Guest Blog: Wyatt Weed’s Top Ten Vampire Films

OK, I know you vampire fans can be a fanatic lot, so this list is sure to upset some of you, but this is MY list. I can’t be wrong – you know why? Because it’s my list! Seriously, please comment and debate, and maybe we’ll all end up seeing some movies we haven’t seen before.

Wyatt Weed’s Top Ten Vampire Films

1. Interview with the Vampire (1994)

In my opinion the most well produced, adapted, and directed of all vampire films. Great source material, serious treatment of the subject, fine direction and acting. And it didn’t cost $100 million to make.

2. Blade (1998)

If “Interview” is the yin, “Blade” is the yang – action packed, stylish, great characters, and a believable, emotional new take on the old vampire clichés.

3. Dracula [aka: ‘Horror of Dracula’] (1958)

This is the first and still one of the best of legendary Hammer Studios’ vampire films of the 50’s and 60’s. Great color, lighting, melodrama, and strong, iconic images. This film burned Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee into my brain long before the Star Wars films did.

4. The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

Impeccably well shot and designed, this Roman Polanski film mixes comedy and horror in equal measure. “Interview with the Vampire” and “Van Helsing” both owe a debt to this film.

5. Fright Night (1985)

The original re-invention of the vampire myth, this film again mixes horror and comedy at a break-neck pace with strong characters and well placed special effects. If for no other reason, see it for Chris Sarandon’s apple-eating, song-whistling vampire

6. Lifeforce (1985)

Yeah, it’s clunky, over the top, and there seem to be chunks missing, but it is epic, scary, and jaw dropping. Mathilda May was a mesmerizing vampire from space, and not because she spent most of the film naked…although that didn’t hurt…

7. Blood: The Last Vampire (2000)

I’m talking about the animated original, not the new live-action version. This isn’t feature length, but it is fast, vicious, and has incredible fight choreography that live action films can only aspire to.

8. Vampire Hunter D (1985)

My second Animé entry on this list, this film is titanic in scale and cosmic in concept. It also made me realize that I have a thing for girls with green hair…

9. Mr. Vampire (1985)

Part of the “Jiang Shi” or Chinese vampire sub-genre, if you’ve never seen a hopping vampire film, see this one. Produced by Sammo Hung, this film will have you laughing, squirming, and then wow you with some great chop-socky fight action.

10. Innocent Blood (1992)

This one just barely makes the list, but it’s fresh and original and contains a mix of genres never seen before – vampires and the mafia. It also has Anne Parillaud handcuffed and naked on a bed.

10 well-known vampire films that didn’t make my list – and why…

1. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Francis Coppola’s epic is overly artsy and seems more interested in technique than story, and this could have been the greatest love story ever. Extra points for retaining the “diary entry” style of the original novel.

2. Underworld (2003)

I liked the first film, but it drew from too many other sources – Blade, The Matrix, etc. It was also a bit convoluted. Number 2 was OK, and I didn’t even bother with Number 3…

3. Let The Right One In (2008)

Many people lost bladder control over this one, calling it a classic and one of the greatest films they’d ever seen. I LIKED it, but it was overly long, and went off on tangents it didn’t explain. In some cases these were references to the book that were not fully explored, so why put them in at all? Start the hating now, but this is one film, much like RINGU, that I think will benefit from a Hollywood remake.

4. Near Dark (1987)

Meh. This is a cult classic, but I never got it. It’s alright, but I think it was a good idea not pushed nearly far enough.

5. Dracula (1931)

A classic, it helped jump-start the genre, but by today’s standards, I don’t feel it holds up. It is slow and feels much like the stage play it was based on. You gotta love it, but…

6. Dracula (1979)

This John Badham/Frank Langella version ALMOST made my list – ALMOST. It is sexy, has some great gags, but ultimately comes off as a really good TV movie. And that’s OK.

7., 8. Nosferatu (1922, 1979)

The original silent film has amazing images and a creepy main vampire – almost made the list. The re-make is too darn slow.

9. The Hunger (1982)

Too artsy. Deneuve and Sarandon making out, pretty darn good, but still too artsy. Made David Bowie boring, and that’s hard to do.

10. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Sorry folks – this is two different films, slammed together in the middle, and all of it is WAY over the top. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, and George Clooney is great, but the best part of the film is Salma Hayek dancing on a table and stuffing her foot into Tarantino’s mouth.