Good vampire movies ...

[Sen]

... are few and far between. The idea for this thread arose after skimming through the Twilight thread while thoughts of the Underworld: Rise of the Lycans thread I made were still buzzing about my brain. It seems that these days vampire movies are in healthy supply, with the two aforementioned titles the current doses of bloodsucker cinema. Now, Underworld may not have entered theaters just yet, but it seems the realm of the motion picture is steadfast in having the general populace keep vampires in the spotlight, since it will be released just as excitement for the last vampire flick, Twilight, begins to wane. So it appears that as soon as one film is just about finished hogging attention, another comes to take its place. Which I guess is okay with me since I like vampire movies, and it's reassuring to know that if I need a fix, there will apparently always be one accessible.

But in all honesty, I really only like good vampire movies, and usually not the sissy ones that feature undead love stories. That's not to say Twilight is a bad movie, for I haven't seen it, but as soon as I learned what it was, I was pretty uninterested in watching, despite the presence of vampires. I generally go for the more horrific or suspenseful vampire flick, like Nosferatu or Salem's Lot, though I'll never rule out the ones with romance and aristocratic vampires if done well, like Interview With the Vampire or Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Those four just mentioned are, in fact, my favorite movies about vampires, along with Near Dark, which is actually kind of a Western. Had 30 Days of Night actually been a competent film that served it's brilliant premise and brutal vampire design well, I would have included that as a favorite too, but some painfully obvious hiccups in editing and story direction dragged it right into the gutter. A real shame too since I really loved idea of a town ravaged by vicious vampires during a month-long period of darkness.

So generally speaking, I don't come across vampire movies I think are actually good too often. What about you guys? What are some of your favorite films about this breed of undead and their eternal hunt for human blood? If you think there are any, heh.

There's actually a pair of foreign vampire movies I'm looking forward to for the near future. One is called Let the Right One In, a Swedish film about a 12-year old boy who befriends a little girl who turns out to be (yup, you guessed it) a vampire. Supposedly it's very good and I'm eager to have it get released here in the US. The other is called Thirst, which follows the plight of a priest who accidentally gains vampire-like problems from a failed medical experiment. It's Korean director Park Chan-wook's newest movie, who's most notable for his "Vengeance Trilogy", Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, all of which I thought were fantastic. So I'm pretty hyped for that one as well.

[Poofy]

I liked Blade 2 simply because it was entertaining if nothing else.

[Hyde]

"Good" is kinda a preference thing, though Sen....Twilight was good, but...it was good in such a way that it was a good adaptation of a decent book, not some miracle of modern cinema.

However, I'll give you a few of my personal favorites:

In the Drama-Comedy category, you have Shadow of the Vampire with Willem Defoe, Eddie Izzard, John Malkovitch and quite a few others. It's a fictitious recount of FW Murnau making Nosferatu in the "What if Max Schrek really WAS a vampire?" motif. It's quite good and very amusing in some parts even though it really isn't a comedy.

In the "Excellent Setting but Drastically Different From the Books" category we have Queen of the Damned, which was entertaining and had some DYNAMITE original music, but little else to show for it. It was, however, full of good actors...that is... Good actors in a kinda crappy movie. I still love it.

In the "Timeless Classic" category I have two recommendations I'm SURE you've heard of: "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and the original Bela Lugosi's "Dracula"...both excellent movies from the same basic story. I personally LOVE Bram Stoker's Dracula and Gary Oldman's portrayal of Dracula was fucking amazing.

In the "Great Movie they Never Should Have Remade" Category we have Vincent Price in "The Last Man on Earth"(A movie I recently acquired on DVD I might add) which is essentially "I am Legend" but good and is the original from 1964. I personally love Vincent Price movies but this is far and away one of my favorites of his.

In the "Absolutelty Ridiculous and yet still totally worth seeing at Least ONCE" category we have a few nominees... First: "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter" released in 2001 straight to video. As if you even need to ask why. Then there's "Monster Squad", "The Satanic Rights of Dracula"(Starring Christopher Lee) and the "Fright Night" series. Last in the series is "Blood and Donuts" released in 1995. Don't....don't see this movie unless you want to stare for 90 minutes with a goofy grin on your face going "what the fuck...". NONE of these are what you'd call "Good movies"...they are, however, entertaining.

In the "Meatgrinder" category, which is essentially nothing but Special Effects and Slaughterhouse there's "From Dusk Til Dawn" and it's lukewarm sequels. If you've seen any of them, you know that only the first one is any good and that's because it stars the Gecko Brothers(played brilliantly by a pretty young George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino).

And now...we have the Legitimately Good movies...the ones I watch when I want to see good action or acting or whatever.

First...in the modern cinema, "NightWatch" and "Daywatch" both Russian Films. Good action. Fun story. Keeps you interested as long as you don't mind subtitles. Then there's the first "Lost Boys" movie which was the model 80's Vampire Schtick, but it's still a good flick and is done well. "Black Sunday" from 1960 is a european movie isn't really a Vampire movie but it's close enough. "Nosferatu the Vampyre" released in 1979 is a Werner Herzog CLASSIC and if you haven't seen it you should.

I didn't mention any of the Blade movies, though I enjoy them, because they're more Comic Book than anything else.

Hope you get some enjoyment from the list. Trust me when I say I can keep going. There's LOTS of good movies out there with Vampires, or...well..just about anything. And I love movies.

[Itaska]

The first Blade was good. That's it. Interview with a Vampire was boring. The Underworlds were O.K. Twilight looks terrible. From Dusk Till Dawn wasn't bad. Haven't seen Lost Boys.

Most vampire movies fall flat on their face. I'm not a fan.

[Devil King]

... like Interview With the Vampire or Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Those are my two favorite ones; I dislike many vampire movies, even though I like vampires.

Vampire Hunter D is my favorite anime and favorite vampire flick. It's done in such a dark and brooding manner that you can't help it from getting under your skin.

[Hyde]

I tend to be ambivalent to Vampire Hunter D and Bloodlust: There's something about Vampires that innately DOESN'T Translate to animation to me. The whole point of Vampires needing to feel human...until you get close. Animation automatically destroys that.

I do enjoy both Vamp Hunter D movies...but they are cartoons to me...not Vampire Movies.

[Devil King]

I see Bloodlust as a genuine horror movie; the animation is beyond top-notch and has an extremely ominous vibe to it, much more so than most horror movies.

But yeah, I can see where you're coming from, however I think those movies (especially Bloodlust) are the definite exception to the rule. I can't stand most vampire anime shite because of said fact.

[Jarrid]

Nosferatu and Vampire Hunter D are the ones that stick out the most to me. Blade was alright, and I can not leave out Leslie Nielson's Dracula: Dead and Loving It. That movie cracked me up.

[Sen]

"Good" is kinda a preference thing, though Sen....Twilight was good, but...it was good in such a way that it was a good adaptation of a decent book, not some miracle of modern cinema.
I just mean vampire movies that you think are worth seeing. "Good" as in "good enough for you to recommend". You're right, it is a preference thing; that was the whole idea behind posing the question.

In the Drama-Comedy category, you have Shadow of the Vampire with Willem Defoe, Eddie Izzard, John Malkovitch and quite a few others. It's a fictitious recount of FW Murnau making Nosferatu in the "What if Max Schrek really WAS a vampire?" motif. It's quite good and very amusing in some parts even though it really isn't a comedy.
I enjoyed this movie as well. Willem Defoe was perfectly cast as Count Orlok.

In the "Excellent Setting but Drastically Different From the Books" category we have Queen of the Damned, which was entertaining and had some DYNAMITE original music, but little else to show for it. It was, however, full of good actors...that is... Good actors in a kinda crappy movie. I still love it.
Heh, you've gotta be the first person I've ever encountered to speak positively of this one. I absolutely hated Queen of the Damned. I especially hated that it was promoted as being the sequel to Interview With the Vampire when it was first released. I totally disagree on this one, dude.

"Bram Stoker's Dracula" ... I personally LOVE Bram Stoker's Dracula and Gary Oldman's portrayal of Dracula was fucking amazing.
It actually took me a while to warm up to Francis Ford Coppola's take on the original novel. Because it had "Bram Stoker" in the title, I had expected it to be unreasonably faithful to the book. While its story is closest to the text, it does feature some major differences, for which I have since come to embrace. But I'd have to say its the costumes and make-up I enjoy most about this flick. Coppola's vision of that time period is quite unique, with lots of vibrant colors, which paradoxically worked out quite well for such a gothic tale. Some solid performances too, mostly from Gary Oldman like you say, but I also enjoyed Anthony Hopkins' turn as Van Helsing. Major miscasting of Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves, in my opinion, however.

In the "Meatgrinder" category, which is essentially nothing but Special Effects and Slaughterhouse there's "From Dusk Til Dawn" and it's lukewarm sequels. If you've seen any of them, you know that only the first one is any good and that's because it stars the Gecko Brothers (played brilliantly by a pretty young George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino).
The first half of this movie sucked me right in, but as soon as they encountered vampires, I felt it lost a lot of steam. The typical workings of a Tarantino/Rodriguez flick, slick direction and clever dialogue, completely disappeared in favor of becoming an over the top B-movie monster fest. While I like the campy stuff as much as the next guy, I just kinda feel it's hard for that type of movie to replace the "cool" one it started out as. I agree that it's definitely worth seeing, but that odd shift is what stood out about it most to me. But then again, maybe that was the point.

First...in the modern cinema, "NightWatch" and "Daywatch" both Russian Films. Good action. Fun story. Keeps you interested as long as you don't mind subtitles.
I liked these too, but I felt they ran into the same problem that the X-Men movies did, in that there were just too many characters with too many unique powers to keep track of. You end up knowing that they can do something, but not necessarily what that is. I also liked that the subtitles did neat things in the first one, though they didn't seem to in the second for some reason.

"Nosferatu the Vampyre" released in 1979 is a Werner Herzog CLASSIC and if you haven't seen it you should.
Another nice recommendation. A great remake that actually did the original justice.

[moogle]

The only vampire movie I ever enjoyed was Interview with the Vampire. I was surprised by how good that movie was. Finally watching Blade, after hearing all the hype about it, was very disappointing, though. How is Blade considered good but not Ultraviolet? They both have dumb plots and boring characters. Maybe it's just not my kind of movie, I dunno.

[Tenacious P]

I liked Blade 2 simply because it was entertaining if nothing else.
What the hell is wrong with you? In no way were any of the sequels better than the first one. :|

[Hyde]

Heh, you've gotta be the first person I've ever encountered to speak positively of this one. I absolutely hated Queen of the Damned. I especially hated that it was promoted as being the sequel to Interview With the Vampire when it was first released. I totally disagree on this one, dude.

Thing is...it IS a sequel to Interview...it integrates the 2nd and 3rd books(The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned, respectively) into one movie. It was a departure from the novel in several ways, but overall the story is largely the same.

The best part of the entire movie was the music, I grant you that. It would have worked better if separated and turned into a miniseries though staying true to the novels.

[Poofy]

What the hell is wrong with you? In no way were any of the sequels better than the first one. :|
I haven't seen the original blade in ages, and it was only 1 time, so I can't say anything about it in full confidence....

[Devil King]

Blade Trinity sucked ass.

[Phakiel]

The first one was good, the second one was too much style over substance and the third one at least had eye candy with Jessica Biel and hmmm. Ryan Reynolds.

[Poofy]

I didn't think Biel was that hot in Trinity. :|

[Phakiel]

You are not alone but some is better than none.

[Devil King]

The first one was good, the second one was too much style over substance and the third one at least had eye candy with Jessica Biel and hmmm. Ryan Reynolds.

Hah!

[Sen]

Thing is...it IS a sequel to Interview...
Oh yeah. Ahahaha. I knew that. I think I must subconsciously disassociate them from each other because I can't stand the idea of (what I deem) a very poor movie being related to one I truly admire.

The best part of the entire movie was the music, I grant you that.
I think that might actually be part of the problem I had with it. Because of all that alternative/nu-metal at it's core, Queen generally felt geared towards a completely different audience than Interview. It seemed only suited for the angst-ridden teenage crowd, whereas its predecessor had a truly sophisticated air about it that anyone who enjoyed a good story could enjoy. Anyway, I hope it doesn't seem like I'm trying to prove your opinion wrong; I'm only giving my thoughts on the movie.

[Phakiel]

Hah!

Ryan Reynolds is a beautiful man, whats so funny about that queer.

[Void]

Don't exist.

Oh? This wasn't a finish my sentence type thing?

I'm just kidding and all, but I seriously can't think of any good vampire movies at the moment. Underworld gets points for having Kate Beckinsale wearing skin tight leather, though.

[Devil King]

Ryan Reynolds is a beautiful man, whats so funny about that queer.

Oh, nothing.

Yeah, Ryan Reynolds is man-pretty.

[Phakiel]

Oh, nothing.

Yeah, Ryan Reynolds is man-pretty.

I basically masturbate to The Nines, plus I love Melissa McCarthy, cute fat whore, come here and give me some crazy loving.

[drunken monk]

30 days of night was pretty sweet. It wasnt amazing but it was fun to watch. I had high hopes for I am legend but I thought it was meh. The Vampires if you could even call them that were a joke in that movie. I was really hoping for it to be much darker then it was. Interview was the shit. I love that movie. But other then that... the first two Blade movies were good.

[guilty8spirit]

Interview with a vampire )))

[drunken monk]

So last night I was watching Nosferatu. The original 1922 movie. And as I was taking a hit from my bong I thought how the hell did I not mention it in this thread. Normally I cant stand to watch any movies post 1970 but for some reason I love Nosferatu. I actually think age has increased its effect on me. The first time I watched it I thought it was going to be a joke. And I guess it could be to most people but the whole grainy black and white look freaks me out. Or it could be that both times Ive seen it I was really high.

Anyone else seen it? The Gothic industrial mix is available to watch online if you have Netflix.

[Sen]

Nosferatu is a fantastic vampire flick, and certainly one of my favorite silent films. I'm a big fan of the grotesque vampire, an idea that Count Orlok reflects quite well. I actually wrote a paper for a class a couple years back about the type of vampire he embodies in comparison to the more attractive and appealing kind that is more prevalent in the mainstream media. The 1979 remake, Nosferatu: The Vampyre, while not quite as chilling, is also pretty good and worth seeing. It's in color and the characters are renamed to those of Bram Stoker's source material, but it respects the original well enough. It's quality justifies it's existence, which is rather uncommon for remakes. Nearly ten years later it spawned a sequel, Nosferatu in Venice, which I've never seen but would like to at some point despite that I've read it's awful.

[The Dormouse]

I liked vampires, just not vampire movies. I geuss my favorite would be Interview.

I dated a vampire once. His scent was that of orange and yellow wood.

[moogle]

I saw Let the Right One In. It was pretty good, especiallu for a vampire movie.

[Sen]

I saw Let the Right One In. It was pretty good, especiallu for a vampire movie.
How did you see it? I really want to.

[moogle]

How did you see it? I really want to.
Don't you know? All things are possible on the Internet.

But seriously, I saw it from a leaked screener. There are possibly better quality versions out there, too.

[Void]

I had high hopes for I am legend but I thought it was meh. The Vampires if you could even call them that were a joke in that movie. I was really hoping for it to be much darker then it was.

I don't consider it a vampire movie. The only thing I thought they really had in common with vampires is their ultra-violate allergy. They aren't really undead - they have fully functioning organs, and even react to medicine and shit like that - and they can't turn people, at all (only a small percentage go dark seeker, and since the 'virus' is spread through the air, it's already affected everyone on civilized earth). They're only capable of lower brain functions, and VERY rarely (the big dark seeker can learn a little bit from his surroundings). Other than that, I feel they have more in common with zombies. Still wouldn't call them a zombie though. They feel more like a hybrid.

[twerp]

Why has no one mentioned "Dracula, Dead and Loving it" starring Leslie Nielson?

[freeflow^]

30 days and 30 nights with Josh Harnett was a badass movie ;) *waits for it*

[Sen]

Hahaha, I see what you did there.

[Powerslave]

The best vampire movie is Werner Herzog's brilliant 1979 remake of Nosferatu with Klaus Kinski in the title role. What a film!