Daybreakers
If film has taught us anything about vampires, it’s that we should be both scared and sort of impressed by them. Unarguably cooler than zombies, werewolves and aliens put together, vamps have the ability to be effortlessly appealing, even as they’re heading for our arteries.
To celebrate the release of the new futuristic sci-fi vampire movie Daybreakers on January 6th, where vampires have taken over society, we take a look at the 10 greatest vampire movies ever made.
Twilight
Perfectly capturing the undeniable allure of vampires, the Twilight films cleverly combined teen romance with supernatural thrills. They also showed that vampires find high school just as tough as the rest of us. Oh and Robert Pattinson caused a lot of girls to wilfully offer up their blood in exchange for a kiss.
Key quote: “We only drink animal blood, but it's your scent. It's like a drug to me. It's like you're my own personal brand of heroin.”
Near Dark
Mixing the vampire genre with the western, Near Dark became a cult horror back in the 80s. It follows a young guy who picks up a hot young vampire who ends up biting him. He’s then on the road with her undead cohorts. Interestingly though, the word vampire is never used in the film.
Key quote: “Howdy. I'm gonna separate your head from your shoulders. Hope you don't mind none.”
Interview With The Vampire
The epic story of a vampire’s life from the 18th century to modern-day, we saw Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt star in what may be the most mainstream vamp movie to date. The film reflects both the debauchery and also the loneliness of the lifestyle as contrasted through the two very different characters.
Key quote: “I'm flesh and blood, but not human. I haven't been human for two hundred years.”
From Dusk Till Dawn
What starts off as a crime thriller soon turns into a blood-splattered battle against vampires in this Tarantino-scripted horror flick.
George Clooney leads the cast as a criminal, holding a family hostage who encounter the undead at a strip joint in Mexico. To get past the censors, the vampires had green blood.
Key quote: “Did they look like psychos? Is that what they looked like? They were vampires. Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them.”
Nosferatu
One of the first vampire movies ever made, all the way back in 1922, Nosferatu was an unlicensed rip-off of Dracula. Count Orlok still remains one of the creepiest on-screen blood-suckers to this day and the film has been seen in various incarnations ever since. All this and he’s only on screen for 9 minutes.
Key quote: “Is this your wife? What a lovely throat.”
The Lost Boys
Before Twilight arrived, The Lost Boys was the definitive teen vampire movie. Vamp bikers plagued a small town in America and captured the hearts of many a teenage girl back in the 80s.
The script originally had the lost boys as young kids but director Joel Schumacher insisted they be changed to teens to make it sexier.
Key quote: “Now you know what we are, now you know what you are. You'll never grow old, Michael, and you'll never die. But you must feed!”
Blade
In 1998, Wesley Snipes became the most fearful thing to vampires since sunlight as he hunted them down mercilessly as Blade. Born of a mother who was bitten by a vampire, he possesses their strengths but not their weaknesses. The film saw two sequels and a TV series, each decreasing in quality…
Key quote: “I promise you, you'll be dead by dawn.”
30 Days of Night
Based on the much-loved graphic novel, 30 Days of Night saw an Alaskan town plunged into darkness and besieged by a pack of vampires. Josh Hartnett led the resistance against the darkness. The film was ironically shot mainly during the day, using the day-for-night process.
Key quote: “There is no escape. No hope. Only hunger and pain.”
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Based on the most famous vampire of all, Francis Ford Coppola’s version saw Gary Oldman take on the legendary role of the ill-fated count who searches for his lost love through time. It was one of the most romantic Dracula films with the tagline ‘Love Never Dies’.
Key quote: “I have crossed oceans of time to find you.”
Let The Right One In
One of the most acclaimed vampire films of late, this slow-burning Swedish drama sees a bullied 12-year-old boy fall in love with a young vampire girl.
The movie is named after a Morrissey song and also refers to the classic rule that vampires cannot enter a place until they have been invited inside.
Key quote: “It's just I've been twelve for a very long time.”
Daybreakers is released 6th January.
Tagged in Twilight