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You don’t see many vampire movies hit the big screen anymore — at least not vampires of yore; those of the fang-toothed, pale-skinned cape-wearing variety. Those hoary old cliches have lately become box-office poison, but that doesn’t mean the vampire story has left us. They’ve just shifted their shape a bit.
We had a lively discussion of the zombie a few weeks ago, and it was generally agreed upon that zombies are fascinating to us because they’re anti-human — they look human (just barely), but everything else about them is pure animal. Vampires, on the other hand, are very human; thanks in part to Bram Stoker, the stereotypical vampire exemplifies gentlemanly refinement, and is of the utmost class and breeding in every way save one — he wants to suck your blood.
So what vampire stories have become are tales of the fatal flaw: of extremely high-functioning people who might be perfect, but for their horrible addiction. Under that rubric, movies like The Silence of the Lambs become modern-day vampire stories; Hannibal Lecter is a gentleman, a genius, a flatterer — a Lord Byron type if there ever was one — it just so happens that he’d rather eat your liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti than chit-chat:
To my mind, then, zombies are interesting because they represent an inhuman Otherness — death incarnate — and vampires are interesting because they seem so human. They are essentially incomplete people — hence their desperate addiction — and the tragic thing about them is that they may want something other than what their nature demands; the vampire may love the girl, but he is doomed to kill her for her blood nevertheless.
But hey, enough blather. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore:
What do you prefer — Lecter or Lugosi?
Bonus question: what other modern-day vampire stories can you name (that don’t literally feature a vampire)?
Comments (27)
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Does PBS’s Frontline documentary “Cheney’s Law” count? I think Dick has sucked on the rhetorical blood of many.
posted by Travis on 3-12-2008 at 7:53 am
Does an Obama rally count? Whenever he starts speaking I can feel my wallet getting thinner.
posted by Witty Nickname on 3-12-2008 at 8:24 am
Hmm, as far as modern-day “vampire” stories go, I can only think of RENT, for some reason. Just the way that Mimi and what’s-his-name use heroin–even though it’s killing them, they use it because it makes them feel “alive,” or more “human.”
I personally am a Lugosi fan, but that may just be because of my weakness for Ed Wood.
Oh, and on a slightly related topic, I’m donating blood today! Hopefully not to sate the appetite of the undead, though.
posted by Allison on 3-12-2008 at 9:20 am
When I was a kid, I was so frightened of Vampires that I’d be afraid to go to sleep…knowing my parents would never tolerate that (and I’d never be able to stay up and watch scary movies again), I convinced myself that Dracula would only attack you if he could see your neck…so I’d pull the covers up tight around my neck and calmly fall asleep…
As an adult, the vampire is by far my fave scary monster…probably because they are so human-like…who really thinks a mummy or werewolf is going to walk into your home and getcha? a vampire? very possibly…
My fave vampire? Barnabas Collins…I had the Dark Shadows board game as a kid and he scared the living boo outta me…Jonathan Frid rules!
posted by donner on 3-12-2008 at 11:08 am
I agree with donner, Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) rules the vampires! My wife and daughters got hooked on Dark Shadows from Netflix and are watching the entire series now! It’s been over a year and only about halfway through.
posted by Rellison on 3-12-2008 at 11:22 am
The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer has a modified version of the classic vampire, if that counts.
posted by Amanda on 3-12-2008 at 12:22 pm
Ransom,
A couple of weeks ago you penned an article on why we need horror films. You noted an us versus them mentality and explained: “It’s easier to imagine people like that as something else, something other, an alien or a demon,” but now you note: “Vampires, on the other hand, are very human” which is why they are so fascinating.
So do vampire movies fall into some sort of loophole and are no longer to be considered within the horror film genre? Or, rather, do horror films not require the us/them mentality which you earlier suggested.
I would also question whether Hannibal Lecter is a modern day vampire. While I don’t have the series commited to memory, I believe most of the people Hannibal kills are “bad people.” In Silence of the Lambs, he assists Clarice in catching the actual villian of the book, while in Hannibal, his nemesis is a child molester. Furthermore, he never kills her.
posted by Florida on 3-12-2008 at 1:13 pm
Just a side about the classic vampire –
Check out “Billy the Kid vs Dracula.”
So horribly awesome.
posted by Leah on 3-12-2008 at 1:21 pm
Check out West Texas Vampires, an independent film in production near Lubbock, Texas.
posted by West Texas Vampires on 3-12-2008 at 1:47 pm
If you ask me the comparison should not be between Lecter and Lugosi, but rather Lugosi vs. Lee. Seriously, how can you ignore Christopher Lee?! The man took what Lugosi created and perfected it!
posted by Carl on 3-12-2008 at 1:49 pm
In the tv series Heroes there’s a character named sylar that takes other people’s powers by stealing their brains. I think the storyline originally wanted him to eat the brains but they thought it was too graphic for primetime tv.
posted by kai on 3-12-2008 at 1:50 pm
@Florida: The fascinating thing about vampires, and why they would still fit the horror movie genre as defined, is that they are so nearly human (or better than human) but still alien. Still not. Still monstrous. The fascination is highlighted in the “rent” and “hannibal” references, as they bring the vampire even closer. “But for the grace of God go I.”
Hannibal “prefers to eat the rude, calls them ‘free-range rude’” says Clarice at an FBI briefing in “Hannibal”. That’s not to say he doesn’t kill anyone else he needs to. Indeed, many of the classic vamps are selective on some level as to who they consume. Almost all of the nouveau vampyre are highly selective.
And the final stake in the heart of the Lector as vampire: He doesn’t kill Clarice… he turns her.
posted by thejonas on 3-12-2008 at 1:53 pm
@witty nickname: Why do you people do this? The Cheney comment was right on – he’s partially responsible for the *deaths* of *thousands* of people over a bunch of horses**t. Now how is Obama responsible for your wallet getting thinner? How much $$ has been wasted on the Iraq war alone – $600 BILLION is it? And yet you still have the audacity to whine the tired old ‘tax and spend democrat’ cliche? Its not even funny – its simply pathetic!
posted by Netmonger on 3-12-2008 at 1:53 pm
I’ve always wanted to have vampire fangs… even when i was a kid i wanted fangs… and now I’m a student on Bulgarian faculty of dentistry in Plovdiv… and i made my fangs :D and its really cool… A DREAM COME TRUE :D
posted by ilco on 3-12-2008 at 2:02 pm
@ Netmonger
Read his comment again. I think he means because he is donating.
posted by Brian on 3-12-2008 at 3:03 pm
If you would like to see a modern movie that has some of the classic Vampire esqe qualities that you are missing, then you need to reach out of hollywood and go to Russia. Go watch Nightwatch and Daywatch. Fox Searchlight brought them over and its the movie that you probably are looking for.
posted by Jon on 3-12-2008 at 3:08 pm
Succubus.
Dead beat EX-wife, whose only contact is every few months to “remind” you
that you both have a daughter to raise, the same daughter who is in the other room asking who is on the phone.
The same one who calls your daughter on her cell phone to say she just got into rehab (for the tenth time) and everything is going to be great.
no blood involved just life force being drained.
posted by Ron on 3-12-2008 at 3:27 pm
What about Anne Rice vampires? As a teenager I was in love with those books – the hauntingly beautiful vampires, and their often ancient origins.
posted by Sarah on 3-12-2008 at 4:00 pm
One of the best vampire stories I have ever read, besides Bram Stoker’s, is Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend”. Despite what the movie would like you to believe, they are in fact vampires. And I will not spoil it for any potential readers, but the vampires in I am Legend (the book) are very much like the vampires in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. And don’t believe you know anything about the book from watching the movie, they cannot be compared.
posted by buhby on 3-12-2008 at 4:07 pm
Lugosi gave me nightmares when I was a kid, and to this day Vampires still creep me out more than any other fictional monster. Thanks for the flashbacks!
posted by Rusty Lime Admin on 3-12-2008 at 4:34 pm
Don’t forget that the actor who was initially supposed to play Dracula was no other than Lon Chaney.
With him as Dracula, you wouldn’t even think about debating whether Lugosi or Lee was the best.
posted by Pepe le Pew on 3-12-2008 at 4:40 pm
I’ve always thought of the human fascination with vampires as tied to the horrible fascination we have with perversion (the sacred made profane). One day someone is your best friend, or lover, or even mother… the next day, they are something so totally different, a being of evil. Almost as if the darkest aspects of that person have come out- a horror with the evil that can lurk within ourselves, maybe, if you want to get psychoanalytical.
posted by Timmy Harms on 3-12-2008 at 8:37 pm
Having spent most of high school and almost all of college doing research on cannibalism, I’d have to say that Lecter won me over early. He’s a fascinating study of manners and madness.
But Lugosi is good for a shiver or two. I think it’s the accent!
posted by kitsana_d on 3-12-2008 at 9:05 pm
One very recent movie about modern-day vampires would be 30 Days of Night. I think hat movie was based on a graphic novel. I wish that they make a sequel. I would really like to know more about how the vampires came to be.
posted by Leizl on 3-13-2008 at 3:41 am
Lecter was SO cool . . .
posted by GuesssWho on 6-22-2008 at 5:56 pm
I suppose you could see a character like Rouge from X-Men as a modern vamp. She absorbs the energy of anyone she touches, which has the side effect of letting her adopt other mutants’ abilities, at least for a short time. If she doesn’t break contact fast enough, she can seriously injure and potentially kill someone. What’s so great about her character in a vamp sense is that her power is also a curse. Her inability to physically connect with another person is a heavy burden for her, kind of the way Louis in the Rice books initially feels the burden of taking human life.
Also, the bad terminator in T2 assumes the identities of his victims. That’s a bit vampy.
posted by Chelsea on 2-2-2009 at 1:44 pm
Two words: Twilight Saga. I think it proves that animals have blood so they can be drunk out of.
(reCAPTCHA: Bujones forgery.)
posted by Jen Pen on 2-27-2009 at 10:18 pm