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

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.

The type of vampire portrayed by Max Schreck in the film is representative of the less popular of two types, the other being the charming, often sexual, well mannered, vampire popularized by Bela Lugosi in the later (and fully licensed) Stoker adaptation Dracula. Count Orlok and his vampiric genre are more associated with death and disease and are incapable of siring new vampires. Although they are significantly less used in cinema it is this vampire type that played a huge role in cinematic horror. It is also worth noting that Nosferatu is the first vampire to be killed by sunlight, a ‘rule’ that has become a staple of almost all incarnations for decades but one that seems uncommon in pre cinematic legend, Stoker’s Dracula was weakened by the sun and was also nocturnal but was capable of existing outside. This sun killing business has changed somewhat recently.

The suave Lugosi ‘Dracula’ type was the depiction of choice for the 1958 classic Horror of Dracula (or just Dracula if you’re a fan of brevity over originality), a film that ushered a new era to the vampire genre. The film starred Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. Once again the film is loosely based on the Stoker novel and deviates significantly from the story and the ‘rules’. Here once again we see sunlight being deadly to Dracula, his shape-shifting abilities seem to be entirely missing and he no longer uses the blood of others to reduce his apparent age. It seems that this film marks a definite moment in the vampire’s evolution as these rules seem to become staples from this point onwards in cinematic vampire storytelling.  The film did not hide from the violence and graphic depictions of it as it was considered part of the violent Hammer Horror genre and was given an X rating upon its release. That finally changed in 2007 when the uncut version was released as a 12A in England.

After the success of the 1958 Dracula the genre grew in popularity resulting in a string of vampire films being made throughout the 60’s, mostly within Hammer Studios. Films that utilized the vampire traditions and rules of the genre started to pop up, and although they were not necessarily vampire films were either influenced by them, or set new standards in the vampire genre. One of the lesser known of these films at the time was Black Sunday or The Mask of the Devil. The story tells of a witch burned at the stake in the 1600’s who vows revenge on the descendants of her killers when she is revived hundreds of years later. The film is regarded as a cult classic and has had a great influence on modern horror films and their directors, including Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow and Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. 1964 saw the release of The Last Man on Earth, a film based on the Richard Matheson Novel I Am Legend. The film stands out for two major reasons (the 2007 version not being one of them). First it is one of the few returns to the Nosferatu vampire type wreaking of death and plague. Which leads to the second, the ugliness and decay of the vampires is so extreme, in comparison to the now overriding Lee/Lugosi model, that a new monster is beginning to appear, a modern cinematic example of speciation, and perhaps this monster is the only one capable of fighting the vampire, for box office revenue anyway, the Zombie.

The popularity of Dracula exploded towards the end of the 60’s and throughout the 70’s and the genre began to split into smaller sub genre’s as film makers deviated more and more from the old rules and the Stoker idea of Dracula. Dance of the Vampires was released in 1967 followed later on by Young Frankenstein in 1974 establishing the horror comedy which was taken to even more disconcerting levels with Blacula in 1972. Vampyros Lesbos exploited the sexual nature of the story for the ‘erotic horror’ genre something done to a lesser extent by films such as The Vampire Lovers starring Peter Cushing but not Christopher Lee who turned the role down.  Even Andy Warhol was in on the action creating Blood for Dracula aka. Andy Warhol’s Dracula in 1974. By 1974 the second age of vampire films was truly over, highlighted by Christopher Lee hanging up his fangs in the less than successful Satanic Rites of Dracula

As the 70’s ended and the disturbing prospect of the 80’s began to rise the vampire film continued in the direction of insanity, examples of which include The Hunger, an art horror love triangle starring Susan Sarandon and David Bowie and Lifeforce, which includes Patrick Stewart in it’s credits. It has been described by one IMDB user as ‘the greatest naked space vampire zombies from Halley’s Comet running amok in London end-of-the-world movie ever made’, and what greater praise is there?

The mid 80’s saw the release of The Lost Boys. An action/comedy/horror/coming of age film about two boys moving to California and fighting a gang of teenage vampires starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, Corey Feldman and the recently deceased Corey Haim. Beyond its cult status The Lost Boys represents a reincarnation of imagination in the genre, playing with the ideas of immortality and eternal youth and using the lore of the vampire for good effect not just tagging on ‘with vampires’ to the end of a run of the mill plot just to get a film commissioned. Another film that was part of the 80’s vampire revival was (recent oscar winner) Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, a western/vampire/road movie intentionally and brilliantly avoiding the conventions that had been laid down and were responsible for destroying the vampire movie genre for the previous decade. The film tells the story of a young man who joins a small group of vampires, inhabiting the edges of normal society as a motorcycle gang. Avoiding the mythical rules of the genre the film concentrates on the ideas of acceptance and belonging to a sub group of people outside of normal society. As with The Lost Boys the film manages to use the preconceptions of the genre to its advantage but not be led by them down all too familiar paths - the gun fight in the motel with bullet holes creating deadly beams of light is a perfect example of this. The film had been green lit for a remake but has been postponed because of its similarity to a certain teen vampire film series currently in cinemas.

It seems to be a trait of modern cinema that every time a genre has a period of popularity a parody must be on the horizon. But few parodies are as double edged as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With the reinvention of Vampire films in the mid to late 80s and the rise of feminism and ‘girl power’ about to erupt in the nineties Buffy touches upon both, waving one goodbye and ushering the other forward. But it is not Buffy’s role in cinema that is remembered, in fact the 1992 film is all but a footnote on the high heels of the huge TV series that was to follow in 1997, which would once again reinvent the genre for a whole new generation. It is really this teenage, kick ass, vampire killing wave that we are just coming off of today. But Buffy the film seems somewhat ahead of its time, since before the TV series the vampire genre was still undergoing a classical adult rebirth. Bram Stoker’s Dracula was released in the same year as Buffy and, as the title suggests, Coppola’s version picks up right where Werner Herzog left off. What’s more, this is perhaps the closest rendition to the original story to date. An all star cast including Anthony Hopkins (Van Helsing) and Gary Oldman (Dracula) are at least a match for the classic Lee/Cushing combination.

Before the revolution came there was still one last triumph for the classic vampire film, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles based on the Anne Rice novel. This film can really be seen as the hinge on which the new breed of vampire film opened, it contains aspects of both periods. Post modern in the sense that it’s set in modern day city, the vampire with a soul is present in Louis (Pitt) and this relationship of old style versus new is played out in his relationship with Lestat (Cruise) who portrays the classic evil vampire, sexual and charismatic a latter day image of Lugosi. The film is full of mythology of the vampire but is set against the background of an interview for a modern newspaper. Louis recounts the story of his life (or death depending on your view) and this chronological look at the history of the vampire seems a fitting end for what was about to happen to the whole genre.

In 1995 The Addiction was released, it was part of the new form of vampire film, a psychoanalytical look at why vampires are the way they are. It was an attempt to break down the whole genre, its appeal, its meaning and what it said about the human race and it’s century long obsession with this one monster. Again it seems fitting that this film was released when it was because in the next three years everything was about to change. From Dusk Till Dawn ushered in the Tarantino generation with it’s barefaced, unashamed violence and comic book characterization.  The year after, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was released on TV and 1998 saw Blade explode onto cinema screens. In less than 5 years the genre had again gone through an enormous  transformation, from the resurrection in the mid 80’s, the return to the classical in the early 90’s and now to balls to the wall, full blown, head exploding, blood splattering action as the vampire film headed into the 21^st century.

But as with everything these waves cannot last forever and the 2000’s brought few vampire films and very few good ones. Underworld, Queen of the Damned and Van Helsing are just some of the awful examples of how not to make vampire films. Hopefully, originality once more glistens in the dark and some excellent films have been made outside of the US - Night Watch, Park Chan Wook’s Thirst and Let the Right One In not only make up for the shortcomings of Hollywood make up for them tenfold, re-imaginings of the same classic ideas in a very original matter.

This concludes the vampire cinema history overview. Stay tuned for the next episode where we will look at why we love these monsters so much in the first place.