Fiend? Or friend?
Time was, a vampire was someone to avoid at all costs, unless you liked a matching set of holes in your neck and that overall drained feeling.
Through time immemorial, the vampire has been a creature of horror, a demonic blood-sucking nasty best served with stake. At least, that's how he - and she - were portrayed in books, movies and the like through much of the 20th century.
But not any more. We're living in an age of Edward and Stefan and Angel - all of whom walk in the footsteps of Louis. Heroes. Romantic. Sexy.
They've definitely had a serious PR upgrade.
But how, and when, did this horror of our nightmares course into our wildest, passionate dreams?
Our tale begins long ago .;;.
According to various sources, there's evidence of vampiric activity extending back to the pharoahs' Egypt, and later, Rome. But the lore of the nosferatu gains ground in places like Eastern Europe and India.
Still, Irish playwright Bram Stoker is probably most responsible for bringing this whispered terror of the east into the daylight of the Western European and American stage, where the evil Count Dracula of Transylvania - there never really was such a person - delighted, yet horrified, audiences with his drinking habit.
Currently, there are 17 listings for "Dracula" on imdb.com, the Internet Movie Database, and another 166 titles in which the Transylvanian plays some role. Those 183 movies beat even James Bond - and that doesn't count television, books and even comic books.
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