From George A Romero’s Martin
As a lover of vampire movies, I’m having a hard time getting into the Twilight franchise. Maybe it’s my age, or maybe it’s my taste… or perhaps both because I was raised on high expectation of vampires that began with watching The Vampire Lover, Dracula A.D., The Vampire Circus and all the Hammer vampire moves on TV with my mom that scared the shit out of me. It was typically Christopher Lee vs. Peter Cushing. For me, vampire movies should be edgy, scary and erotic. So here’s a list of my ten most memorable vampire movies.
Interview with the Vampire is truly a breakthrough vampire movie for me. It’s a brilliant novel and a brilliant film told from the point-of-view of vampires. For the first time, vampires have become both heroes and anti-heroes in modern culture.
Katherine Bigelow’s first film Near Dark is an intense and dark vampire flick that draws a symbolism between AIDS and vampirism. It’s a heartbreaking and non-stop thriller both scary and tragic.
The original Fright Night is both fun and campy. What happened to the remake? It’s probably the first movie having a werewolf and vampire in the same quarter.
Abel Ferrara’s Addiction is intellectual, grimy and brilliant. Lily Taylor’s performance was truly to die for. Is there a difference between drug addiction and vampirism? Both too cool for people outside of Manhattan to grasp…
Michael Almereyda’s Nadja ranks the most unusual and stylish vampire movie ever made. Sometimes it’s too intellectual for its own good but it’s definitely out of the mold. What’s wrong with you, New Yorkers?
Vamp is funny, campy and totally silly. Grace Jones stars as the lead vampire in a brothel in this retro New Line Cinema horror epic.
Zombie guru George A Romero’s Martin is probably the first psychological vampire movie that depicts a teenage vampire boy. Yes, Ms. Myers you may just a copycat after all. So is he or is he not?
The original two-part Stephen King adaptation TV movie Salem’s Lot is a horror masterpiece. It’s scary and creepy with little on-screen gore. It’s all storytelling, characters and performances.
Tobe Hooper’s sci-fi horror extravaganza Lifeforce takes vampirism into the realm of 2001 and science fiction. The original title was Space Vampires… need I say more?
The little seen German gem We Are the Night that chronicles the adventures of three female vampires is a really diamond in the rough. It’s probably the latest vampire movie that I have truly enjoyed.
Awesome list. Another vampire film you might enjoy is the Chinese horror-comedy Mr. Vampire Saga 4. It’s interesting to see what other cultures find scary and how they “combat their fears”.
@Eastfist the “vampires” in Chinese movies are not strictly vampires per se. They are really closer to zombies. The Chinese “jiang shi” do not sustain themselves through bloodsucking but rather they got animated in order to travel through borders that forbid transporting corpses.
In the 70s and 80s, those jiang shi movies were translated as “Vampire movies” because the term “zombies” just got invented and wasn’t widely used. But Chinese jiang shi are essentially zombies… and as we know vampires are not zombies.