Watching the recent Netflix release, Night Teeth, I was reminded about what I enjoy so much about vampire movies. And also what ultimately is disappointing in so many others. The genre has included many traditional vampire flicks (Nosferatu, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, etc.) and plenty of sub-genres (comedy: What we do in the Shadows, arthouse: Only Lovers Left Alive, action: Underworld, foreign: Thirst, teen angst: Twilight). Basically, vampires make for very versatile characters. So, after watching the rather pedestrian Night Teeth, I started thinking about movies that I really did like.
So, to be clear, this isn’t an attempt at creating a ‘best’ vampire movies list. That would be really challenging. But, we’ll call it a personal favorite list, with a bit of explanation as to why each one makes the list.
Near Dark - 1987
The oldest film on my list (I’m not including any of the true classic black and white vampire movies) is another one that really changed the genre. In the 1980s, vampire movies were in a bit of a rut. They tended to follow similar themes that were all pretty well played out. With only occasional outside-the-box movies (like The Hunger) you pretty much knew what you were going to bet in most vampire movies. Along comes Near Dark to shake things up.
It was violent, gory, and took on the idea of how a ‘family’ of vampires might actually survive in the modern world. They weren’t rich from being immortal. They were living in an RV, traveling around the country on a killing spree. You get a newly turned vampire trying to keep his humanity while being forced to live with monsters. It still holds up today.
From Dusk Til Dawn - 1996
This is just a crazy, wonderful move that happens to include vampires. Let’s start with the fact that it stars George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin, Fred Williamson, Danny Trejo, and it basically introduced Salma Hayak. That is a loaded cast with some really wildly different actors. What starts out as a crime drama, with Clooney and Tarantino as violent bank robbers on the run to Mexico with a kidnapped family turns into a vampire bloodbath unlike any other.
It is so completely over the top and just bonkers that it really has to make not only my favorites list but probably most lists of best vampire films. Utterly original, wildly violent and gory, hilarious, and just nuts. It also has a killer soundtrack. Do yourself a favor and watch it if you haven’t seen it before.
Underworld - 2003
So, is Underworld a good movie? Well, the critics didn’t think so. Audiences, however, liked it enough to spawn several sequels and offshoots. It was also one of the seminal films that made female vampires not only sexy but every bit as dangerous as their male counterparts. Then 20-something me was very taken by Kate Beckinsale as the dressed-in-black-leather Selene, a vampire who hunts werewolves. Dark, gory, overwrought, violent, and so much fun.
No one here was winning academy awards, but it really took the b-movie vampire genre and proved it could be a hit with a female lead. You can see elements of Underworld in a lot of later movies, where the women vampires were every bit as deadly in a fight as the men. We might take that for granted now, but it wasn’t quite so established before Underworld.
What we do in the Shadows - 2015
This list wouldn’t be complete without a comedic take on vampires. This utterly unexpected hit from Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnorak) took the concept of the mockumentary and applied it to vampires. Think of it as a cross between This is Spinal Tap and The Office, but about vampires trying to live together in a flat in modern-day New Zealand.
It is hilarious, nonsensical, and really amazingly endearing. Ever wonder about the mundane lives of vampires on a daily basis, when they’re not being all terrifying or sexy or whatever? Well, this is for you. It also inspired the tv series of the same name, now running on FX. That is also pretty fantastic.
30 Days of Night - 2007
For me, this did for the vampire movie what 28 Days Later did for zombies. It stepped into the genre and gave it a good kick in the pants. This is a pretty dark movie and not just because it happens in Alaska during a month when the sun never rises. It is reminiscent of Near Dark in that idea that vampires are most definitely not sexy or stylish. They are just horrible, hungry, insatiable killing machines, bent on killing as many people as they can.
This one is gory, violent, and there really isn’t a happy ending here. It’s pretty obvious that things are not going to end well or any of them from early on - especially once it gets fully dark. Add in the cold and remoteness of the small Alaska town and you get a pretty claustrophobic, scary thriller.
Vampire Hunter D - 2000 (Animated)
How about one animated manga movie for the list? Vampire Hunter D is your jam. This is as much a sci-fi story as a vampire flick, but that’s part of what makes it cool. It comes from a Japanese Manga, which looks at the earth in the distant future following some kind of apocalypse. Vampires now rule the night as a kind of horrific aristocracy, although their numbers are declining because of vampire hunters.
Cue the entrance of our intrepid hero, D. He is likely more than he seems as we learn while he dispatches various creatures of the night to protect a small town. It’s basically a western, a vampire movie, and a science-fiction story all rolled into one. Not to be missed.
