably remember haha. But those are pretty top tier for me!

[nuclearblues]

I love the hunger! I've had a copy on vhs for a while and it's such a delightfully moody film. I'd say it definitely hits a lot of my sensibilities in that it is a very dramatic picture, but it also has such an intense focus on style and a sense of almost heightened melodrama that makes it occasionally feel a bit silly. I think the plot sort of falls apart after a little while, but the visuals and performances are all pretty stellar. plus, anything with a bauhaus appearance is automatically pretty cool in my book.

herzog's nosferatu is INCREDIBLE! I absolutely adore the original and murnau's films in general so when I first saw it a few years ago I didn't think it would quite hit the atmosphere I was looking for, but it far exceeded my expectations on that front. it has such a wonderfully specific and close focus on detail that wonderfully heightens the story. I also love the color grading and how dreary and crisp it feels, plus of course the incredible performances and soundtrack. it's such a singular and tight piece, nothing feels out of place in the slightest. I've yet to see the recent roger eggers version, I generally enjoy his work quite a lot but this hasn't been a very high priority for me for a variety of reasons. I hope to see it soon, even though the theatrical run is already up at my local theater.

I've been meaning vampyr for YEARS at this point and just keep ending up putting it off for various reasons. I love that strange bridge period when sound in film began to gain prominence but hadn't entirely become routine yet, it feels like there's such a wealth of creativity and excitement about progress during that period. my personal favorite partial-talkie (charlie chaplin's modern times) is from a bit after this period and also not of much relevance to this topic, but I think it beautifully exemplifies that playful curiosity.

I've seen and greatly enjoyed a virgin among the living dead and only lovers left alive, but I'm really excited about the rest of these recommendations! ed wood is also a fantastic film of sort of wider relevance, though of course it takes a lot of liberties with its actual biographic basis. martin landau's performance as bela lugosi is beyond incredible though, he NAILS the aging and washed up actor archetype to around the same caliber as gloria swanson's performance in sunset boulevard in my opinion.

subspecies is a really interesting one I don't see brought up very often. I saw it on tv in the background at a relative's house when I was a kid and remember it spooking me pretty bad, but when I watched it a few years ago it definitely didn't quite hit that same level of fear. definitely a fun low-budget B movie though, and that is a super delightful category. apparently it has a lot of sequels, but I haven't seen any of them.

[Memory]

subspecies is a really interesting one I don't see brought up very often. I saw it on tv in the background at a relative's house when I was a kid and remember it spooking me pretty bad, but when I watched it a few years ago it definitely didn't quite hit that same level of fear. definitely a fun low-budget B movie though, and that is a super delightful category. apparently it has a lot of sequels, but I haven't seen any of them.

Yeah it's strange how little this gem is talked about! I adore the atmosphere and use of stop motion.