Vampire movies have been a constant presence in pop-culture. This past year alone we have enjoyed Abigail to Renfield, and have Nosferatu to look forward to this December. Since 2019, there have been constant vampire films that perform incredibly well in the box office, and that trend is not slowing down anytime soon.
Despite vampires’ reputation as monsters that lurk in the dark, or sparkly sexy lady-killers, the most successful movies are ones that defy genre expectations. Now more than ever before, we are seeing vampire comedies, dramas, and mysteries. Although romance and horror are not absent, modern audiences are taking a more nuanced approach to vampire films to avoid overdone cliches and tropes that would bore viewers. But how were these cliches we now avoid created, and how have vampires managed to keep the public’s fascination for over a hundred years?
The Origin of The Vampire
Nosferatu (1922) is the first vampire film and Dracula adaptation that we recognize today. It was intended to be an adaptation of the original Dracula novel by Bram Stoker. This movie is the source of inspiration for many subsequent filmmakers when trying to capture vampires in the 20th century. It was revolutionary in creating the foundation for the vampire genre and Dracula movies. Nosferatu inspired the creation of classic Dracula films through the 1930s and established much of the common vampire lore such as being vulnerable to sunlight. Although Dracula movies were a small part in a larger cultural zeitgeist of monster films, it was here that our understanding of vampires were founded. Vampires went from demonic beings of fear, to mysterious creatures of the night with magical powers that fascinated. Most of what we believe to be part of vampire lore was founded by Nosferatu and other early vampire films rather than being present in past novels or folklore.
Vampires existed before movies in novels and various local folktales. Noticeably Dracula by Bram Stoker is the most popular of these sources but it was not the first and took inspiration from several other works. Stoker drew inspiration from the short story The Vampyre and the novella Carmilla. These works drew inspiration from folklore about vampires and stories about infamous individuals, such as Elizabeth Bathory. Because vampire novels emerged only about 30 years before the first vampire films, there was not large degrees of consensus on what vampires needed to live, and what powers they had. There was a huge degree of variety between sources that Hollywood could realistically do anything they wanted in their movies. Vampires were not so much a fictional species as they were a metaphysical plot device that was an interesting draw to audiences. It is because of the incredibly malleable and undefined origin of the genre that vampires have never been confined to one set of powers and weaknesses. It is as time progressed that The Vampire became an archetype in popular culture and cemented itself in the public’s consciousness.
Vampires in Horror
The first and most enduring genre that vampires are a part of is of course Horror. Popularized among the monster movie craze of the 30s and 40s, vampires, and specifically Dracula, is an icon inseparable from the horror movie industry. Even today we Dracula and his vampiric brethren are used to frighten movie-goers.
The most recognizable Dracula belongs to the 1931 adaptation of Dracula. This movie was huge in the moment, and huge for film history, single-handidly shaping our expectations about Dracula and the horror industry as a whole for generations. It was part of the monster movie craze that helped keep Universal Studios afloat and shaped what we expect from all vampires going forward. The original Dracula movie is what creates the expectations around sunlight, garlic, mirrors, and all the mystical powers that Dracula has.The horror of the original American Dracula is in its simplicity, it is telling a story that genuinely horrifies, it does not set out to scare the viewer with jump-scares. Rather, the audience is led through the same slow build the original readers were with the main beats of the Bram Stoker novel still in tact.
The most recent Dracula film, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, was released in 2023 and retells the tale of the ship that went from Transylvania to London where the entire crew died to a “mysterious illness” on the journey, allowing Dracula to land safely in the city. Rather than the suave but deadly gentleman, Dracula is portrayed as a stalking predator and rabid animal. It is a fantastic film that portrays the slow rise of dread that comes from being trapped with mans own predator.
Modern portrayals of Dracula highlight the fact that he is a walking corpse that survives of the literal lifeblood of mankind. If the past was alert with jumpscares, fears of the unknown, and gorey deaths, modern horror slows down. It focuses on the slow build of dread, and the knowledge that no matter what our protagonists do they are doomed to fail. The appeal of any modern vampire movie is that we go in knowing everything, and ultimately, are unable to do anything. Inaction is not the killer, rather it is that any action is ultimately pointless that is so terrifying.
The Romantic Vampire
In modern vampire films, vampires are portrayed as beautiful and seductive. This is justified either as a core component of how they hunt, like in Interview with a Vampire, or like a natural consequence of perfect immortality, looking at you Twilight. But long before those movies vampires had associations with often forbidden seduction. The early vampire novels like Carmilla were explicitly romantic, and Dracula’s powers included the ability to turn others into servants for his own use. Vampires were intended to be romantic in an eery way that terrified the audience, they were everything that people want but cannot have, forbidden desire incarnate in one sexy package.
Interview with a Vampire, an adaptation of the novel by the same name, is a prime example of the dramatic romantic vampire film. Despite the blood and death present it is not by any stretch a horror movie. Existential? Sure, but it never leaves the viewer scared, after all, our protagonist and narrator is a vampire himself. The romantic vampire invites us to sympathize, seeing the vampire not as a creature of the night, but as a former human. We are invited to see the human soul in a beautiful being doomed to be a monster. It is romantic to its core and fulfills a desire to be wanted by someone who is outright forbidden and vilified by society. Given this film was released in the 80s this was not an uncommon sentiment for many, who could either see themselves or even their own lovers in the vampires shoes.
The Twilight saga though radically different from Interview with a Vampire fulfills a similar desire. To be wanted in a way that is out of your control, that you cannot be blamed for. It is easy to see that for women there is desire that is not allowed to be realized, but if they are pursued by someone that is more powerful than them, they don’t have to be accountable for what happens. The Twilight saga simply highlights a change in that fantasy from the 80s to the 2000s. It was more about the desire of the viewer than the reality of vampires. Their role turned from monster of reality, where their nature matters for the meaning, to a plot device to facilitate guilt free romance for women.
Satirical Vamps
After decades of horror, drama, and romance, vampire movies have changed to satirizing the very idea of vampires. The characters and tropes have been done so much that their very existence is seen as cliche. The only way forward for the genre has been to reinvent itself completely.
On one hand vampires have become so satirized as to be family friendly. The best example of this is in the Hotel Transylvania series. He is turned from a dark creature of the night into a protective father, and his vampirism is little more than a quirky trait and occasional plot device. This shift into comedy is a complete departure from previous iterations of Dracula and vampire films in general.
Further leaning into this era of comedy is the releases of Renfield and Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person in 2023 and 2024. Renfield uses comedy, focusing on the story of Dracula’s assistant Renfield and his attempts to forge his own identity while being a vampire. Hilariously, making Dracula out to be a cross between an abusive boss/parent/partner and walking corpse all at once. While Humanist Vampire uses its vampirism to address what ethical consumption looks like and how mental health can be addressed individually. All while having moments of extreme hilarity.
Modern vampire films use humor to address real issues. Vampires are used symbolically to talk about less supernatural problems using tropes we can laugh about. The future of vampire films lay in their ability to make us laugh while pointing out the modern ails of society.
