Old School Vampires
A common theme in this blog is the evolution of vampires away from the traditional lore. Modern vampires are seen in a more sympathetic light, often as tragic anti-heroes than pure monsters. Of course, vampires remain bloodsucking killers. There’s also an overt erotic theme in today’s undead literature, maybe because the majority of modern vampire authors are women.
We may read a lot about vampires but our images of them are shaped by what we’ve seen on TV, usually the old movies. There’s the famous interpretation of Count Dracula by Bela Logusi.
The first vampire movie I saw starred Christopher Lee, more famous to you kids as Count Dooku in one of the god-awful Star Wars sequels (should’ve named him Count Cuckoo).
Many people panned him in the role as a vampire but I enjoyed George Hamilton in
Love at First Bite.
More recently we’ve got Wesley Snipes as
Blade, a daywalker vampire fighting the bad vampires, who do a poor showing as undead monsters.
Let’s hear it from you Buffy fans. Who’s your vampire role model?