vampire mainstream

Post Reply New Topic

Hi, guys! How many of you are fans of vampires? Television, novels, movies, anything.

I like horror in general, and so vampires often show up in the sort of stuff I watch.
I think the scariest vampire movie is still the original Nosferatu. As for TV shows, I really like Being Human (American and Canadian version), which among the lead characters is a vampire trying to fit in as human. I've seen past episodes of True Blood on DVD in the past, but as I don't get HBO, I am terrible behind in the story. I even sort of like NBC's Dracula series, though I won't be surprised if it doesn't get picked up for a second season.

I am not a fan of vampires. I haven't read much of anything vampire themed that I liked or found any vampire characters all that much except for one exception. Jacky Bouchard in Bite Me: Big Easy Nights by Marion G. Harmon. She's also in the previous book in the series, Wearing the Cape.

I think the reason I like her is that she's a superhero and works the part. If it wasn't a superhero setting or she was a villain, I probably wouldn't like her that much.

I forgot the other vampire I like. D from Vampire Hunter D.

Here's a list of vampire books and movies I own. See if you can spot a pattern:

Movies

Nosferatu (1922)
Dracula (1931)
Dracula (1931, Spanish Version)
Dracula's Daughter (1936)
Son of Dracula (1943)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
The Return of Dracula (1958)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
Count Dracula (1970)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
Countess Dracula (1971)
Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)
Twins of Dracula (1971)
Blacula (1972)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
Vampire Circus (1972)
Dan Curtis' Dracula (1973)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
Blood for Dracula (1974)
The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula (1974)
Count Dracula (1977)
Dracula (1979)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Blade (1998)
Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000)
Dracula 2000 (2000)
Blade II (2002)
Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002)
Dracula's Curse (2002)
Dracula II: Ascension (2003)
Blade: Trinity (2004)
Van Helsing (2004)
Dracula III: Legacy (2005)
Dracula (2006)
Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest (2008)
Argento's Dracula 3D (2012)


Books

Dracula (1897)
Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914)
In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires (1972; 1994)
The Dracula Tape (1975)
The Holmes-Dracula File (1978)
Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula (1978)
Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times (1989)
Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen (1990; 2004)
Dracula Unbound (1991)
Anno Dracula (1992)
The Dracula Scrapbook (1992)
Dracula: The Vampire Legend on Film (1992)
Dracula the Undead (1997)
The Historian (2005)
The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula (2007)
Fangland (2007)
Sundays with Vlad: From Pennsylvania to Transylvania, One Man's Quest to Live in the World of the Undead (2007)
Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Dracula (2008)
The New Annotated Dracula (2008)
Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Documentary Journey into Vampire Country and the Dracula Phenomenon (2009)
Dracula the Un-dead (2009)
In the Shadow of Dracula (2011)
The Mammoth Book of Dracula (2011)
The Romance of Dracula (2011)
The Vampire Film: From Nosferatu to True Blood (2011)
The Crypt of Dracula (2014)


Comics

Tomb of Dracula (1972-1979)
Dracula (Marvel, 1974-2004)
Scarlet in Gaslight (1987)
The Curse of Dracula (1998)
The Savage Return of Dracula (1991)
The Dracula Chronicles (1995)
The Frankenstein / Dracula War (1995)
Sword of Dracula (2003)
The Complete Dracula (2009)


As you can see, Dracula is one of my obsessions. If a piece of vampire fiction doesn't involve him, I'm very likely not too interested in it. It's very similar to my obsession with Sherlock Holmes; I could give you another huge list of Holmes books and movies I own, but I'm not into a whole lot of other mystery and detective fiction.

I think it has to do with interpretation; whereas most vampires are simply vampires, Dracula is more of a powerful sorcerer who just happens to be a vampire. Calling him a vampire is like calling Leonardo da Vinci a sketch artist; it's true, but he's so much more. I don't think it's a coincidence that my least favorite Dracula films are the ones that focus mostly on the vampirism rather than his other powers of mysticism and necromancy, nevermind the ones that insist on portraying him as some kind of desirable object of romance rather than a powerful evil force.