Posted on 11/30/2008 8:25:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In honor of the highly anticipated release of Twilight, Movie Crunch has compiled a list of the 15 best vampire movies of all time. Whether you like scary or campy, romantic or kick-ass, these vampire flicks offer up a little bit of something for everyone. How would you rank them? Did we forget any of your favorites?
15. Underworld (2003)
Underworld Kate Beckinsale
What? This movie was about vampires? With Kate Beckinsale looking amazingly hot in leather, its hard to notice much else. She could have been eating a ham sandwich dressed in leather and it still would have been entertaining. Oh yeah, and there are some werewolves too.
14. Near Dark (1987)
Adrian Pasdar is a cowboy who gets the hot girl only shes a vampire who sinks her teeth in and turns him into a bloodsucker who must learn to kill to survive. What can we say? Love really sucks sometimes.
13. Fright Night (1985)
Fright Night
Is pre-Hermans Head William Ragsdales handsome next door neighbor a vampire? Chris Sarandon plays the charming bloodsucker neighbor, while Roddy McDowall gives a fun turn as a veteran horror movie star.
12. Blade I (1998)/Blade II (2002)
Wesley Snipes kicked a lot of vampire ass in the Blade series as one crazy ripped comic book half human/half vampire superhero. Blade II brought the cool factor a la director Guillermo del Toro. And cmon - Kris Kristofferson? Nuff said.
11. The Lost Boys (1987)
Its campy. Its got the two Coreys when they were still considered teen hunks and at their peak of semi-coolness. Plus Keifer, Jason Patrick and a kick ass soundtrack. Lost Boys offered up a little bit of fun and creepiness in a great little package. A true 80s vampire staple.
10. Salems Lot (1979)
Suspenseful. Chilling. These are just a couple of words to describe the uber-creepy Salems Lot, a miniseries movie based on a novel by the horror king Stephen King. Vampires take over a small town and even though the special effects are a little cheesy, those vampires are frakkin scary!
9. Vampires (1998)
John Carpenter's Vampires
The name says it all, but it comes from John Carpenter, who knows a thing or two about the horror genre (Halloween still gives us nightmares). James Woods leads a team of vampire hunters aiming to wipe out the bloodsuckers like the ones who did his parents in when he was a kid. Revenge is so sweet and bloody.
8. Bram Stokers Dracula (1992)
Bram Stokers Dracula was Francis Ford Coppolas vision of the classic vampire tale, bringing us stars of the day Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves. And while they certainly arent the best actors on the block, the drama and costumes were something of a masterpiece. Gary Oldman puts in the premiere Count Dracula performance, while Sir Anthony Hopkins plays vampire hunter Van Helsing.
7. 30 Days of Night (2007)
Good grief, were these vampires ever thirsty. Like really, really thirsty. A month of permanent darkness in Alaska, a group of hungry bloodsuckers and the residents are trapped. Even the trusty sled dogs have been done in by vampires! Pure horror and fun for gore lovers.
6. Interview With the Vampire (1994)
When Brad Pitt was up-and-coming and Tom Cruise was not yet a certifiable Scientology whack job, Interview with the Vampire offered up a cinematic take on Anne Rices epic novel, featuring a very young Kirsten Dunst with a taste for blood. While many pointed out the homoerotic themes of Interview, it had a new take on vampires, including Louis inner struggle and aversion to killing to satisfy his need for blood.
5. Shadow of the Vampire (2008)
Willem Dafoe channels Nosferatu in Shadow of the Vampire, which manages to weave wit and horror in a scary dramatic mix. Dafoe and Malcovich give performances that draw you in - once you get sucked in, theres no returning from the shadow of this vampire.
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Yeah, this is pure camp. But its funny as hell and besides, what of value has Kristy Swanson done since? (Shut your mouth if you said Skating with Celebrities) Paul Reubens shakes off his Pee Wee Herman persona and a whiny Luke Perry rounds out the cast in this vampire cult classic that was responsible for bringing Buffy to the small screen.
3. Dracula (1931)
Bela Lugosi is synonymous with Dracula his Hungarian accent made Dracula the image we all think of today: I vant to suck your blood. You cant have a list of great vampire movies without including this 1931 Lugosi classic.
2. Nosferatu (1922)
Nosferatu may just very well be the creepiest movie of all time. Yeah, its from 1922, but good god how sickeningly creepy is Count Orlok with his long fingernails? Hes a cutie, huh? Count Orlok definitely wins the award for most desperately in need of a manicure on our list.
1. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Who can forget the pure sex appeal of Salma Hayek as a vampire queen doing a snake dance? Directed by Robert Rodriguez and co-written by Quentin Tarantino, From Dusk Till Dawn starred George Clooney and Tarantino (acting is definitely not his strong point) as bank robbing bros on the run. Features one of the greatest mid movie plot shifts of all time. Gory, campy and fun, From Dusk Till Dawn definitely is the best vampire movie of all time.
I had a huge crush on Corey Haim when I was younger. The Lost Boys is one of my favorite movies from my tween years.
I don’t think I have seen all of them but the original is still the best. I would rate Salem’s Lot as next then “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”,. The rest are fair to awful.
I crushed on him too. Such a shame he grew into a loser.
And I REALLY loved Keifer Sutherland (I had the hots for his dad too for some strange reason), so The Lost Boys were definitely up there in my favorite Vampire movies.
Blackula?
BTW, no Twilight?
interesting
“30 Days of Night” was such an excellent movie. It’s one of the few movies I liked enough to buy the DVD.
You should check out True Blood on HBO it is very entertaining.
Make sure you watch the 1979 Tobe Hooper "Salem's Lot." The remake was an absolutely miserable waste of time.
John Badham's 1979 version of Dracula starring Frank Langella, Kate Nelligan and Lawrence Olivier (as a brilliant Van Helsing.)
It's right up there with the original Nosferatu (although the late 70s remake by Murnau blew.) Lush, opulent and engaging. But if this guy picks Blade and Underworld as good films, oy vey.
My personal favorite, and the one that creeped me out the most, was Klaus Kinski in “Nosferatu: The Vampyre/Phantom Der Nacht “
I did better than you... I gave it a second chance. After that, I thought to myself, now there’s 30 minutes of my life I’ll never get back. License to Drive was another favorite of mine with them. But yeah, it’s a shame how far Haim has fallen.
Visually beautiful film, I’ll agree — and Isabella Adjani is lovely as Mina. But, I could never get past the pacing, personally. Klaus was amazing, though.
Yeah, man, you're right! This is a racist list. No Justice! No Peace!
Read the books instead. The author is Charlaine Harris.
It should be on the list because it's a good, fun movie......and because Sharon Tate's in it.
As for books, the Stoker original is still a phenom. The early part of Anne Rice's Interview was, like the original Dracula, both haunting and powerful in its ability to transport the reader to a place where vampires actually exist.
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