Oct 2- Vampires

Number 2 on the list of most popular monsters as of late are vampires, though they seem to have seen their days come and go. Now, I know why they became more popular for a stretch, it’s because of Stephanie Meyer, even though her books had little to do with actual vampirism and more to do with being hot and immortal and misunderstood and having a personality that would make wet cardboard jealous. So we aren’t going to talk about them. We are here to talk about the old school vampires. The ones that suck the blood of the innocent, turn into bats or demons of hell, depending on which version you look at, and are so unholy and satanic that water with a cross on it will give them hives.

So why have vampires been so popular? Even before Twilight, vampires were already a staple of pop horror. One of the first horror films ever, Nosferatu, is a vampire flick. Think about it, in terms of being a horror icon, they really are the complete package. They suck blood, they prey on the weak, most of the time they got their powers as part of some Faustian bargain. And unlike zombies, who look like people but have lost all of their personality and humanity, vampires still get to keep that. And they get to keep their faces without any decay taking place. And they’re immortal which from a character stand point, makes them perfect for story telling. Many times a vampire is a character that has lived for centuries and has seen civilizations rise and fall. They’re viewers of the never ending story that is human history. This may play a part in why many vampires are people who have lost their humanity. They’ve seen the mistakes that mankind has made and continues to make, even though they should have learned from it the first few times. So, to them, they probably don’t see the killing of an innocent to be that big of a crime because they’re saving the world from one more idiot who would have contributed to humanity’s next big mistake.

Okay, it actually just hit me that I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen that angle played out in a vampire story, so whoever plans on writing a vampire novel next, feel free to use that. Just give me a writer’s cred for it. But I digress.

Ideal Specimen: Count Dracula

Well, who else am I going to name? Sure, there are other vampires that have left their mark, but none of them have had such a big impression than Dracula. He’s been adapted dozens of times and by different actors who all had their own spin on the blood sucking count from Bella Lugosi to the immortal Christopher Lee and my personal favorite, Gary Oldman. In a way, every time the horror genre goes through a reinvention, there’s going to be an adaptation of Dracula that puts emphasis on the style of the day. When Christopher Lee played Dracula, it was during the Hammer Horror days when horror films were very goofy with lots of fake looking blood and special effects that didn’t really hold up, even back then. However, when you look at it, you get the idea that those decisions were made on purpose. The whole idea behind these films was more about the visual style than anything else. If you want a more modern idea of what a Hammer Horror film was like, take a look at any of Tim Burton’s movies, particularly Sweeney Todd or Sleepy Hollow. When Gary Oldman played Dracula, it put more emphasis on the sexual nature of vampires than past films. Not that that was the whole focus of the movie, but it was definitely more present than past adaptations. Because when you’re immortal, you’re gonna have a lot of time on your hands, and when you have three eternally beautiful wives, you’re gonna find some use for both that time and those hands, giggidy. What’s more interesting is that Oldman’s, while being more sensual than past versions, is also much creepier. Even when he’s a young man, there’s something unsettling about him. I never really knew if he was going to turn Mina into a vampire or not.

Oldman’s Dracula was also the first time we saw just how powerful he could be. He can take on the form of almost anything from a young man to a wolf, to fog, to a demon out of hell. It made him more threatening because you never really knew what the limits to his abilities were. If you haven’t seen this movie, and you like vampires, check it out. Visually, there’s some good stuff, and the performances, with a few exceptions, are really good.