Vampires are still monsters, aren't they?

[Metapher]

I searched and couldn't find a thread, even though I tought I saw a similar-ish one recently but that might have been on another forum.

First of all, sorry if I write alot, but this is a subject that I can go on and on about.
I don't know what I want to say with my post, but I think I just want to hear where you stand on the subject of vampires. What do you think about the flicks we get now compared to the classics? Do you enjoy the romance rather than the horror? Anything you have to say, say it.
If you're only gonna bash me and my post, leave it.

I hate vampires. Atleast I always say I do when I talk to people, because I know that when we start a discussion about vampires, the films that are gonna be brought up are the crappy ones that seem to be the leading movies in the genre nowadays. I'm talking about stuff like Interview of a Vampire, Queen of the Damned, Twilight and Underworld. This kind of thing really doesn't work for me in any way. I can't stand them. They focus so much on the wrong things and the simple fact that vampires are still monsters is something they never to get right. Because of these disease ridden flicks, I've brainwashed myself into solely thinking "I hate vampires".

I watched 30 Days Of Night with my girlfriend this weekend. Obviously, since I have brainwashed myself with the opinion that vampires are fucking stupid, I had low expectations. I liked the film, even if the vamps were a bit retarded, but the filmmakers certainly remembered that vampires are monsters and they made it a horror movie, not a romantic drama flick with a horror theme or a horror version of Matrix. Watching this film made me remember why I was excited over watching a vampire movie when I was younger. Vampires can = horror. Not just faggot behavior. Other "RECENT" (they are more recent than my other favorites) flicks I like are The Night Flier, From Dusk Till Dawn and I think I liked Vampires.

We've all seen the really good ones, and when they are good they are fantastic, am I right? I'm talking Dracula ('81), Nosferatu ('22), The Lost Boys, Fright Night, Salem's Lot, Near Dark (ND might not carry too much of the horror, but it differs from the recent junk that studio's spit out on us). There's also alot of cool vampire movies that I watched as a kid but can't remember much from, not even the titles. One of them was with a woman being the Dracula-ish figure ("a leader", a count, queen, princess. Something), but I think I remember it was more a cat-thing than bats. Also a Dracula film that was good, something about a bunch of teens arriving in a minibus, he lived in a big mansion and (obviously) died from a stake through his heart but when he fell it was obvious the actor didn't wanna fall on the stake itself so he did a odd turn or something. Anyway, sorry for dragging with my post with that. There's also less good but still entertaining things like Bordello of Blood and Blood For Dracula.

I like horror comedies in general. Zombie comedies (I refuse to call them Zombedies) are something I like alot, but thinking about it, there has been a bunch of fun vampire flicks too, even though they don't stick with me as long and as "hard" as stuff like Braindead, Undead, Special Dead, etc did. We have titles like Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Vampire's Kiss with Nicholas Cage thinking he's a vampire and even Once Bitten with a young Jim Carrey is a very entertaining film, but even in this department does modern times suck hard, because I don't think I know any good ones that came recently at all.

For me, I think I just feel that there are so many good and decent vampire movies, but because of the total failures I mentioned earlier, I've become a big hater towards anything that is vampire-ish. If only more filmmakers made vampires scary instead, I would probably enjoy them just as much as I did when I was younger, and even be excited when I hear about a new title. I was even pissed when I heard that the guys behind Undead were doing a vampire film, and I didn't even know what it was gonna be about. I think maybe now I'm ready to give vampires a chance again, and I hope to let go off my hatred. Also, if anyone can recommend good OLD (unless there are superawesome new ones I've missed) vampire movies, you can go ahead and do it in here too.

Now..where do you stand?

[koolmike]

There's good and bad films in all genres of horror. As far as vampire movies go, yeah there have been alot of bad ones, but certainly not enough to make me a
"a big hater towards anything that is vampire-ish."

Bela Lagosi
Lon Chaney
John Carradine
Christopher Lee
Peter Cushing
Chris Sarandon
Gary Oldman
Frank Langella
William DeFoe
K Sutherland
Kate Beckinsale
Wesley Snipes

are some of the reasons why I love vampire movies so much.

[Metapher]

Nice namedrops.

Yeah, there are good and bad in every genre, but vampires is the only ones that has affected me, because it seems like when I look around, no one acknowledge the classics at all, for them a good vampire flicks are exactly the ones I hate. It's like how zombies became braindead flesh eaters after NotLD. It feels like vampires has become this shit now, by the norm.

[koolmike]

Just a matter of time before someone comes up with a new idea to make the classic vampire a modern day badass again...like BLADE for instance. Gary Oldman did a fine job as the romantic vampire Dracula originally portrayed by Bela Lagosi. But since then that type of vampire has lost it's appeal and others are making their way to the big screen. I'm sure this new breed of sissy vampires won't last long, at least I hope not :D.

[Metapher]

Blade was an okay fun movie, I just never think of it as a vampire movie actually.
And I don't mind all romance, and Gary Oldman's flick is actually quite alright, but I prefer Bela there. Of course vampires are seductive and romantic creatures, I don't mind it, but I want them to be monsters too. There are several films I've liked that has the typical hot woman being a vampire, and she seduces someone and whatnot, but the film still keeps it's horror.

Vampires stalking around a house and stuff can be very scary.

Salem's Lot is the only vampire film that scared me, and the scene that was the scariest as a kid was when the kid is sleeping and the vampire is outside of the window. Great scary stuff.

[cmurdur]

Vampires stopped being monsters when you could hug and kiss them.

[choptop2]

Vampires now sparkle in sunlight.


I think Near Dark did a good job of mixing romance with monster \-like behavior. Bill Paxton was very menacing in that film with his spurs. Lance Henricksen drinking blood out of a High Life bottle? Classic.

[Metapher]

Lance Henriksen is cool enough to make most things good IMO. Near Dark was a nice mix, it was. Not very scary, but monster behavior and love for sure.

[Luris Blear]

John Carpenter's Vampires was a breath of fresh air during the worst of the Romance Novel Vampire era. At least for me. It may not have been the scariest movie, but it mostly did away with the Fanged Romeo element.

Otherwise, I agree. No more Prince lookalikes who sparkle their way into womens' panties. They don't need to look like Nosferatu, but they also don't need to act like oversexed 14 year olds.

[UzumakiW]

Some girl at my school actually said she wanted to marry a vampire (note this girl was not in the goth scene). Made my head hurt. Made me wonder how people came up with the idea that blood sucking vampires should be romantic figures.

[Metapher]

I hope she does marry a vampire and it turns out to be the real evil and brutal kind.

[UzumakiW]

Like a vampire is supposed to be like.

[koolmike]

Vampires stopped being monsters when you could hug and kiss them.

Pretty much.

[Chief Falling Rock]

I loved 30 days of night. Mainly for 1 reason. The vampires were evil sadistic blood thirsty monsters. I loved that. I'm so tired of people thinking "hey anne rices vampire chronicles are popular, lets make those vampires from now on." I miss evil vampire monsters. The Nosferatu types. Give me that any day over the romance novel "their fangs make it horror" vampires. The "vampires are people to" thing is getting really really old.

Thats why I think Jim Butcher is so smart with his Dresden File books. He has all the vampires. The lovey dovey Anne Rice ones AND the evil throat rippers. he covers all the bases.

[OtepFan616]

I loved 30 days of night. Mainly for 1 reason. The vampires were evil sadistic blood thirsty monsters. I loved that. I'm so tired of people thinking "hey anne rices vampire chronicles are popular, lets make those vampires from now on." I miss evil vampire monsters. The Nosferatu types. Give me that any day over the romance novel "their fangs make it horror" vampires. The "vampires are people to" thing is getting really really old.

Thats why I think Jim Butcher is so smart with his Dresden File books. He has all the vampires. The lovey dovey Anne Rice ones AND the evil throat rippers. he covers all the bases.


Can not agree any fucken more. Try telling people all the time. Its like they just look at ya, like nothing processed in their head. I want demonic vampire's.nothing really but the thirst...dont care about their love life...although "Let the right one in" got it right for me. Just make them monsters. Cant even really stand at ALL going to the mall and seeing that goth group who thinks because they put some fake fangs in, how dumb, that their vampire's. Makes you wanan vomit in your mouth.....just a little. :puke:

[Metapher]

Glad to see so many agree with me here.

Nice about the Dresden File book. I'm not a reader, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are movies of it in the future, and I can just pray that they remember the throat rippers then too.

[steelba]

werewolf fan, vampires aren't the hit..

[Metapher]

I'm also a werewolf fan. I take werewolves over vampires any day, but I do enjoy vampires when done right. They have to do it pretty damn perfect for me to really enjoy them though, while a werewolf movie can be awesome even if it's far from perfect.

[steelba]

pretty much agreed. The Vampire tale in Waxwork has to be one of my favs..

[ReD]

I've spoken about this a couple times before but in simple terms.

It's easier these days to sell a vampire movie when you throw a romance element in it rather than just simply make them bad ass monsters again. It's all about appealing to the masses and for the studios, it's easier to pass vampire movies off with a romance/hot shiny look to it than it is making them monsters plain and simple. I would not expect that element to change any time soon as long as it means more cash for the studios.

As others mentioned though. Their have been good and bad flicks along the way.

I'll take zombies over vamps these days. Their not as tampered with compared to vampires.

Outside of ROTLD 3 off the top of my head I can't think of many films where the studios try to pass off zombies as something romantic and with ROTLD 3 it was not a foregone deal either because one was human and one was a zombie struggling to stay human.

Even with that said, I don't mind ROTLD 3 because it was something different in regards to that series.

Vampires as monsters is something I'd like to see come back in vogue. Still right now the money lays elsewhere when you can blend romance or action and see the results in the studios minds where it matters most.

[steelba]

there were sobbing em0 zombies in Land of the Dead :straightface:

[ReD]

True.

In many minds, Romero may go 0 for 3 in regards to his 3 new zombie movies recently. I keep going back and forth with Land and Diary suffered from horrid acting but I felt like it was a movie that had no business being as poorly executed as it was for its concept.

I almost lean towards the crowd that believe he is a hack these days.

Still his original 3 movies will always have my support.

[steelba]

yeah he is not what he use to be, and it's doubtful he gets any better..

[BooBerry]

My problem with this discussion is that it's not based on vampires. It's based on a type of vampire.

Like most everyone else, I prefer the evil, deadly bloodthirsty killers, but by no means are those "true" vampires.

If you actually read about vampires, they're really nothing more besides undead people who crave blood and walk around in shrouds and cause mischief in their former homes and haunt their family members... and we really don't see movies about that do we?

So basically what we're arguing is which type of vampire do you like better. Not which one is the real vampire. Monsterous bloodsuckers really didn't appear until the 19th century.

[Metapher]

It's a discussion based on vampires. A type of vampires = vampires, so it's still a discussion on vampires, but I understand what you mean.

I'm gonna stick with my example. If you go into a thread called "Zombie talk" or whatever, admit it that you go in there to talk about the flesh eaters, and not voodoo?

The thread is made so you can talk about vampire movies, and since you said yourself that we don't really see movies about the "true" vampires, then we can't really talk about them that much in terms of talking about movies. Right?

And I don't feel like going through the thread, but did we say the brutal bloodsucking vampires were the real ones? It's an opinion if so. Again like how flesh eating braindead zombies are the "real" ones to most people.

[KING]

I hate "new age" vampires. But the good films far outweigh the bad.

Greatest vampire movie.. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. It blends the romance aspect with brutal killer vampires, bad arse monsters, violence, an excellent story and great unique characters. Everything you could want in a film.

[steelba]

yeah but it's an anime.
Fright Night and the Lost Boys are my fav vampire 'Films'

and there are no true or real Vampires b00fairy, there all fictional incarnations :starefreak:

[woodenheart]

Vampires are my favourite evil beings of all time. I like the story behind them..and love to watch them on the screen. Whether it be criminals in From Dusk To Dawn, to your next door neighbours in Fright Night and even the melancholic aristocrats in Interview with a Vampire. I dig them all. Like it was stated above there are alot of great movies out there that outway the bad ones..Fuck that sparkling, baseball playing vamps in Twilight and I hated the rock star version in Queen Of The Dammned. George Romero's Martin was awesome.
Here are some faves for me:
Forsaken
Salems Lot
Blade.. I II & II
Lost Boys
Gary Oldman in Dracula...brilliant!
Dracula 2000
Underworld
Subspecies
Near Dark
Lifeforce...sci-fi/vamp
The Night Flyer
30 Days of Night
The Addiction
John Carpenters Vampires
And of course Dracula 1931...classic!

[BooBerry]

and there are no true or real Vampires b00fairy, there all fictional incarnations :starefreak:

:die:

[Necromancer]

Watch Andy Warhol's Dracula and I can just about guarantee that you'll have a better appreciation of the "new age" vampire. Nosferatu and Dracula are my favorites by far. Not sure if you'd like it, but I'll mention it anyways. Count Yorga ,Vampire I do believe that it was originally supposed to be porno, but wound up in the horror genre .

[cmurdur]

Isn't a vampire biting your neck an allegory for rape? Not the most romantic thing in the world. What did Dracula do? He broke into women's houses at night, did his thing, and left her feeling strange and confused.

[Godfatha]

Isn't a vampire biting your neck an allegory for rape? Not the most romantic thing in the world. What did Dracula do? He broke into women's houses at night, did his thing, and left her feeling strange and confused.

It's a allegory for sex in general. If anything, an allegory for nymphomania.

Also, I think you're being overly nice to older vampire films like Dracula with Lugosi and the Hammer films, as the vampires in them were all suave and debonair aristocratic types who happen to be undead fiends and would go off only when woo'ing their victims became impractical. They're the very reason vampires in Interview or Dracula 2000 and others act 'gay', as it were.

Of course 'Dracula' is meant to be something of a tragic character more so than the relatively nameless/faceless'vampire' of say From Dusk til Dawn or JC's Vampires.

[snapicus]

Blade was an okay fun movie, I just never think of it as a vampire movie actually.
And I don't mind all romance, and Gary Oldman's flick is actually quite alright, but I prefer Bela there. Of course vampires are seductive and romantic creatures, I don't mind it, but I want them to be monsters too. There are several films I've liked that has the typical hot woman being a vampire, and she seduces someone and whatnot, but the film still keeps it's horror.

Vampires stalking around a house and stuff can be very scary.

Salem's Lot is the only vampire film that scared me, and the scene that was the scariest as a kid was when the kid is sleeping and the vampire is outside of the window. Great scary stuff.

Thanks for bringing that childhood memory back! Damn scratching on the window gave me nightmares for a month way back when.

[Tragicallyhip]

I'm a big Gary Oldman fan, but Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula actually did a lot for the romantic-pseudo-vampire cause. Although his Dracula was definitely a monster, it was also a monster primarily motivated by his dead girlfriend. Not blood. Not spreading his dark wings around the globe. Not just plain, old nastiness. His dead girlfriend.

By adding that- which had absolutely no part in the novel or in most of the earlier versions- into a big-budget, exceptionally popular film, Coppola basically pushed the romantic vampire bit into the spotlight. Then we get all the major films that follow the same line- Interview With The Vampire etc. These days it's almost impossible to find a film that paints vampires as purely evil. John Carpenter's Vampires was one of the last. Even the otherwise excellent Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust couldn't resist putting a romantic subplot in.

The recent remake of Salem's Lot did well to avoid it though.

[BirdN2beaR]

You can blame Underworld for ruining Vampires. :nod:
You can blame Romero for ruining Zombies. :nod:

BUT ONLY IF....

...YOU BLAME MICHAEL BAY FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT A HACK

:bye:

[deadcellsociety]

You can blame Underworld for ruining Vampires. :nod:
You can blame Romero for ruining Zombies. :nod:

BUT ONLY IF....

...YOU BLAME MICHAEL BAY FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT A HACK

:bye:

How DARE YOU say Romero has ruined the zombie genre?!!!!!

[Horror_Maniac88]

The vamp movies i like the most are blade 1 and 2 the underworld movies and from dusk till dawn them one i think are the best.

[Bella]

Sounds like date rape

[jabbawockee]

Maybe I haven't been paying attention but since when has Romero been credited for ruining zombies? If anything I would think he could be considered the grandfather of the sub-genre. But I digress, This is why I hate vampires, no one can give you a concrete definition of the character. Are they tragically inflicted with a curse? Are they cold emotionless killers? Are they peacefully trying to co-exist? Or are they club going ravers trying to take over the world with genetically engineered versions of themselves?

Fuck vampires, Werewolves are much better

[steelba]

Fuck vampires, Werewolves are much better
agreed.