Vampy? I’m there.
Vampires? Not so much.
I never succumbed to the seduction of the Vampire Flick – not Twilight, not Buffy the Vampire Slayer, not any other number of dentally challenged characters with snowy skin and the glassy glowing gaze.
I admit to adoration for the Little Black Dress, but even Yours Truly finds black on black (sans pearls) a touch, well… excessive. Apparently, not so the American public.
When I caught a commercial for one of the latest, Beautiful Creatures, timed for the Valentine’s crowd, I was curious as to just how popular these movies might be.
Care to be amazed?
I was stunned to find more than 14 million hits when I asked The Google how many vampire films there are, and as I went in for the kill on more detail, I was astonished at the breadth and depth of our fascination for the fashionably fanged.
Vampire Films: How Many, You Ask?
Wikipedia offers us these vampire movie stats (and more):
- Vampire films date back to silent pictures, with 1913’s “The Vampire”
- More than 170 variations of Dracula have been put on film
- Roger Vadim gave us the tradition of the Lesbian Vampire, c. 1960, with Blood and Roses
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) brought fresh-faced Sarah Michelle Geller to the small screen, battling back batty boys with a few superpowers of her own
- Take your pick among the purely ghoulish or the erotically charged at a theater (or in a book) near you
- My pick? Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing (2004); he can hunt me down any time…
- Shall we not forget the Twilight Saga films since 2008, and their box office success?
How many Vampire films was that again? Large screen? Small screen? No preference on gender or sexual orientation? In the range of… hundreds? Many hundreds? A thousand? And if you count the originating books?
I venture to say you could spend years viewing and reading, only to find new entries on the scene when you finally look up from the screen or page. But should you like to sample a few of the best of the best, consider this list of top 70 vampire movies of all time.
Be Still, My Heart
Hugh Jackman aside, other than the “classic” vampire of my (misspent) youth, Barnabus Collins, the bloodsucking love tryst has never held much appeal for me – not those who do the chomping, nor the staunch supernaturally enhanced stalkers of same. Yet the movie-going public seems to have a long tradition of delighting in every variation of neck-nibbling winged wonder.
Personally, I don’t get the appeal.
I prefer silver earrings to silver bullets, and steak medium rare to the stake through the heart.
I think vampy is campy, I love my vixen nails and smoky eyes, and I’ve been known to indulge in a little Elvira engagement of my own. But I’ll take my “beautiful creatures” with mere mortal twists and turns of hedonistic hankerings and human heartaches.
In the meantime, might someone explain the appeal of this genre?
Click image of Beautiful Creatures poster to access Warner Bros movie trailer and downloads.
© D. A. Wolf
i think it’s a connection between the darkness and taboo of our culture still affected by puritan roots.
And the violence, pia?
Stephenie Meyer is on a roll. Who knew? I discovered that the indie author Amanda Hocking went from unknown to millionaire riding the same wave of popularity for things that go bump in the night. Do some of us like a little danger with our romance? Add a little spice to our imaginary love lives? Of course with Twilight isn’t it a female fantasy that love will conquer the ultimate bad boy?
That wouldn’t be my fantasy, personally, but it’s an interesting premise, Mr. Belle.
“Vampy is Campy”. I agree with that, and with not getting the bigger genre. Same for horror movies.
Sci-Fi doesn’t do much for me either, at least not the space-oriented part of it. But I think the Men in Black series, for instance, hits a sweet spot between Sci-Fi and Camp.
Horror movies. UGH. I hear you, Robert. (Yes, to that mind-bending and imaginative land that lives in the dimension between sci-fi and camp.)
Did you ever watch Twilight Zone? Or One Step Beyond? (The originals?) Classic.
I’m a believer in fun costumes. And some mystery is good, although that’s generally missing with vampires these days. For similar costuming, I smile when I recall the time when two carloads of Goth girls arrived at our house to accompany John’s high school band to a local performance. A sartorial moment to rival the red carpet of any movie awards.
There are interesting sexual implications of course (particularly of power and helpless submission), but that’s pretty old hat nowadays.
I admit not “getting” the vampire movie craze, but have you read The Historain by Elizabeth Kostova? I brought it with me on a weekend outing, not reading the cover very carefully and was disappointed to find out it was about vampires. But with nothing else to read, I decided ti give it a go – what a great book! It is indeed about vampires, but not the teen- hearthrob variety. It is the story of search for truth about Vlad the Impaler – part mystery, part travelogue and full of chapters involvong musty libraries and old manuscripts – what’s not to like?
Oh, and my daughter convinced me to see Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter – a dose of silliness, to be sure! She assured me the book was much better.
I haven’t read The Historian, no. But Abe Lincoln – Vampire Hunter!?! Oh Deb, that’s too funny!
As a male I do not understand it from an emotional view, but intellectually it seems obvious. Pia and William are correct there are sexual, power and fantasy aspects that especially allure women. Combine hypersexuality, cool outsider (a la James Dean) and danger. Ooh La la. Combine that with the common fantasy of women having sex with a stranger and the bad boy phenomenon and you have a hit. Give the vampire some Oprah and Dr Oz angst and vulnerability (like Twilight) and now you have a vampire suitable for tweens.
Is it really so hard to understand: fang, penetration, ecstasy……danger, danger, adrenaline……Pepsi commercial.
Now I must say that Underworld’s Kate Beckinsale in leather outfit is worth watching…………that is a vampire movie, isn’t it?
Oprah and Dr. Oz angst, too? (You cracked me up, Curtis.)
Kate for the guys, Hugh for the women…
I loved Dark Shadows as a kid, but partly because it was ‘the thing’. On the other hand, clothes in lush fabrics, great wealth, a large old house with a grand entrance and some grounds, those still appeal to me. I’ve read about the ‘romance’ of vampires somewhere recently, but can’t recall where. Something to do with immortality and the conflict between love and death. No doubt in Victorian times, when Dracula was written, it was very sexy to be bitten on the neck and all that. I can’t say that I’ve watched any vampire films lately nor do I plan to, except perhaps to drag out Jackman and Beckinsale now and again.
Both my kids watched Buffy, but it was short lived. The oldest read all the Twilight books and loaned the to me. I read them but found them somewhat silly. The odd thing is I love High Fantasy and some Sci-Fi genres. I suppose the allure of vampires and vampire romance stem from our culture romanticizing them over the decades. After all, being able to live forever and have supernatural powers…yet appear normal probably appeals to many…especially teenagers going through that awkward stage of feeling uncomfortable in their own skin. To identify with such creatures might give them a sense of power when they feel like outcasts. Vampires are a metaphor for the darker side of our personalities. A metaphor we in which we can indulge, without any reality consequences!