Let’s try to list in this article a top 10 of the best vampire films which, between past and present, represent a subgenre of horror cinema
The figure of the vampire has its roots in Eastern European tradition, when during the 18th century in the geographical area of the Balkans a collective hysteria broke out regarding some bloodthirsty undead corpses. From there the term “vampire” (which seems etymologically born in Serbia or Albania) entered common language, and then into the literature of the following centuries.
The greatest success was with the very famous novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Stoker’s work not only changed the collective imagination of the figure of the vampire forever (an undead person who can take on various guises, including animals, to feed on the blood of human beings and live forever), but it also influenced cinema, creating a real subgenre in that of horror. For this reason today we want to offer you what we consider to be the 10 best vampire films of all time, the films that in one way or another have forever changed the pop perception that we still have today of this evil blood-sucking creature of darkness. We’ll tell you right away that there will be no Twilight…
1. Nosferatu the Vampire (1922) | Top 10 best vampire movies
Let’s start our list with the one universally considered the vampire film par excellence, Nosferatu by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, masterpiece of German expressionism which not only set a precedent for the international cinema to come, but also kicked off the vampire genre for the big screen with great style. Murnau’s film is a (almost) faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Draculaalthough for copyright reasons the setting changes (from London to Wisborg) and the names of the protagonists, including that of the lord of darkness, who here becomes the infamous Count Orlok with the face of the actor Max Schreck.
In Nosferatu the Vampire, a young real estate agent named Hutter is sent by his manager to sign a deed of sale with the mysterious Conte Orlok in Transylvania. The trip to the Carpathians, however, will not be as he expected, and when Hutton reaches the nobleman’s castle, he will slowly discover that the sale of the property in Wisborg is actually the tip of the iceberg of a sinister plan. A masterpiece of cinema history and perhaps the most iconic adaptation of Stoker’s novel.
2. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) | Top 10 best vampire movies
Speaking of adaptations, Bram Stoker’s film Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1992 also gives Murnau’s masterpiece a run for its money. The feature film by the Oscar-winning director stands out from the other (perhaps too many) adaptations for the big screen thanks to its painstaking reconstruction of the places, the costumes, his avant-garde prosthetic make-up, his evocative and baroque look. Coppola’s Dracula adapts Stoker’s literary masterpiece with respect and faithfulness, adding a new romantic streak that has made it successful in subsequent years. In the extraordinary cast of the film, Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder e Tom Waits.
Rather in keeping with the source book, Bram Stoker’s Dracula tells the story of the lawyer Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) who goes to Transylvania to have Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) sign the contract for the sale of an old English abbey. When the young lawyer discovers that he is a prisoner inside a vampire’s castle, he will do anything to escape and return to his Mina, the object of the Count’s desire.
3. Shadow of the Vampire (2000) | Top 10 best vampire movies
A biographical film that tells the behind-the-scenes story behind the set of one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of cinema: we are talking, again, about Murnau’s Nosferatu, and the little-known film that celebrates its making is Shadow of the Vampire by E. Elias Mehringe. The cast in this feature film presented at Cannes in 2000 is first rate: from John Malkovich as Murnau to a histrionic Willem Dafoe as Max Schreckthe actor who played the role of Count Orlok in the German masterpiece in 1921.
For the role of Max Schreck, Willem Dafoe received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actoras well as the film’s makeup and hairstylist, whose team worked hard to transform the American actor into the vampire Orlok with uncanny resemblance.
4. Interview with the Vampire (1994) | Top 10 best vampire movies
The first of a long series of novels published by Anne Rice was brought to the big screen with great success among audiences and critics in 1994 by Oscar-winning director Neil Jordan. The film we are referring to is Interview with the Vampire, absolute cult of the 90s with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise at the height of their splendor and sex appeal.
In 1993 San Francisco, journalist Daniel Malloy interviews a mysterious man named Louis de Pointe du Lac, only to discover that he was transformed into a vampire in the 18th century by the fearsome Lestat. The interview with du Lac will be the ploy to tell the previous life of the vampire played by Brad Pitt. In the cast, also Antonio Banderas and a young and very talented Kirsten Dunst.
5. Dracula (1931) | Top 10 best vampire movies
After Murnau’s Nosferatu and a year before the theatrical release of Dreyer’s Vampyr, there was Tod Browning’s seminal Dracula. Here the robes of the prince of darkness are worn byiconic Bela Lugosi, who had already played the role on the stage. And Browning’s feature film is precisely the adaptation of the Broadway show curated by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderstone. Shot in black and white, it is the first sound film dedicated to the figure of the Count.
The famous Universal Pictures film once again tells the story of a young lawyer’s trip to the Carpathians, ready to get the necessary documents signed by Count Dracula who intends to buy an old English abbey. When he arrives at the castle in Transylvania, he will discover that he is dealing with a vampire. The only major difference from the original novel is that Jonathan Harker has been replaced by a lawyer named Renfield.
6. Miriam Wakes at Midnight (1983) | Top 10 best vampire movies
Let’s take a decades-long leap and arrive in the glittering 80s with a small cult directed by Tony Scott, in his first attempt behind the camera of a feature film. Presented with excellent critical acclaim at the 36th Cannes Film Festival, Miriam Wakes at Midnight is the adaptation of the novel The Hunger by Whitley Strieber. In the extraordinary cast, an exceptional triptych that has set a precedent: Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon e David Bowie.
Tony Scott’s film tells the story of Miriam Blaylock, a vampire who spends her centuries of life changing partners because the one she has chosen deteriorates with the passage of time and falls into a strange lethargy. However, the woman will meet Sarah, fall madly in love with her and turn her into a vampire to ensure that she can live with her forever.
7. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) | Top 10 best vampire movies
The cult American director Jim Jarmusch has also tried his hand at vampires on the big screen, and in 2013 he brought his Only Lovers Left Alive into competition at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. In the cast of the auteur vampire movie, two splendid ones Tilda Swinton e Tom Hiddlestonfeaturing a deluxe cameo by John Hurt.
The two interpreters take on the roles of Adam and Eve; the first is a vampire who lives as a recluse in Detroit composing music for funerals with his guitar, while the second has settled in Tangier where she tries her hand at reading books in the most disparate languages. Both vampires, they reunite in Detroit where they will try to survive the love that has faded over time and the sudden arrival of Ava, Eve’s younger sister.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooGVL3Kx6eI&pp=ygUZbGFzY2lhbWkgZW50cmFyZSB0cmFpbGVyIA%3D%3D
8. Let Me In (2008) | Top 10 best vampire movies
This small European masterpiece debuted in Swedish theaters in 2008 and has won numerous awards around the world.. Let the Right One In, directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist, also received the US remake treatment two years later with the notable, if not up to par, Blood Story di Matt Reeves. In Let the Right One In, a 12-year-old boy named Oskar lives in Stockholm with his family but is constantly bullied and beaten by his peers at school. When she meets Eli, who has moved into her neighborhood together with her father Håkan, things will slowly begin to change and Oskar will make a shocking discovery about the nature and intentions of her new friend.
9. Life as a Vampire – What We Do In The Shadows (2014) | Top 10 best vampire movies
He thought about making fun of the vampire genre on the big screen in 2014 Taika Waititi, who definitively made himself known to the world with his hilarious What We Do In The Shadows, a box office hit in 2014 in New Zealand cinema of that period. Filmed as if it were a real thing mockumentarythe film written, directed and starring Waititi tells the life of a quartet made up of Viago, Vladislav, Deacon and Petyr, four vampires of very different ages who share an apartment in Wellington, the New Zealand capital. The television crew that is making the documentary about them will follow them in their daily lives at home and in their nocturnal excursions. Fun, original and irresistible.
10. Blade (1998) | Top 10 best vampire movies
Marvel also finds space in this ranking with Blade, a 1998 film directed by Stephen Norrington inspired by the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The actor Wesley Snipes gave a face to the so-called Daytime, here in the perfect role of a relentless vampire hunter which hunts bloodsuckers all over the world and literally reduces them to ashes. A serial killer with lethal powers that he brought luck to the character and the franchise, as Norrington’s feature film sparked two direct sequels: Blade II (2002) directed by Guillermo del Toro and Blade: Trinity (2004) by David S. Goyer. A widely anticipated reboot will be released soon.
Conclusions
What do you think of this list? Are there any other films that you think deserve to take someone’s place in this top 10? Let us know in the comments!
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