Vampires

The vampire is one of the most iconic figures in horror film. The vampire is a human being who has returned from the dead and is immortal unless killed. The vampire preys on human blood. It has vulnerabilities to the crucifix, daylight, holy water and can only be dispatched by being staked through the heart. Its appearance is with fangs and very pale skin, sometimes red eyes. It can be handsome or voluptuous, or rat-like and cadaverous. It can wield great hypnotic abilities on its victims and transform into bats and other animals.

The vampire appears in many world mythologies. The vampire of fiction was not created by Bram Stoker but he did popularise it in Dracula (1897) in which he laid down many key aspects of the mythology – its aversion to crucifixes and sunlight, the need to kill it with a stake through the heart, its coming from Transylvania and the need to live in a coffin of its native Earth. These remain the key aspects of the mythology. Some films change various aspects or strip out the supernatural elements and offer medical/scientific explanations.

The first vampire film was the Turkish Drakula (1921), the first major one the German Nosferatu (1922). The iconic image of the vampire in dinner suit, cape and thick East European accent was created with Bela Lugosi in Universal’s Dracula (1931) and has since been much copied and parodied,.

The vampire appeared in various Universal sequels of the 1940s and then underwent a major revival with Hammer’s Dracula/The Horror of Dracula (1958) starring Christopher Lee. Hammer put Lee through a string of Dracula sequels and created other vampire films. These inspired a number of imitators throughout Europe and Latin America, even from Japan. One of the subgenres among these was the lesbian vampire film created by Hammer’s adaptation of Carmilla (1872) with The Vampire Lovers (1970), which led to sequels and a number of imitators.

The 1960s also brought the first in a number of vampire comedies and parodies. Beginning in the late 1950s and more concertedly in the 1970s, efforts were made to move the vampire out of the Victorian surroundings and bring it into the present-day and by the 1980s the vampire was well at home in suburbia and major metropolitan areas. The 1970s also saw the move to reconstruct the vampire less as an evil predator and more as a darkly brooding romantic figure, as well as in a number of works of erotica.

The 1980s onwards brought the gritty vampire action film and the 1990s a series of films focusing on the vampire hunter as hero. Others place a focus on slick Gothic poses or tell of vampire clans operating in the shadows of society, often at war with Werewolves. On the opposite side, there are a number of kitchen sink portrayals showing the vampire dealing with everyday life. There have also been a number of films that depict vampirisim in medical/scientific terms.

In more recent years, the vampire film was dealt a considerable blow by the Young Adult romance Twilight (2008) and sequels, which made the vampire an adolescent romantic figure, preaching chastity and a doting father who also sparkled. In the aftermath, there have still been a number of vampire films but the genre seems to be looking for new directions, no longer holding the strength it once did.

For adaptations of Bram Stoker and works in which Dracula appears as a character see Dracula Films.