What's Your Favorite Vampire Movie?

Hmmmm...this is a tough question. I'm leaning toward Near Dark, but I might think of a different a little later. I'm going to go with that for now, but I may change my answer down the road.

Are you merging with Fat Elvis?

In regards to the topic at hand, off the top of my head I'd have to say that THE REVENANT is the vampire film I was most fond of whilst watching it. Really fun movie which played with the concept of Vampirism and just kept up the ante of the world itself. It's one of the few films I can think of where the film keeps expanding its focus until it's gone from a simple 'Holy crap, my buddy is a vampire' to pretty much a superhero film featuring Vamps.

Fine, I'll cast my vote for Horror of Dracula. Purely because I love Cushing and Lee in their respective roles, the film looks gorgeous and the final confrontation between Helsing and Dracula is just fantastic. Love Helsings leap to rip down the curtains and the awesome effect they have for bits of Dracula turning to dust/rotting.

Toss of the coin between Near Dark and Let the Right One In. Redneck humor shifted the balance.

Oh man, good question Patrick.

I've never seen The Revenant, I'll have to check it out. There are just so many that I love, I could probably name 10 that are interchangable as my favorites, but then I'd be taking all of the fun away from everyone else, so I'll just go with two.

The creepiest one I've ever seen was Martin, when I was a little kid I remember actually not being able to sleep after seeing it. And my favorite to watch over and over again is probably Fright Night, it's such a fun movie. There's a bunch more I want to name, vampire movies were probably the most important thing to me when I was kid besides comic books. It was a very lonely childhood.

In no particular order --

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
LOST BOYS
NEAR DARK
NOSFERATU (Murnau)
NOSFERATU (Herzog)
MARTIN
SALEM'S LOT (1979)
COUNT DRACULA (70'S BBC)

DRACULA (1931) is a terrible film notable only for its historical significance and Bela Lugosi.

I love Christopher Lee as Dracula but honestly wouldn't place any of the Hammer films very high. HORROR OF DRACULA and DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS are pretty good. I like TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA for its silliness.

'Lifeforce'.

This is a true statement, however, if you watch the version of the movie they filmed for Spanish language distribution it's really good. They had more money to film it so the sets were better, they had more takes to get things right, and the atmosphere of the film is head and shoulders above it's English speaking counterpart.

I thought that the Spanish version used the same exact sets as the Lugosi version. Regardless, I do agree that it's a superior version.

I have seen it. It is better.

The problem with DRACULA (both versions) is the adherence to the stage play. You could try to excuse the film by saying it was the limitation of film at the time, but NOSFERATU sort of blows that theory out of the water. They should have been thinking beyond the stage play.

They used the same sets, but the set dressing and detail was just much better than the American version.

I totally agree with you.

I went with DRACULA. I just love Lugosi that much. (An utter classicist til the bitter end!)

Almost voted "You didn't name my favorite" though, because I really dig MARTIN and Abel Ferrara's THE ADDICTION.

Noting the distinction between "favorite" and "best", I have to go with Fright Night and The Lost Boys. Sure, there's the dreaded nostalgia factor in play, but they're both so much fun. And they have that amazing '80s horror quality that hits all my sweet spots. Plus, infinite quotability: "One thing about livin' in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all those damn vampires."

Near Dark is right up there, but I'm penalizing it for the happy ending.

I'm glad that THE HUNGER wasn't on that list. I know it's terrible, but my teenage self loved the shit out of that film.

For what it's worth, Dracula A.D. 1972 is the only vampire movie to give me nightmares.

Did your uncle dress up as a swinging-Londoner when he touched you? Because that's literally the only way I could imagine someone being scared by Dracula A.D. 1972.

That's how I feel about John Carpenter's Vampires. I'll watch the heck out of that movie, but I know it's silly.

Your a good man padre... welcome to the team.

Still haven't seen VAMPIRES yet. Should probably give it a try.

Also, another for the misguided love pile. FROM DUSK 'TIL DAWN.

Wow.

I want to love CRONOS, I really do. I just don't. I like it, but it kinda leaves me cold.

LOST BOYS is a fun, fun film. I think it utterly succeeds at what its trying to do. You might not like what it's trying to do, but I find it hard to believe anyone could argue that it's not successful on its own terms.

FRIGHT NIGHT I loved as a kid but it hasn't really held up for me.

NEAR DARK I've come to really appreciate over the years.

No love for 'Love at First Bite'? You can't go wrong with Richard Benjamin trying to ward scare off George Hamilton with a Star of David.

This would go perfect in a triple feature including Vampire in Brooklyn and Vampire's Kiss.

Fright Night doesn't hold up for ya, but you can still dig The Lost Boys? I'm the complete opposite. Different strokes, i guess.

The original 'Salem's Lot' creeped me the hell out when I was young. I haven't seen it in years but I remember it being a very solid film. Has anyone seen this one recently?

Come on, people! No one's brought up Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000? Shame on you all. Joking aside, I thought the Dracula / Judas angle was pretty clever, but that's about it.

I think that's one of those films that has particular resonance for a particular generation. My sister (who's 13 years older than me) will go on and on about how terrifying the Glick kid floating outside the window is. Me? I don't quite see it. Between being a product of the '70s and made-for-television, 'Salems Lot is chock full of cheesy goodness. Still better than the Rob Lowe remake, though.

DRACULA HAS RISEN RISEN FROM THE GRAVE is pretty great too.

I went with Dracula. There's no beating Lugosi. Lee came a close second.

As for Let The Right One In, give it a couple of more decades.

Actually, 'Shadow of the Vampire' would probably be my favorite. Dafoe is incredible in it.

FRIGHT NIGHT for me, probably. It's about the most perfect mix of what's genuinely frightening about the vampire myth and what's completely absurd about it. Plus, cheesy 80's-ness aside, it has about the best extended third act of any vampire movie.

My favorite is...Blade! The only vampire film, nearly as good is...Blade II! Both are such...MARVELous films, it is a shame that part 3, was so underwhelming.

Near Dark. Jenny Wright. A score by Tangerine Dream. Arguably the greatest kiss in cinema (in a beat-up pick-up truck, no less!). It just hits all the right spots for the romantic in me.

I've enjoyed the movies listed in the poll, and it was hard to pick out which one I liked the most. So, I went with You didn't name my favorite, asshole - because you left out Martin, asshole.

I loved Near Dark until I saw it recently. Doesn't hold up for me.

The Hunger - David Jones Mutherfukkas

The complaints about Lugosi's Dracula were always valid, but by now there are so many cinematic versions of Dracula, I don't feel cheated, and I kind of dig that we have a representation of the stodgy old stage play on film. Yeah, it feels like a play, but I like that I have the opportunity to watch that play, with Lugosi in the title role no less.

You left off Martin, so I voted "asshole."

I had an ex-girlfriend who saw Salem's Lot when she was a little kid and that scene still freaked her out in high school, but it never really got me. I was more scared of the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors which always reminded me of Salem's Lot for some reason. That kid was way creepy.



Another one of Stephen King's vampire tales The Night Flier was made into a movie that was pretty creepy. I saw it on TV a while ago, I'm not sure if it was a theatrical release or just a made-for-TV flick, but it wasn't that bad.

1. Let The Right One In (2008)
2. Near Dark (1987) & Martin (1977)
3. Vamp (1986)
4. Nosferatu (1979)
5. The Lost Boys (1987)*
6. Brides of Dracula (1960)
7. Nosferatu (1922)
8. Fright Night (1985)
9. Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)
10. Cronos (1993)





*Yeah, it's on there, blow me.

Lost Boys
Monster Squad
Blade

Not the best choices in the world but I love all three of them to bits.

I like that there's a film version of the play, but it bums me out that this is all we get (outside of Abbott & Costello) of Lugosi's Dracula. Everyone thinks of him as THE definitive Drac, yet here he is in this crummy version. I would have liked to have seen Lugosi's film match the caliber of FRANKENSTEIN, or at the very least liked to have seen him do a proper sequel.

Blade II.

Also known as: The Last Fucking Time Vampires Were Scary

I thought 30 DAYS OF NIGHT did a good job of making the vampires scary. The movie is problematic, but the concept and vampires are solid.

I get all that, but in an odd way it's almost as if there's no filmmaking "getting in the way" of his performance. It's just him up there, like something from another world, all freaky and hypnotic. (I'm not suggesting this was at all intentional; the film is badly directed and sloppily executed in general. If you really want to tear it a new asshole compare it not to Frankenstein, but to M, released the same year.)

I don't know about my favorite, but Daybreakers had a great world set up, and I got a kick out of those two russian movies they did, Day Watch and Night Watch.

Haven't seen this title discussed around here, so what is the general consensus on Cronenberg's Rabid?
Other good vamp features not yet mentioned:
Interview with the Vampire
Ultraviolet (not technically a movie, but a British television mini-series)

I'm a big fan of the Herzog/Kinski NOSFEREMAKE. I love Orlock's look. Original too.

And CAPTAIN KRONOS!

But I voted Hammer DRAC.

And yeah, I love the Universal classics and some of the 80s/90s trash mentioned in this thread.

DAYBREAKERS and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN were legitimately good (DAY) to even great (LET).

Said it before, but if they replaced the CG freaks in I AM LEGEND with the vamps in 30 DAYS, we'd be moving in the right direction.

EDIT: Poor Palance and Langella.

This is a great way to look at it. I'll try watching the film with this lens and perhaps I'll get more out of it.

Won't quite work to explain the 60% of the movie he ain't in, but glad to help!

(Also, Dwight Frye)