seeitwith.me random outbursts of cinema appreciation

WHERE DID ALL THE VAMPIRES GO? PART 2: The Life (or Death) of Vampires in Film

Posted by Vuk Radic

After having gone over what this vampire thing is in the first installment of this ongoing essay, it’s time to look at the essence of the vampire - vampires in cinema. This will serve as a sort of introductory text into the world of vampiric cinema. I tried writing just one segment of this history, and save the rest for later posts I have in mind, dealing with particular issues of interest within vampire fiction, but decided that it would be too impractical. Therefore I present a very short overview leading up to the 21^st century. If the modern vampire story seems brief, it is so on purpose, as I set out to write this series with the intent to focus intensly on the modern vampire. So skim trough this, learn your vampire ABC's and brace yourself for the deconstruction of the modern vampire that is to come in further weeks.

There are well over 100 films featuring Count Dracula as the main character. Hundreds (maybe even thousands) more have non-Dracula vampires in them. Dracula, however, remains one of the most well known characters in history. So was he the first? Well, yes, and no. The first incarnation of the vampire on the big screen was the iconic Nosferatu a Symphony of Horror which while loosely based on Stoker’s novel was completely unlicensed - hence the change in character names. The seemingly wise changes did not prevent the German film studio Prana Film losing a copyright infringement case against the Stoker estate thus ending the company’s one film history.