10 vampire movies that are better than Twilight

The vampire movie has been around for a long time, to the point where all of the stories have basically been told, but these ten movies are must-sees for any fan of horror and the true nature of the genre.

For fans of horror, and those who appreciated the horror factor of vampire films, a plague has been visited upon us. That plague is the shiny, handsome, sparkling vampires of the Twilight series. Rather than vile, hateful, evil beings that live off the living blood of other humans, vampires have now become some sort of romantic ideal and, in doing so, they have sucked the horror and the fun out of the genre.

However, for fans of the true vampire film, there are plenty of great movies to watch. For those of you who are fans only because of the Twilight movies, perhaps viewing a few of these will give you a more well-rounded appreciation of vampires. After all, they did not start out as romantic ideals, but demons.

Nosferatu - Max Schreck. The film that truly started it all and the one that gave birth to all other vampire films. A silent movie directed by F.W. Murnau, it tells, basically, the story of Dracula, except that the filmmaker could not get the rights to the Bram Stoker tale. Thus, this is Count Orlock who heads to London and wreaks havoc there. Schreck plays the ultimate vampire, tall and gaunt and thin, with huge pointed ears and two huge fangs that sit right at the very front of his mouth. The black and white images and silence of the film lend to its other-worldliness and outright creepiness, making this a truly terrifying vampire film even all of these years later.

Near Dark - Lance Henricksen, Adrian Pasdar, Bill Paxton. A modern vampire classic directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow. It is a kind of western and vampire movie combined. Pasdar plays a young man who meets a beautiful young, and seemingly lost, young girl. Of course, she turns out to be a vampire and she makes him one. There are scenes here that are truly disturbing and terrifying. The girl turns out to be part of a vampire gang, led by Henriksen, and the scene where they enter a hick cowboy bar and lock the doors is one that will leave you sickened and scared. Paxton is the psychotic in the group who uses the spurs on his boots to slice open the necks of some of his victims. These vampires, despite the little love story at its heart, are anything but romantic. They are vile, vicious killers.

The Hunger - Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie. A re-imagining of the vampire myth that is done in what we could consider a quintessential 80s style now. Lots of piled high hair and weird 80s-style clothing abound, but the story at its heart is fantastic. Loosely based on a novel by Whitley Streiber it tells the story of a woman, played by Deneuve, who has been alive for centuries. She wants a male companion to spend eternity with, but the problem is that her male lovers tend to stay young for a time, but then rapidly age. What she does with them when they age beyond a certain point is more terrifying than what the vampires do to their victims. In this film the vampires, also, do not have fangs but use tiny ankh-shaped knives attached to their necks to murder their victims.

Dracula - Bela Lugosi. If you have to watch any vampire film, you might as well start with the all-time classic. What is amazing is how well this movie still holds up despite coming out in the 30s. Lugosi was never able to escape his portrayal of the vampiric Count Dracula. He doesn’t even have fangs! Some of what was scary then is a bit campy now, of course, but the moody black and white and Lugosi’s portrayal still hold up all of these years later.

Let the Right One In/Let Me In - I am grouping both the original Swedish version in with the U.S. remake. I happen to like them both equally and find things to admire in both. There is something particularly creepy and otherwordly about the actress who plays the young female vampire in the Swedish version, but there is no denying that Chloe Grace Moretz, who plays her in the U.S, version is excellent in the role. When Moretz is asked by a young boy how old she is and she says, “Twelve...but I’ve been twelve for a very long time” it is both heartbreaking and truly terrifying. This vampire is not cute, either, she is vicious and the scenes where she has to feed are bloody and horrific. Let the Right One In came out the same time the first Twilight movie hit theaters and it deserved to be the more-watched film.

‘Salems Lot - David Soul, James Mason, Bonnie Bedelia. This is the 1979 TV-movie mini-series version based on the horrifying Stephen King novel. Again, no sparkling vampires anywhere in site here. I remember when this movie was on television and being utterly and completely terrified by it. The town of ‘Salens Lot is visited by a strange man who sets up shop in the huge, and long-abandoned, Marsten House. Then, people start dying, but they sure don’t stay dead. Soon, the town is running rampant with hungry vampires and fewer and fewer people are seen coming out during the day time. The head vampire, Barlow, owes his look and frightening appearance to Max Schreck in Nosferatu and is truly evil and terrifying.

30 Days of Night - Josh Hartnett, Danny Houston, Melissa George. So, you’re a vampire and you can’t go out in the sun, but you want to feed on humans 24-hours a day. Why not head to a small down in northern Alaska where, for months at a time, it is night 24-hours a day? That is the concept behind this utterly terrifying movie based on a bestselling comic book. For some reason, this movie is often dismissed, but that is a mistake. These vampires have rows of needle-sharp teeth, they have long dirty fingernails and their faces are permanently stained with blood. They are also some of the scariest vampires in recent film history.

Blade - Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristoferson, Stephen Dorff. The story of a superhero who kills vampires. Snipes plays the “daywalker” because his mother was attacked by a vampire while he was still in the womb he is born part vampire and part human. He has a vampire’s need for blood, plus his superhuman strength and speed, but none of the vampire’s weaknesses. There were a bunch of sequels to this movie and some could argue that Blade 2 was the better film, but I still have a soft spot for the first one. Great action and mean, evil vampires.

Shadow of the Vampire - John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe. This movie is a kind of meta-film sort of movie. What I mean by that is that is takes as its premise another film on this list - Nosferatu. What if Murnau, while trying to make a vampire film, hired a real vampire to play Count Orlock? Dafoe plays Schreck as a man who has lived for centuries, cannot make new vampires, and thirsts constantly for new blood. Murnau plays a man obsessed who is as much a villain as the vampire. He will make his movie at any cost, even as the vampire begins to feed on his cast and crew. Dafoe was nominated for awards for this role and he deserves it, relishing each scene. A movie that is, at times, terrifying and, at other times, wickedly funny, it is one of the best in the genre.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula - Winona Ryder, Gary Oldman, Keanue Reeves. Yes, this is the version done by Francis Ford Coppola, and it more closely follows the book than previous incarnations. Despite having Winona and Keanue in it, it is Oldman that delivers the goods. His Count Dracula is truly terrifying and it is a performance that shows just how amazing and powerful Oldman can be. This Dracula is alternately terrifying and profoundly sad. He is condemned to spend eternity drinking blood to stay alive because his wife commits suicide and he curses God himself. A film that explores how awful, and incredibly lonely, such a life must be. Most importantly, not a single sparkle emerges from this vampire, or his vampire wives.

Photo courtesy of Morguefile.com

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