Vampire films

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The cross is an essential prop in most vampire films

Vampire films have been a staple since the silent days, so much so that the depiction of vampires in popular culture is strongly based upon their depiction in movies throughout the years. The most popular cinematic adaptation of vampire fiction has been from Bram Stoker's Dracula, with over 200 versions to date. Running a distant second are adaptations of Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. The legend of Elizabeth Báthory, the "Blood Countess" has also been an influence. By 2005, Dracula had been the subject of more films than any other fictional character.

[edit] History

The earliest cinematic vampires in such films as The Vampire (1913), directed by Robert G. Vignola, were in reality 'vamps'. These femme fatales derive from a poem called "The Vampire" (1897) by Rudyard Kipling inspired, in turn, by a painting of a female vampire by Philip Burne-Jones (also 1897). Lyrics from Kipling's poem: A fool there was . . . , describing a seduced man, were used as the title of the film A Fool There Was (1915) starring Theda Bara as the 'vamp' in question. The poem being used in the publicity for the film.^[1]

A genuine supernatural vampire features in the landmark Nosferatu (1922 Germany, directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau). This was an unlicensed version of Bram Stoker's Dracula, based so closely on the novel that the estate sued and won, with all copies ordered to be destroyed. It would be painstakingly restored in 1994 by a team of European scholars from the five surviving prints that had escaped destruction.

The next classic treatment of the vampire legend was in Universal's Dracula (1931) starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. Five years after the release of the film, Universal released Dracula's Daughter (1936), a direct sequel that starts immediately after the end of the first film. A second sequel, Son of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. followed in 1943. Despite his apparent death in the 1931 film, the Count returned to life in three more Universal films of the mid-1940s: House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945) both starring John Carradine and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). While Lugosi had played a vampire in two other movies during the 1930s and 40's, it was only in this final film that he played Count Dracula onscreen for the second (and last) time.

A link between the Universal tradition and the later Hammer style is the 1957 Mexican movie El Vampiro that actually showed the vampire fangs (Lugosi did not) and introduced other now common cliches (like the backwards spelling of the name as a vampire's way to hide its identity).

Dracula was reincarnated for a new generation in the celebrated Hammer Horror series of films, starring Christopher Lee as the Count. The first of these films Dracula (1958) was followed by seven sequels. Lee returned as Dracula in all but two of these.

A more faithful adaptation of Stoker's novel appeared as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) directed by Francis Ford Coppola though also identifying Count Dracula with the notorious medieval Balkan ruler Vlad the Impaler^[2].

Ingrid Pitt gets her teeth into Madeleine Smith in The Vampire Lovers

A distinct sub-genre of vampire films, ultimately inspired by Le Fanu's Carmilla explored the topic of the lesbian vampire. The first of these was Blood and Roses (1960) by Roger Vadim. More explicit lesbian content was provided in Hammer Studios Karnstein trilogy. The first of these, The Vampire Lovers, (1970), starring Ingrid Pitt and Madeleine Smith, was a relatively straightforward re-telling of LeFanu's novella, but with more overt violence and sexuality. Later films in this sub-genre such as Vampyres (1974) became even more explicit in their depiction of sex, nudity and violence.

Beginning with the absurd Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) the vampire film has often been the subject of comedy. The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) by Academy Award winner Roman Polanski was a notable parody of the genre. Other comedic treatments, of variable quality, include Old Dracula (1974) featuring David Niven as a lovelorn Dracula, Love at First Bite (1979 USA) featuring George Hamilton and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995 USA, directed by Mel Brooks) with Canadian Leslie Nielsen giving it a comic twist.

Another development in some vampire films has been a change from supernatural horror to science fictional explanations of vampirism. The Last Man on Earth (Italy 1964, directed by Ubaldo Ragona) and The Omega Man (1971 USA, directed by Boris Sagal), both based on Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend, are two examples. Vampirism is explained as a kind of virus in David Cronenberg's Rabid (1976 Canada) and Red-Blooded American Girl (1990 Canada, directed by David Blyth).

Race has been another theme, as exemplified by the blaxploitation picture Blacula (1972) and several sequels.

Since the time of Bela Lugosi's Dracula (1931) the vampire, male or female, has usually been portrayed as an alluring sex symbol. Christopher Lee, Delphine Seyrig, Frank Langella, and Lauren Hutton are just a few examples of actors who brought great sex-appeal into their portrayal of the vampire. Latterly the implicit sexual themes of vampire film have become much more overt, culminating in such films as Gayracula (1983) and The Vampire of Budapest, (1995), two pornographic all-male vampire movies, and Lust For Dracula (2005), a pornographic all-lesbian adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic.

There is, however, a very small sub-genre, pioneered in Murnau's seminal Nosferatu (1922) in which the portrayal of the vampire is similar to the hideous creature of European folklore. Max Schrek's disturbing portrayal of this role in Murnau's film was copied by Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog's remake Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979). In Shadow of the Vampire (2000, directed by E. Elias Merhige), Willem Dafoe plays Max Schrek, himself, though portrayed here as an actual vampire. Dafoe's character is the ugly, disgusting creature of the original Nosferatu. Stephen King's Salem's Lot (1979), notably depicts vampires as terrifying, simple-minded creatures, without erotism, and with the only desire to feed on the blood of others.

A major character in most vampire films is the vampire hunter, of which Stoker's Abraham Van Helsing is a prototype. However, killing vampires has changed. Where Van Helsing relied on a stake through the heart, in Vampires 1998 USA, directed by John Carpenter, Jack Crow (James Woods) has a heavily-armed squad of vampire hunters, and in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992 USA, directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui), writer Joss Whedon (who created TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and spinoff Angel) attached The Slayer, Buffy Summers (Kristy Swanson in the film, Sarah Michelle Gellar in the TV series), to a network of Watchers and mystically endowed her with superhuman powers.

[edit] Dracula and his legacy

Further information: Dracula in popular culture

The shadow of the vampire is seen climbing stairs in this famous scene from the original Nosferatu

By far, the most well-known and popular vampire in the movies is Count Dracula. An amazing number of movies have been filmed over the years depicting the evil count, some of which are ranked among the greatest depictions of vampires on film. Dracula has over 160 film representations making him the most frequently portrayed character in horror films; he has the second-highest number of movie appearances overall, following only Sherlock Holmes.^{[citation needed]}

• Nosferatu (1922; starring Max Schreck, remade 1979 with Klaus Kinski) – unlicensed German adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel; featuring "Count Orlok", a thinly veiled allusion to Dracula.
• Dracula (1931) – the first Universal Studios Dracula film, starring Bela Lugosi
• Dracula (Spanish Version) (1931) – Spanish-language version starring Carlos Villar, made simultaneously with the Bela Lugosi film, using the same sets on a timeshare basis
• Dracula's Daughter (1936) – Follow up to the 1931 film, starring Gloria Holden
• Son of Dracula (1943) – further sequel to the 1931 film starring Lon Chaney Jr.
• House of Frankenstein (1944) – John Carradine plays Dracula as part of an ensemble cast in this Universal Studios film
• House of Dracula (1945) – The final serious Universal Studios Dracula film, starring Carradine
• Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – Lugosi played Dracula on film for the second and final time in this comedy-horror hybrid that concluded the Universal Studios series.
• Drakula Istanbul'da (Dracula in Istanbul) (1953) - a rarely seen Turkish film on the subject. In order not to offend Muslim sensibilities no crucifixes were depicted.
• Dracula (1958; aka Horror of Dracula) – the first Hammer Horror Dracula film, starring Christopher Lee as the Count. Followed by the sequels:

• The Brides of Dracula (1960) - the only one in the sequence which doesn't feature Christopher Lee in the lead role
• Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) - in which Lee returns from the dead
• Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
• Taste the Blood of Dracula (1969)
• Scars of Dracula (1970)
• Dracula AD 1972 (1972)
• The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)

• Dracula (1968) a made-for-television version starring Denholm Elliott.
• Count Dracula (1970 film) was the Jesus Franco-directed adaptation.
• Countess Dracula (1970)
• Blacula (1972) – a blaxploitation cult film in which an African prince is turned into a vampire by Dracula. The film is also notable for featuring the first two gay male vampires in film history: both victims of Blacula.
  • Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
• Leptirica (1973) (The Butterfly) directed by DJor
• Dracula (1973) was directed by Dan Curtis and starred Jack Palance in the title role.
• Blood for Dracula (1974) - also released as Andy Warhol's Dracula (x-rated)
• Count Dracula (1977) was the second BBC production, this one remarkably faithful and starring Louis Jourdan.
• Lust at First Bite (1978) - (x-rated)
• Zoltan, Hound of Dracula (aka Dracula's Dog) (1978), a low-budget film in which the descendant of Dracula takes second billing to a vampiric Doberman
• Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) was Werner Herzog's remake of Murnau's silent classic.
• Dracula (1979) – a film in the gothic romantic tradition starring Frank Langella and remake of the 1931 film with Bela Lugosi
• Love At First Bite (1979) – romantic comedy spoof starring George Hamilton.
• Dracula Blows His Cool (1979) - a bizarre German film in which the vampire's castle becomes a tourist trap and the Count is reduced to providing oral service for his guests.
• Gayracula (1983), an all-male pornographic film
• Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1991) is a comedy western about a ghost town populated by vampires.
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) – attempt at filming the story quite close to Stoker's novel, but merging the medieval story of Vlad Tepeş; starring Gary Oldman as Dracula
• Interview with the Vampire (1994) – While no appearance or rendition of Dracula is made, the vampire Louis denounces the Dracula legend as "the vulgar fictions of a demented Irishman."
• Monster Force (1994) – an animated television series featuring Dracula as the mastermind of Evil, the Prince of Darkness and the main antagonist of the series
• Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) – a parody of Dracula films by Mel Brooks; Leslie Nielsen as Dracula
• Dracula 2000 (2000) - a modern reworking of the story.
• Buffy vs. Dracula episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000)
• Dracula (2002) was an Italian miniseries which updated the story to modern day.
• Hellsing (2002) - Alucard is Dracula, controlled by the desendent of Abraham Van Helsing, Integra Hellsing.
• Dracula, Pages From a Virgin's Diary (2002) - a silent interpretation of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's take of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
• League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) - Mina Harker, vampiric thanks to her encounter with Dracula, is a member of the League.
• Van Helsing (2004) – action movie only loosely connected to the original Dracula; Richard Roxburgh as Dracula
• Blade: Trinity (2004) - Drake the vampire is supposed to have had many forms throughout the centuries, Stoker's Dracula being one of them.
• Lust For Dracula (2005) is an all-lesbian, very surreal adaptation (x-rated).
• Hellsing Ultimate (2006) - Remake of Hellsing following the original manga series more closely.
• Dracula (2006) is the third BBC version, starring Marc Warren as the title character and reworking the plot.
• Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse (2006) - A direct to video release from The Asylum and director Leigh Scott with special effects by Almost Human Inc., the company who did creature effects for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[edit] Other vampires in movies and television

The Vampire Lovers DVD cover. The luscious Madeline Smith (bottom right) is menaced by Ingrid Pitt (top left), playing the vampire Carmilla

• The Vampire (1913) - directed and co-written by Robert G. Vignola
• Les Vampires (1915) - a 10 part silent-film serial
• London After Midnight (1927) - a lost silent film.
• Vampyr (1932) - a classic silent film.
• Mark of the Vampire (1935) - a remake of London After Midnight, this time as a talkie. At the conclusion of the film the vampires are revealed to be fraudulent.
• The Return of the Vampire (1944)
• The Vampire's Ghost (1945)
• Not of This Earth (1957)
  • Not of This Earth (1988 remake, with Traci Lords)
  • Not of This Earth (1995 remake, with Michael York)
• Curse of the Undead (1959)
• Blood and Roses (1960) by Roger Vadim - the first of the lesbian vampire genre, based on Le Fanu's Carmilla.
• Black Sunday (1960)
• Black Sabbath (1963) - a portmanteau Italian horror movie, introduced by Boris Karloff, in three segments, the last of which is based on Alexei Tolstoy's vampire story The Family of the Vourdalak (1839) about a father (played by Karloff) who returns to the family home as a vampire.
• Carmilla (1964) - an Italian film, starring Christopher Lee, very loosely based on the story of the same name by Sheridan Le Fanu
• The Last Man on Earth (1964) - based on the novel I Am Legend
• Kiss of the Vampire (1964)
• Dark Shadows TV series (1966 and 1991)
• Blood Bath (1966)
• The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) - a semi-spoof of the genre directed by Roman Polanski.
• Le Viol du Vampire (1968) - vampire erotica by French director Jean Rollin.
• La Vampire Nue (1969) - more vampire erotica from Jean Rollin.
• House of Dark Shadows (1970)
• Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).
  • The Return of Count Yorga (1971).
• The Vampire Lovers (1970), based on the story Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu and featuring Ingrid Pitt as a lesbian vampire. This was the first of Hammer's Karnstein Trilogy and set a trend for lesbian erotica in the genre.
  • Lust for a Vampire (1971) - the second film in the Karnstein Trilogy.
  • Twins of Evil (1971) - the third film in the Karnstein trilogy.
• Vampyros Lesbos, (1971) a West German entry in the "lesbian erotic vampire" sub-genre
• Le Rogue aux Levres (Daughters of Darkness) & (Children of the Night) (1971)
• The Omega Man (1971) - also based on the novel I Am Legend
• The Night Stalker (1972)
• Vampire Circus (1973) - a Hammer Horror.
• Leptirica (aka The Butterfly) (1973) - a Yugoslavian classic horror film directed by Djordje Kadijevic
• Vampyres (1974) - an erotic film which features two lesbian vampires who inhabit a Gothic mansion in England: includes much in the way of bloody violence.
• Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) episode 4 "The Vampire"
• The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) - a kung fu vampire movie.
• Rabid (1976)
• Martin (1977) George A. Romero's film about clinical vampirism ambiguously confused with folkloric vampirism.
• Salem's Lot (1979) - based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King.
  • A Return to Salem's Lot (1987)
• The serials State of Decay (1980) and The Curse of Fenric (1989) from the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.
• The Monster Club (1980) - this British film features horror legend Vincent Price as a vampire for the first and only time in his career.
• Dr. Slump (1981) - episode 17 part 2
• The Hunger (1983)
• Fright Night (1985)
  • Fright Night II (1989)
• Real Ghostbusters (1985) episode "Transylvanian Homesick Blues".
• Once Bitten (1985)
• Vampire Hunter D (1985)
• Dragon Ball (1986) - episodes 69 and 70
• Vamp (1986)
• The Lost Boys (1987)
• Near Dark (1987)
• My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988)
• Vampire Princess Miyu (1988)
• Vampire's Kiss (1989)
• Red-Blooded American Girl (1990)
• Dracula: The Series (1990)
• Little Dracula (1991, 1999) - a children's animated series
• Subspecies (1991)
  • Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)
  • Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994)
  • Vampire Journals (1997)
  • Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm (1998)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), the TV show of the same name and its television spinoff Angel
• Forever Knight TV Series (1992)
• Innocent Blood (1992)
• Samurai Vampire Bikers From Hell (1992)
• Cronos (1993) - by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, features a vampiric parasite encased inside a clockwork beetle, cunningly devised by a medieval alchemist to pierce the skin of those who handle it, turning them into blood-thirsty vampires. Vampirism in the film is also used as a metaphor for the predatory financial exploitation of Mexico by the USA.
• Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) - based on the book by Anne Rice.
• Embrace of the Vampire (1994)
• Nadja (1994)
• The Addiction (1995 in film) A philosophical variant on the vampire film, that uses vampirism as a metaphor for AIDS and ends with a notorious and highly sexually charged orgy of blood-sucking.
• Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
• The Vampire of Budapest (1995), a gay pornographic film from director Kristen Bjorn
• From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
  • From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999)
  • From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000)
• Tales From the Crypt: Bordello of Blood (1996)
• Kindred the Embraced (1996)
• The Hunger (serial) (1997-2000) - a TV series, loosely inspired by the film of the same name, has forty four non-connected episodes, some scripted by established horror writers, with most of stories having implicit or explicit vampiric themes, including a dramatisation of La Morte Amoureuse by Theophile Gautier

• Ultraviolet (1998)
• Razor Blade Smile (1998) - a very low budget independent British film which pays homage to the Hammer lesbian vampire films of the 1970s.
• Blade (1998)
  • Blade II (2002)
  • Blade: Trinity (2004)
  • Blade: The Series (2006)
• The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998)
  • Immortality (2000) US DVD title
• Vampires (1998)
  • Vampires: Los Muertos (2002)
• Modern Vampires (1998)
• Hot Vampire Nights (1999) (x-rated)
• Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
• Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) Japanese movie about a girl named Saya fighting vampires for a secret organization.
• Port Charles - daytime serial on ABC that utilized vampires in story arcs from 2001 - 2003.
• Vampire Hunter D | Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001)
• The Forsaken (2001)
• Trouble Every Day (2001) - Artistic, erotic take on the vampire myth by Claire Denis.
• Queen of the Damned (2002)
• Hellsing (2002)
  • Hellsing Ultimate (2006) - new series that sticks closer to the original manga.
• The Twins Effect aka Chin gei bin (2003) - A Chinese martial arts vampire movie, with a special guest appearance by Jackie Chan.
• Underworld (2003)
  • Underworld: Evolution (2006)
• Rosario + Vampire (2004) A Japanese anime/comedy series, starring the vampire Moka Akashiya, who later transforms the other main character, Tsukune Aono into a vampire as well.
• 'Salem's Lot (2004)
• Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor) (2004) Russian fantasy film partially involving vampires
  • Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) (2006)
• Vampires: The Turning (2005)
• BloodRayne (2006)
• Blood+ (Blood Plus) (2005-2006) A Japanese television series involving an alternate reality of Blood: The Last Vampire still centering around Saya.
• Ultraviolet (film) (2006)
• Frostbiten (2006) - Sweden's first vampire movie.
• The Hamiltons (2006)
• Young Dracula (2006-2008) - CBBC Television Series
• BloodRayne II: Deliverance (DVD - 2007)
• Blood Ties (TV series) (2007)
• Gothic Vampires from Hell (DVD - 2007)
• 30 Days of Night (2007) - Based on the comic.
• Moonlight (TV series) (2007)
• Reiri Kamura of Kaibutsu Oujo, A Japanese anime/comedy series
• I am Legend (2007) based on the novel
• The Thirst (film) (2008)
• Twilight (2008 film) based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer (2008)
• Being Human (TV series) (2008)
• Blood: The Last Vampire (2008) A live-action movie based on the animated movie.
• Let the Right One In (2008) - Sweden's second vampire movie

[edit] References

• Christopher Frayling (1992) Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula (1992) ISBN 0-571-16792-6
• Freeland, Cynthia A. (2000) The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror. Westview Press.
• Holte, James Craig. (1997) Dracula in the Dark: The Dracula Film Adaptations. Greenwood Press.
• Leatherdale, C. (1993) Dracula: The Novel and the Legend. Desert Island Books.
• Melton, J. Gordon. (1999) The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Visible Ink Press.

[edit] External links

• Reviews of vampire films at The Film Walrus
• List of unusual vampire movies at Oddfilms.com.
• List of vampire myths in fiction at Eclipse.net.
• Vampyrus
• Horror Music
• The Band Plogojowitz