The success of the vampire as portrayed in popular
literature and film throughout history has often been contingent upon his
ability to remain in the shadows, feeding discreetly in order to remain
undiscovered. The most powerful of supernatural abilities the vampire has as
weapons is the ability of seduction, causing humans to give their lives
willingly. Sexuality has been linked with vampires from their original
conception of the vampire’s mythology, and this did not change when the
bloodsucker was adapted to celluloid. The story which first ushered the vampire
onto film was "Dracula," the 1897 novel
written by Irish author, Bram Stoker; first with the unauthorized silent German
adaptation, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des
Grauens (1922), and then with the Universal classic, Dracula (1931).
Bram Stoker’s Count
Dracula was a monster equipped with a powerful ability to seduce, and though
this sexuality was toned down in the production of the original film, Francis
Ford Coppola was more explicit in exposing the monster’s utilization of sex in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Other vampire films followed in this tradition,[1]
and the blood-sucking monster was often associated with seduction and
sexuality.[2]
In Once Bitten (1985) the vampire must feed from the blood of a virgin,
combining the narrative with the teenage male anxiety of remaining the last to
lose his virginity.[3]
Even when the antagonist only believes he is a vampire, as is the case in
George A. Romero’s Martin (1977),
sexuality is still retained in the narrative as he often rapes his victims
before drinking their blood. Sex is also used to lure victims in many vampire
tales, including the topless bar which doubles as a lucrative vampire lair in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) or the whore
house which is occupied by vampire prostitutes in Bordello of Blood (1996).[4]
Even when the vampire is
seen as a victim of a disease rather than simply a monstrously undead being,
sexuality is still implemented within the narrative. The most significant of
these films are the ones adapted from the novel “I Am Legend,” including The Last Man on Earth (1964) and The Omega
Man (1971). In The Last Man on Earth
a plague kills nearly all of humanity, leaving vampires dominating the planet
with only one human survivor remaining. The
Omega Man blames the apocalypse on
biological warfare rather than a plague, which can be seen as nobody’s fault.
In both adaptations, the human protagonist sets out to destroy the vampires
during the day, while they sleep. The Last
Man on Earth even implements the
stake and cloves of garlic as tools for the destruction of the creatures, but
in both sexuality remains the primary tool of the vampires in the destruction
of the protagonist.[5]
With the exception of the
adaptations of this apocalyptic story, the vampires primarily attack and feed
in secret. This enables them to continue parasitically living off of humans
without fear of being destroyed. Even when there is a shift towards the
portrayal of vampires as protagonists, with The
Hunger (1983), Innocent Blood
(1992), Interview with a Vampire
(1995), The Addiction (1995), and all
of the Twilight (2008-12) films, the
vampires must still remain hidden from humanity. As the antagonist, on the
other hand, vampires seemed to become more fragile and easily destroyed with
the increase in vampire hunter narratives that appeared after the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)[6]
and Blade (1998). In these films,
even when the protagonist is outnumbered there is still hope due to the ease
with which they are killed.
Vampire films never
interested me much, but they have been going through a fascinating transitional
period in the last decade. Some of that is due to the backlash the horror genre
felt from the teen angst fantasy of the Twilight
phenomenon, with many directors deliberately setting out to make anti-Twilight
vampire films. Personally, I find myself gravitating towards the
non-traditional vampire films. Few of the films in my desert island list have
sexualized vampires, and fewer still are protagonists of the film.
5. Stake
Land
Although we are
told that the vampire plague has spread all over the world, perhaps even
beginning in the Middle East, it is America
which is the focus of Stake Land Canada ,
called New Haven
There are many
dangers on the road, especially in a society gone mad. Even during the daylight
hours when the vampires are all in hiding from the sun, there are many threats
along the way. The largest is a religious cult known as the Brotherhood, who
find it their religious right as Americans to literally rape and pillage what
is left. The brutality of this gang may be more frightening than anything the
vampires can provide. Part of this may be due to the slightly uninspired
presentation of the vampires. Over time they more seem to resemble zombies with
sharp teeth than they do vampires, but nothing has been done to the monsters
themselves to make them unique to this film.
4. 30 Days of Night (2007)
30 Days of Night takes an approach that
is similar to 28 Days Later in the
reinventing of classic monsters, but it also gives a promising premise to the
audience. Taken from a graphic novel, 30
Days of Night is more than a little cheesy at times, but it is also marks a
promising change in Hollywood Horror. Still nowhere near as original or clever
as other horror being made in other countries, 30 Days of Night manages to be a solid premise with good creature
effects.
Gone are the
fragile vampires From Dusk Till Dawn,
vanished are the wooing abilities from Dracula,
and these vampires don’t even speak English. They are creatures, ugly and
deformed but with increased strength due to the blood they drink. The only
weakness appears to be sun, so it is unfortunate for the small Alaskan town
they invade which is about to have its 30 days of night. The sun stays out of
sight for that entire month, so the humans must resort to hiding. They are no
match for the strengthened vampires, who are also incredibly fast and have
ultra-sensitive senses. In the moments when the group, ushered by the town
sheriff (Josh Hartnett), must be moved or come out of hiding for some reason, 30 Days of Night is most successful. In
one of the most frightening sequences they are attacked in an abandoned store
by a small vampire child left behind.
In 30 Days of Night the vampires speak to each other through an
ancient guttural language and piercing shrieks, which would make the classic
blending with the community an impossible option of attack. While past vampires
relied on the ability to blend in, these vampires rely only on the element of
surprise in their attacks. The vampires in 30
Days of Night have massive jaws
which are built for destruction instead of seduction and the audience reaps the
rewards in scares.
3. I Am Legend (2007)
The apocalyptic
novel by Richard Matheson has been adapted for the screen several times, with
Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth,
Charlton Heston in The Omega Man and
with Will Smith in I Am Legend. There
is even a martial arts version called I
Am Omega. The story remains basically the same in each, with minor changes
that often vary from the book. In I Am
Legend, Smith plays the last remaining human in New York City
With the quick and
dominant attacks used by the vampires, there is no need for the seduction which
had long been though to be essential to the vampire narrative. The infection in
I Am Legend causes the skin to become
translucent and the hair to fall out, which is inhuman and unattractive. The
sexuality is instead replaced with brutal carnage and vampires behaving as
primitive beings, with a thirst for flesh which seems driven beyond a simple
need for survival. Their portrayal as hardly human, both in appearance and
inability to communicate, also decreases any dual identification with the monsters.
They are seen as entirely malicious
2. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
This
film goes on this list simply because it is a desert island list, and there is
endless entertainment in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s first
cinematic collaboration together. Tarantino wrote the screenplay and co-starred
while Rodriguez directed, in what also ranks high in favorite of the Mexican
director’s filmography. The premise is simple but effective, and is filled with
a great deal of action.
Though
this is seems a predictable piece of horror/action entertainment by today’s
standards, it is actually quite a magnificent example of the efforts even the
most prestigious and respected independent filmmakers were willing to do in
order to see their vision through on their own terms in the mid-1990s. This was
a golden era of independent cinema in America
This
film also provided career-changing opportunities for the leading actor, George
Clooney. Clooney had made a name for himself on the television drama “E.R.,”
but From Dusk Till Dawn allowed him
to break free of the charming character to play a brutal killer with tattoos
from wrist to neck. It was Clooney’s proof that he could be a film actor, and
that he also had range. It was good enough to forgive him for his next film, One Fine Day, which was the safest and
dullest studio choice he has made in his entire career.
1. Let Me In (2010)
There was
absolutely no need to remake the remarkable Swedish film Let the Right One In. There is also no denying what a spectacular
film Let Me In is, unnecessary as it
may have been. Both are based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, and both
are faithful adaptations. There are a few changes between the two films, but
both are spectacular achievements in horror cinema. Somehow director Matt
Reeves (Cloverfield) was the perfect choice for adapting this remake, already
proven adept at mixing sentimental and sweet with horrifying and haunting.
Let Me In takes a stab at reclaiming the
vampire tale in horror cinema. Though there is a romantic plot in which the
monster is humanized a great deal, the skin doesn’t sparkle and these creatures
don’t hunt animals. This is not Twilight, but instead a very real and
disturbing look at a similar storyline. Set in a bleak New Mexican town during
a snowy winter, Let Me In is about
the unlikely friendship between a boy and a vampire. Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is
a small and lonely kid, constantly bullied and friendless until the arrival of
Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz).
Abby is Owen’s
new neighbor, arriving at night with the man he assumes is her father (Richard
Jenkins). She only appears at night and never wears shoes. She can’t eat candy
but is great at puzzles. It takes a long time for Owen to realize what is so
different about Abby, all the while their bond grows stronger. She teaches him
how to stand up for himself against the bullies, while also promising to protect
him.
So why did I
choose this version over the original? I like the visual style of this version
more than I do the Swedish version, and I am also partial to both of these
talented young actors. Smit-McPhee was the young boy in The Road, and Moretz was the brutal young girl in Kick-Ass, not to
mention Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. But
the real reason I prefer the American version over the Swedish is the simple
removal of the CGI cats.
Runner Up Selections:
Fright Night
(1985), Near Dark (1987), Lost Boys (1987), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Interview
with a Vampire (1994), Night Watch
(2004), Day Watch (2006), Daybreakers (2009), Fright Night (2011),
[1] Or in
the tradition of the other popular vampire novel from the time, Sheridan Le
Fanu’s Carmilla, which implemented
lesbian vampires with similar abilities of seduction.
[3] This
narrative is most often seen in the sex comedies of this time period, including
Porky’s (1981) and Losin’ It (1983).
[4] 1995 was
a significant year for the sexuality of vampires on film. Often even the titles
implied sexuality, such as The Girl With
the Hungry Eyes (1995), Red Lips
(1995), Embrace of the Vampire (1995)
and Vampire Vixens from Venus (1995).
[5] In The Last Man on the Earth a vampire
woman befriends the last human, only after having led all of the others to his
home. In The Omega Man a half-vampire
woman falls under the spell and also betrays the last human.
[6] And even
more significant was the creation of a television show based on the film, which
ran from 1997 to 2003 and also resulted in the spin-off show, “Angel.”
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