The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

On a site that writes of much that is Vampire-related... I still haven't seen this question asked...

Why do you... like vampire films???

I just like anything "horror."

The darkness and macabre of the films. The Monster, and Dominant/submissive roles between the vampire and their 'victim'.

And the sex.

I find vampires very interesting, mysterious, and beautiful. They have an unique charm about them selves. There very interesting in the way they live and present them selves.

I like SingingGhost88's take onnit.

Me?

I like the way the darker side of humaity can be portrayed through the films.

I agree with you both! The darker side of humanity is perplexing and is worth exploring. For far too long we have been indoctrinated with false perception of "don't go there" when it comes to issues or subjects considered taboo. I think many are too scared and cowardly.

they can provide a window to the human psyche.

and I like that. we Need it.

In my opinion, I like them because they can be from one extreme to another. We have the early movies which didn't really have any specialspecial effects. And then we have the newer takes, like Twilight.

Some of thew classics, that I enjoyed growing up were The Lost Boys, From Dust to Dawn and Fright Night. And with the movies came the tv series like Buffy and Angel. I enjoyed watching all of them.It was interesting to see how things were portrayed in modern day compared to the dark ages.

Moonlight Savage, there is no "Taboo" to Vampires anymore. Why do people keep insistying that vampires are "to mjuch for society to handle" the genre has been beat to death.

Most have a tawdry escapist quality with an almost comical depiction of a darker need.

A simple question with a very easy psychological answer...

Society needs to those types of movies where their inner consciousness has been created and channeled onto the big screen. They tend to go to those kind of, "self raptured" movies as their own lives cannot openly portray them. The mystique and every other aspect of what the arche-typical vampire represents is an ultimately empowered being. Much like what society wants to be or to become throughout their lives. That unknown adventure and untouchable atmosphere that the vampire archetype represents.

I only like vampire films if they aren't too cheesy. There isn't that many I can say i 'like' but there are a few. I like to see the evolvement of the vampire character through film and literature. It's pretty wild how much the perspective of them has changed within the movie world.

From a historical point of veiw the tales of monsters you typicaly find in western culture comes from Europe around the 5th century an onward into present day.

The vampire is basicly no different than werewolves, witches, or any other aspect of these tales . Ultimatly they were perversions of man resulting from a lack of humanity and or religion. The idea that some one could fall so low as to become a beast, dammed for all time was intended to scare us... and clearly still does when done properly.

Whether it is the falling and aligning with the darker aspects of faith and humanity or the fear of facing that type of person in direct confruntation is really an individualized experience.

I'm with Angelic. I like watching all of them to see how the myth is told and retold. I've watched everything from Nosferatu, to Dracula (Lugosi), to Lost Boys, to (yes, even) Twilight. In each, you can pick up something unique and interesting. I think of it sort of like the collector who searches for the one special edition of whatever that s/he already has a hundred of because it's still unique in some way.

back to a side of the human psyche?

thing is... I do like cheesy: Dark Shadows, for example.
sometimes... it can work.

I think what i like best about vampire movies, is the escapism. every vampire movie ever made caters to our emotional level. I fell in love with the genre when I would sneak outta bed and watch the late night movie marathons of the sixities and seventies. first time i ever saw the 1931 version of Dracula with Bella Lugosi I was hooked. the vampire has changed over the years and I wonder what would Bella think of all the vampires that came after him?

The very idea of immortality it's self never really having to worry about death. But your mortal family will die within a century or two will have some sort of effect on you. Vampire films have to be done right and that sticks with the original vampire mythology. (NOT TWILIGHT)

Haha, gravechild, don't get me wrong. There are plenty of tellings that wildly irritate me.

I identify wih the metaphors depicted by blood ducking. Taking someone in yet always thirsty for more
It's a dangerous game flirting with danger. Satisfying and yet still tragic. It's as romantic as I get.

interesting. shared experience, my interesting was bela lugosi on a saturday afternoon and, the first nesferatu...

the imagery of that film really got to me.

I think I'd been twelve, or fourteen.

i think the first vampire film i seen was dracula. The them that true love never dies really got my attention, not to mention the suspence or it.

Even now i own the movie along with other vampire films. mainly because i like to see how different people protray vampires in films.

ah. how they're percieved
sheesh...
helluva differece 'tween say Bella lugosi and 30 Days OF Night and even Dark Shadows...

Yeah, there is a wide range. I remember a movie called "Stakeland" which I think was basically a rip off of "Zombieland." These vampires were basically zombies with fangs. Really pretty terrible. But like I said - I'll watch basically anything.

Because sometimes they can be pretty cheesy or funny.

I think From Dusk Till Dawn is my fav vampire movie.
The firt time I watched it,I laughed my butt off.

I wonder, am I the only one to really like the new 'Dark Shadows?' 'Coz I do.

I havent seen the new one,but the old one was kindof funny,in a serious,dorky sortof way..

well, for me, that succinctly summed up the new film.
dead sound.

ok...let me say that i like movies that click with me and are well made.
some of those are vampire movies

some vampire movies on the other hand suck pond water.
~W~

thats a good question. when i was 6 i saw freddy loved it, when i was 7 i saw the re make of dark shadows. i just love the diffrent plots espically if they are from over seas .


i love the idea and also they got some hot guys who play the evil lol

suck pond water?? **LAUGHS**

yes, true. buttcha can say the say for any genre of movie. the vampire. the archetype, why is that so endearing to play, as a character?

desire easily attained?

our darkside given form?


or this and, much more.

pass. but whatever it is,it has to have a good story. again, the same as any other genre.

It`s the genre that`s the most related to Mystery excepting fantasy but has a plus on it: it also has a good dose of verisimilitude.

I like vampire films because I somewhat relate to the vampires craving and need for blood and enjoy watching them take it.

I like the vampire films for all of the above mentioned reasons; I also like to compare the films to see where the archetypes and traditions vary.
For example, in most stock vampire films, particularly with the earliest talkies, the main vampire - Dracula or a relative of his - hails from Transylvania during the early Renaisance period. In Dracula 2000, the origins of Dracula were based in the Middle East, in an earlier historical period...and 'Dracula' was actually Judas Iscariot! A brilliant take on the genre, in my opinion.

I am glad you noticed that, Isis!
In the Romantic literature and that spawned through all the XIXth fantasy literature there was a fascination with the exotic.

I think it`s what explains Stoker`s Dracula origin and after Romania(Transilvania being a region) was closer with the Western civilization, the writers(in our case scenarists) went further in time and in places that are nowdays considered even more exotic.

I liked that idea, but unfortunately the script didn`t had the line followed by the first part of The Exorcist (the movie) and was just another action flick "moralizing" us about how bad is the world today, rock music and that the sin has corrupted the world.

I wonder when the fantasy and especially vampire movies will be more mature and not children oriented.

lol ohh no some suck more than pond water lol maybe skummy pond water but still they suck more nontheless.

i actually seen a lesbian vampire movie...it was really awkward and they were percieved as sirens....wierd shit.

i really liked the origin of dracula explained by the book "blood of the dragon". very interesting. since vlad dracula is an historical figure, to turn him into juda iscariot seems silly. also as a non christian, i find that to be frankly silly.
just my dos centavos
~W~

Bathory was damn good ... and, still a vampire tale.
thing is, for me... doesn't matter too much whether it's a semi-non-fictional piece, like that... or something like the Karnstein twins, in 'TWins Of Evil' as long as... it's oroginal... hells teeth... 30 Days of Night was good and, then the law of dimishing returns sets in... again.

LordWolf -

To respond to your last post, I'm aware that Vlad Dracul was from Transylvania. I just think that the idea of his origins being older than the early 1400's is very interesting. The fact that Judas Iscariot is from Christian iconagraphy isn't important to me. (I'm not a practicing Christian). But it is interesting to note that with Judas, one could understand why he/Dracula would have a huge aversion to Christian icons (ie crucifixes), silver (re the 30 pieces of silver he received for betraying Christ), aversion to daylight (Judas was believe to have hung himself at or near sunset, and was cursed), etc...
Just think of it this way - Dracula settled in present-day Romania, but comes from other, older origins. And many like to think that he is still with us, so he is, in a way, beyond time and space. :)

basically they turned an amazing historical figure into idek they destroyed his image beyong rapair at least to some extent.

crap film it almost was... 'Dracula 2000' used many of those idea's Isis101.

heck.

I kinda liked the take on it all.

then again, I liked Caprenters 'Vampires'.

The dark Romance behind it, vampire loves a girl and tries to take her for his own...that's how I see most vampire movies to date that I've seen, or they are trying to overthrow the world and are defeated by vampire hunters...entertaining needless to say, but there will never be a movie out there about what the true nature of vampire are like...most like the horror/romance genre of the movies and thus this is what Hollywood produces..

ah... now I saw THAT, in the last few minutes of Dark Shadows. It can still be done. If done well.

Sorry, I did like that film: an it still surprises me that it had... it was like... they'd done to Dark Shadows, what they did to Doctor Who and, recently... Sherlock Holmes.

As humans we have recently been domesticated. Our primal needs have little outlet we are brutal killers by instinct. Our love of the macabre, the violent, the bloody, the sick twisted beautiful sound of ripping flesh and sticky splatter of warm blood . . . . . . .
Forgive I got sidetracked, fill that primal need that mercifully will never be bred out of our gene pool

oh... if WE decide it's not relevant, I'm sure THEY will try to eradicate it... but yes, the film do reflect the more primal natutre... of Man.

vampire films have great appeal because death is fascinating. most vampire films and the horror genre they inhabit have a great deal of death. It's the same instinct that makes you look and keep looking when you see a car crash or a person throw themselves off a build. part of psyche is in love with death. Think about how many people went to watch The Passion of the Christ which was essentially an entire movie about the prolonged death of one person.

...and yet, people fear death.
a dichotomy there... methinks.

i love watching horror to see how they tell the myth

so many takes on the myth... so many different films.

Out of all horror movie, I find most vampire movies romantic. They let us express are darkest fears to are darkest thoughts.

whilst I often like those that portray the bestial...

...the driven nature, Of Lust.

for me vampire movies are a draw for the sultry sensuality they emit...the good ones that is..you know the ones where you want the girl to get bit and run off with the vampire lol

When i was a young boy my uncle let me watch Salem's Lot with him. It scared the crap outta me! I'v loved vampire films ever since.!

I love to see what new theories and delimma's new screenplay writers can come up with. No matter how rediculous.

I like vampire films because they bring me away from reality and give people a new perspective, even me, of life.. well life as one of them. It's just interesting to see what writers can come up with.

I personally don't see vampires as "sexy" at all. Which is why I prefer films like "30 Days of Night" or "John Carpenter's Vampires."

That new "Abraham Lincoln" movie looks good as well. I heard the book was ok.

"I love to see what new theories and delimma's new screenplay writers can come up with. No matter how rediculous."

I totally agree! While the traditional European vampire legends are great and will always be with us, it's great to venture out and come up with new theories.

A lot of people gave crap to Stephanie Meyers for the sparkling skin. but I give cudo's she used her imagination and took her work to a new level. As a writer it is not easy to find new twists to old theories.

I don't think it would be all that difficult. Stephenie Meyer could have had the vampire's true physical age show when they walk out into sunlight; instead of having them sparkle.

in writers class you learn that within each genere there's about six stories that can be told; ego, for a writer to come up with a new twist, it has to be something special.

And, for years, Hammer did it well...

yes she could have but, that is YOUR twist on it. So cudo's to you as well. Although most would just be skeleton's lol.

Just the mysteriousness and darker nature of the vampire as a whole always drew me in. And also seeing how the way they're portrayed over time and everything to evolve to how they were portrayed as to nowadays.

the portrayal of the vampire seems to be the commonality... tho, that said... it's all in the story, really.

At the beginning I just loved being scared. I remember my first vampire movie was Salems Lot and I watched it with my step-dad, at the time was my moms boyfriend. We were the only two awake. Bill let me stay up and watch it with him.
I remember being scared to death of the boy floating by the window

Since then it has been both being afraid and seduced of the idea of life after death.
The older I got the more I was attracted to the supernatural, undead, etc.
:-)

the danger and mystery of it all. the misunderstanding of the vampire and it life

afraid and seduced... Now there's a cool turn of phrase that I figure describes how many feel 'bout the genre.

Because I like anything that is dark, mysterious and makes me escape from reality for a bit, by just imagining myself in the movie itself.

And, there are werewolf movies, just check this link:

http://horror.about.com/od/horrortoppicklists/tp/bestwerewolfmovies.htm

gawd, why a mention of werewolves in a thread about why we like vampires... sheesh.

ah well, least someone's got the interest, in a genre that genuinely can frighten...

and, we do like to be frightened... !

yeaa we do like to be frightened but i have yet no been able to find a good movie that has me even slightly shaken

I like vampire films by the way they seduce people:P I think it's pretty interesting.

Plus horror of course.

The romance, the lonely immortality, the sexual appeal, my lord, it turns me on

I have been intrigued by vampires since I was a child. I have seen all kinds of vampire movies but the first I watched was Interview with the Vampire. I then began reading Anne Rice's novels and I have read Bram Stoker's Dracula. The fear factor was the rush for me honestly. And I enjoyed the new Dark Shadows and I am watching the series right now.

I also like singingghosts take. As well as many others. I do appreciate the more horror movies and do not like twilight... i tried to read one and was forced to sit through one by a former just not into it. Bram's, Underworld, and the like are my preference.

8 just love the lure of the vampires. They are beautiful,cruel yet so kind and they have an attraction of both danger and love.what's not to love?

the lure of the films does attract many, for different reason, yet the romance of their image, seems to be at the fore... and, the gore... of course.

Let's not discount the fact that most of us living in an extraordinarily boring world. Anything that relieves that boredom and allows us a chance to fantasy about something other than a 9-5 job with two weeks of vacation a year is usually gonna be attractive. What I find MORE fascinating are those who DON'T feel any need or urge for an escape like this!

Angelus, truly I have not watched many of the films that at present are popular. The exception being Dracula, of course. Which would always be my favorite for is theme of mutual enduring love.

The exception to present day films, is a show titled The Vampire Diaries. I came across this show my simply clicking on the “wrong” channel.

The reason that I have watched the show is that the screen writers portray many things in the plot development that are captivating to me. It uses metaphors for what I perceive to be esoteric.

To give some examples of what was stated. The archetypal brothers, is one observation. One is portrayed as the “good” brother. The other brother is the opposite. The name of the brothers Salvatore gives imagination to the correlation of a “savior.”The character Elena, appears to be the archetypal “warrior and mother.”

The plot development uses symbolism such as the cape, for instance, which reminds me of the for some, vampyes/vampire,s chosen path of “hidden existence”. The cape also affords one the possibility of a sort of collective reminder of archaic ideas, or mitochondrial DNA remembrance, as well as, the possibility of a correlation of what some label as the collective unconscious.

Other observations are scenes with coffins, for instance. The vampire’s flying, as the portrayed metaphor of one who is quick witted by the power of one’s will to have learned and put into practice what is found in Metaphysics and Occult/Hermetic schools of different, affiliations.

The plot development seems to portray the possibility of altruistic “eternal love,” as well. Which would be the most inmost felt. These are the reasons why I watch The Vampire Diaries.

I like to see how humans expect us to be. We either cant go in the sun because we'll supposidely blister or we sparkle like the feary people. I for one would rather watch Trueblood or vampire diaries than Twilight anyday. But i think its funny that if i tell my mom that im not human she throws me in the mental ward. so retarded that becuase i dont meet the societys criterea for being a vampire that im crazy. humans annoy me sometimes that way. but ya i like watching their opinions change on wat we are supposed to be.

I watch vampire films or any film for that matter for one reason...escapism. Media is a great way to put our 'real' lives out of our minds for a anything from couple of hours to a couple of days depending on the impact of the film and how much the film plays on our conscience.

Also I watch vampire films to see the possiblies of the effects of blood hunger, imortality etc on the human pysche.

As far as Vampyre movies go, I can stand the gross misconceptions that are shown in them. Blade, I can handle. Nosferatu, being in my opinion on of the greatest ever, very enjoyable. 30 Days of Night, ok, a little brutal, but enjoyable. Twilight, sparkling vamps. Nuff said.

I agree, although to be fair 'Twilight' did highlight that there are legends of vampires going back for centuries all over the world such as India, Eygpt etc (when Bella was researching 'the cold ones'.

For me Dracula would always be my most beloved film. For the portrayal of the passion, the disregard to social norms. For how they both gave each other to the other. For the portrayal of endless an eternal love.

I can agree that Twilight did hilight legends from many generations back , but they even failed to mention Ambrogio.
But over-all, the series has done nothing but over romanticize vampyres and turned us into basically faeries with fangs.

Lol, absolutley Sillivan I have to agree with you. I read the books as well and although they were a little better than the films they still made a mockery of the vampire myth.

Victorya has got it bang on with Dracula. That film encompassed all the classic elements which create a timeless classic film which has the audience rooting for techincally the 'bad guy' but the film has such complex emotional and moral issues that you end up mulling over the film for days afterwards not to mention watching it repeatedly (or is that just me?).

I viewed Dracula as a a great staple in the Vampyre lore. Although Dracula himself in life was not a vampyre, the Bram Stoker incarnation of the man was pretty well done all things considered.

There needs to be someone that will go ahead and write a novel with a better view on where the current story will go.

They are informative, thrilling, to some scarey, and who doesn't want to be in suspense when they watch a film?

-TheWhiteRabbit

XxTwistedWhisperXx,

Hi, How are you? To answer your question. No, is not just you. Well, all I can say that I too, find the film Darcula, worth watching many times.

Hi Victorya,

I'm well thanks. Also 'Lost Boys' has got to be be another all time favorite as it too has all the classic good vs evil elements in it set in a very modern time.

I always like them since they represent just how insidious and overwhelming evil can be represented while adding a romantic aspect to being conquered by it.

there are still ways of telling the tale that can work: am thinking of 'Bathory' and... True Blood, which I'll say here and Now, it's got to be one of the best takes on the genre yet... particularly this season and their mention of the vampire bible, etc...

Well here goes:

Horror is my fav type of movie
But my all time fav vampire movie
Would have to be........
Twilight and haunistly I am waiting for the final movie to come out so I can then say I have seen them all...Yayz

I have to agree with Angelus with True Blood being one of the best vampire series to come along in a while although Moonlight was really good as well. Unfortunley season 5 is not being shown in the U.K yet but this vampire bible sounds fasinating. I also enjoy true blood as the series is slowly incorporating more and more supeernatural creatures into the TB universe therefore expanding possible storylines and possiblities.

The best vampire representation is a darker more revenge driven plot like the original 'Dark Shadows' movie. Not that cheesey Tim Burton remake.

Does anyone else find it incredibly ironic that the Twilight version, literally, de-fangs the vampires. Per her telling, they don't need them because they're so superhuman strong. But really. A vampire without fangs is like a cat without claws.

vampire films are always retrospective of the culture of the time they are made

what sells now wont sell in 10 years time etc

i definateely think its ironic and the twilight films although the story line is good in my opinion it completely disrespects the vampire culture.

rlly, were not supposed to sparkle. soo annoying.

Lol, ues sparkiling vampires is very wrong as well as having vampires that do not burn up in the sun. Sorry but there is something intrinsically wrong with that. As a certain Nick Knight once said 'I don't burn, I don't tan, I implode!' (Forever Knight)

I enjoy ampires on t.v and in movies when they have certain tradional 'features', such as fangs and major problems with sunlight. Don't get me wrong I'm all for updating the concepts, themes etc but some things are sacrosanct.

i definately agree.i mean if your gonna make a vampire film use some of the traditional ideas.

Yes and I sooooo wish they would get away from the whole "100+ year old vampire falling in love with a 17 year old bumbling idiot" senerio.

yeaaa, it is getting old and tiresome very quickly!

This thread has been automatically closed for length.