From Nosferatu to a vulnerable young vampire and beyond, the vampire has sat at the heart of cinematic horror ever since the first camera whirled into action. However, not all vampire movies carry the same bite, so join us as I explore five bloodsucking treats to enjoy this Halloween night.
1. Let the Right One In (2008)
Based on the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In is as close to a horror masterpiece as you can get, as it explores the link between vampire mythology and the classic coming-of-age story. Tomas Alfredson’s delicately layered narrative of first love is laced with discussions on loneliness, anger and teenage anxiety.
The vampire is a 12-year-old girl named Eli, who wasn’t assigned female at birth; her life is forever caught in the first throes of adolescence, transformation, and change until she meets young Oskar (also twelve) in Stockholm’s snowy suburbs. Oskar may not be trapped in his twelve-year-old body for all eternity like Eli, but he is a prisoner of local bullies, his life held in a bubble of fear and anxiety.
Let the Right One In offers a complex story of two lost souls who find a powerful sense of belonging in each other’s presence; one is a bullied, scared, and outcast human, and the other is an isolated, vulnerable young vampire.
Let the Right One In excels in its eerie, poetic portrait of teenage friendship, love, and protection as Eli and Oskar’s budding relationship is held within a false veil of security, slowly torn away by reality. The resulting film strips back the deepest fears of early adolescence while beautifully exploring notions of power, place, and belonging.
2. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Romance, art, literature, and music sit at the heart of Jim Jarmusch’s 2013 masterpiece, a divine journey into vampire folklore. Here we have a movie where the classic tropes of vampiric evil and abomination are thrown into the gutter, replaced by Jaramush’s lighthearted yet vivid exploration of eternal life and loneliness. In Jaramush’s world, the need for blood plays on the universal themes of drug addiction. Here, the quick hit of each last drop only elevates the artistic endeavours and curiosity of our ancient vampires, Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), their lives a whirlwind of reminiscence as they debate the very foundations of the universe and the human zombies who plague its development.
Jarmusch delicately unpicks and celebrates the vampire’s romanticism, joyously lampooning Twilight’s soft glow while celebrating the work of authors such as Anne Rice. His fascination with art, physics, and nature sits centre stage in a film that dovetails biblical concepts of Eden with romance, humour, addiction, and music. The result is a unique trip through an intoxicating haze of magnetic sexuality, immortality, bloodlust and art.
3. The Lost Boys (1987)
Long celebrated as a brilliantly entertaining slice of 80s horror, The Lost Boys was the Top Gun of teenage horror in many ways: a feature-length music video featuring Gerard McMann, INXS, and Echo and the Bunnymen. But under the hood, Joel Schumacher and Richard Donner’s comic-book horror was an inspired, vampiric take on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. The dark and mysterious (Kiefer Sutherland) and his band of bikers are the lost boys of Barrie’s story, but they are not led by an impish Peter Pan but by a vision of Hook called Max (Ed Herrman).
Within this macabre Pan-inspired fairground of choices and hormones, the new boys in town, Michael (Jason Patric) and his kid brother, Sam (Corey Haim), find themselves trapped in a playground of conformity, peer pressure, sexuality, and forming identity in this stunning Santa Carla-based horror.
4. Salem’s Lot (1979)
Based on Stephen King’s 1975 novel of the same name, Tobe Hooper’s 1979 miniseries created an immersive and ominous TV experience that helped reshape horror on the small screen. Salem’s Lot would prove that TV horror could rival cinema, introducing audiences to a seemingly quiet, idyllic town hiding a deadly secret.
Hooper’s understated direction skillfully plays with light and dark throughout, as the town transforms into a terrifying landscape of death and murder each day as the sun goes down. But the absolute horror comes from the floating vampiric child scraping at a closed window as mist floats around them. These scenes would fuel the nightmares of a whole generation, including me, and make Salem’s Lot a TV experience like no other.
With a stunning ensemble cast led by David Soul, James Mason, and Lance Kerwin, Salem’s Lot not only scared the hell out of a whole generation but also paved the way for a bold new form of TV horror that would give birth to IT (1990), American Horror Story and more.
5. Nosferatu (1922)
F.W. Murnau’s German Expressionist masterpiece, Nosferatu, gave birth to the vampire movie and continues to define the image of Bram Stoker’s Dracula 101 years after its release. While it may have been an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic, Stoker clearly misunderstood the impact this film would have on his creation.
Released during a time of change in Germany, the economic and political instability following World War I found its way into the darkness of F.W. Murnau’s masterpiece, with its haunting cinematography and psychological exploration of fear perfectly capturing not only Stoker’s literary creation but also the turbulence at the heart of German politics. The result was a landmark in cinema and a pioneer of modern horror whose influence cannot be overstated.
Nosferatu transcends language through its silence, captivating and enthralling us as it sends a shiver down our spines. How many modern films will we praise in the same way in 101 years?
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