THE MOST BLOOD-CURDLING, SHADOW-FEARING VAMPIRE FLICKS EVER!
November 19th 2009 22:34
Have I actually seen Twilight (2008)? No, of course I haven’t, it’s not my cup of adolescent, melodramatic romantic twaddle; I call a spade a spade, and Twilight needs burying. Of course by the middle of next week New Moon will probably have broken some kind of box office record, and that’s sweet irony.
My criterion for vamp selection excludes most of the obvious spoofs, satires or broad comedies. Don’t get me wrong; there are many excellent vampire comedies from across the spectrum, such as Vampire’s Kiss (1989) and The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). But I decided I wanted to concentrate on the scary ones, the atmospheric ones drenched in dread and foreboding, the ones most likely to stop your heart, the blood draining from your face.
Innocent Blood (A French Vampire in America) (1992)
John Landis does for vamps what he did for werewolves; dark comedy streaked with blood. Anne Parillaud is a most strikingly sexual and contemptuous vampire indeed!
Near Dark (1987)
Nomadic clan drift from small town to small town, hungry and squabbling, then one of their own falls for a mortal, it can only get sticky.
The Addiction (1995)
Vampirism as metaphor for drug addiction, as portrayed by Lily Taylor through the dark shadowy morals of New Yorker Abel Ferrara, this is vamp anxiety with serious intellectual bloodletting.
30 Days of Night (2007)
Savage, primal, hellbent; this was the most exciting and violent vampire movie in years. These are the hideous undead you certainly don’t want to play silly buggers with. Rather curiously director David Slade is directing the Eclipse installment of the Twilight Saga.
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
German Expression at its most unnerving. Max Schreck is Graf Orlok. Director Murnau freely plays with Bram Stoker’s novel creating probably the most nightmarish adaptation of Dracula ever committed to celluloid.
Another Bavarian countryman, Werner Herzog, delivers a rarity; a remake as compelling as the original, that is oh so different, yet bewitchingly similar in atmosphere. Klaus Kinski inhabits the vampyre Count with unctuous ease.
Let the Right One In (2008)
This turned out to be the most satisfying and rewarding mainstream vampire movie in years. Whilst being poetic, it didn’t shy from its darker framework (although nowhere near as dark as the original novel).
Daughters of Darkness (1971)
Another German production, echoing with sensual abandon from modern horror’s most provocative decade. This dares not to play by the rules, feels perverse, but chaste, and lingers like a bewitching dream.
One of the best Stephen King adaptations, Tobe Hooper’s made-for-television two-parter was re-edited into a much creepier and more violent feature. The floating kid scratching at the window still makes my skin crawl.
Cronos (1993)
Guillermo Del Toro’s debut feature kicks arty ass! Vampirism plucked from the ancient past and the projected into the future via the present. Creepy-crawly ingenuity that gleams in the night.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Forget Keanu Reeves dire portrayal of Harker, Francis Coppola’s reasonably faithful, and dramatically stylized telling of the legendary novel is a sumptuous display of bravura cinematic storytelling.
Martin (1977)
George Romero strays from the zombie path to delve effectively into one man’s delusion and paranoia, a desperate thirst for sanguine in a world oh so cynical and real.
From Dusk Till Dawn (1995)
Wild and wicked, lewd and lascivious, director Robert Rodriguez with both stakes blazing, writer Quentin Tarantino playing sub-genres to the hilt and then some. Salma Hayek steals the show.
Now for the lycanthropes! Scary, sweaty werewolf movies are a rare breed indeed! Much to my dismay, I was hard-pressed to think of more than five that possess a serious bite. Perhaps that’s why I’ve started co-writing my own werewolf feature …
The Most Hair-Raising, Howl-Inducing Werewolf Flicks Ever! (well, five of them at this stage)
This is the seminal comedy classic from director John Landis that stars Rick Baker’s truly astonishing special effects make-up (years before CGI). Griffin Dunne and Jenny Agutter have a ball.
The Howling (1981)
Made at the same time as American Werewolf, Joe Dante’s movie features the equally impressive special effects makeup work from Baker’s protégé Rob Bottin (only 21 at the time). This is another bona fide fright-chuckle classic.
Lycanthropy as metaphor for the menstruation cycle, this was the most original and freshest flick sprouting lupine hair since Landis and Dante butted heads. Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabelle are superb.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Neil Marshal delivers a masterful exercise in macho cowboy shenanigans pitted against huge monstrous wolfmen in the woods. It’s every man - and the odd woman - for themselves, it’s gonna get hairy!
The Company of Wolves (1985)
The fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood gets a makeover courtesy of contemporary mythmaking author Angela Carter and is directed with consummate style and wit by Neil Jordan.
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