Evolution of Vampires on Film

We’re sinking our teeth into the evolution of vampires in cinema with some of our favorite films. From shadowy figures creeping out of silent films, to romantic antiheroes lighting up billion-dollar franchises, vampires have transformed more than almost any other monster in movie history.
Today's episode will have spoilers. Talking about plot points on films that may give away the twists and end of the movie. You have been warned. 
So grab your garlic, sharpen your stakes, and let’s dive into the dark.

For more creepy content check out WWW.CREEPYCONFIDENTIAL.COM

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Sub Creeps and welcome to Creepy Confidential. Is Mothman really
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(00:22):
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(00:44):
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get ready, creeps, it's Creepy Confidential, subcreeps, and welcome back today.

(01:24):
We're exploring a creature that refuses to die. That's right.
We're sinking our teeth into the evolution of vampires in
cinema with some of my favorite films, from shadowy figures,
creeping out of silent films to romantic anti heroes lighting
up billion dollar franchises. Vampires have transformed more than almost

(01:49):
any other monster in movie history. Before I get going,
today's episode will have spoilers. I will be talking about
plot points on film that may give away the twists
and end of the movie. You have been warned. All right, creeps,
grab your garlic, sharpen your steaks. Let's dive into the dark.

(02:14):
Let us start with the birth of the cinematic vampire.
To understand the vampire's cinematic journey, we've got to start
at the beginning. The first major vampire to appear on
film was in nineteen twenty two's Nosferatu. This wasn't your sleek,
sexy vampire, oh, No, Count Orlock was grotesque, long fingers,

(02:39):
ratlike teeth, and a bald head that made him look
more like a walking plague than a seductive arristocrat. What's fascinating,
and that many of you may know, is that Nosfaratu
was an unauthorized adaptation of Bromstoker's Dracula. The filmmakers couldn't
secure or the rights, so they changed names, but the

(03:03):
story was essentially the same. Stoker's widow sued and nearly
every copy of the film was destroyed. Luckily a few survived,
and Nosferatu became a cornerstone of horror cinema. Vampires represented pestilence, disease,

(03:23):
and death in post World War One Europe, with the
Spanish Flu still fresh in memory, the image resonated deeply.
Fast forward to nineteen thirty one and we get Universal
Studios Dracula. This was the first Dracula movie I remember watching,
and of course you know the Hammer films later. But

(03:44):
I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but
Bella Lugosi's performance as the Count Dracula cemented the vampire
archetype for decades. Unlike Count Orlock, Legoses' Dracula was suave, elegant,
and hip, naut His accent, his cape, and that intense
stare turned Dracula into not just a monster, but a

(04:09):
strangely alluring figure. This was where the vampire myths started
to pivot from monstrous and grotesque to something more complex,
dangerous but irresistible. The film was a huge success, and
it launched Hollywood's love affair with gothic horror, with a

(04:29):
certain allure to it. The nineteen thirties to the nineteen
fifties saw countless sequels, spin offs, and universal monster mashups,
but vampires became part of pop culture's monster squad. But
as decades rolled on, the image of the vampire kept changing,

(04:51):
reflecting the fears and desires of the times. The next
major shift was the introduction of the Hammer horror era.
By the late nineteen fifties, Britain's Hammer film productions gave
vampires a major upgrade and another shift in the presentation
of Dracula. This is when our beloved Christopher Lee entered

(05:15):
and stepped into the role with nineteen fifty eight's Horror
of Dracula. Not only can this man do metal music
and count Dooku, Lee's Dracula brought a whole new flavor.
He was tall, brooding, physically commanding, and in my opinion, vicious.
Gone was the silent, stiff aristocrat. This Dracula had bloodshot eyes,

(05:39):
dripping fangs, and a predatory sexuality that both terrified and
thrilled audiences. The Hammer films leaned heavy into color and
gore bright red blood splattering across the Victorian settings. They
were lurid, violent and scandalous, and they were ah it.

(06:01):
This era solidified the Vampire as a symbol of erotic danger.
The bite was no longer just an attack, It was
a seduction, and that theme carried forward into almost every
cinematic vampire that followed. Now, grab a pen and paper, creeps,
because I'm about to dive into must see movie titles,

(06:23):
even if they aren't what you expect for a twenty
twenty five movie. The Hammer films are a staple in
the horror movie academy. The sixties or a crazy time everywhere,
but horror specifically was cracking open, with Christopher Lee leading
by continuing his nineteen fifty eight Dracula premiere with Brides

(06:44):
of Dracula in nineteen sixty, Dracula Prince of Darkness in
nineteen sixty six, and Dracula Has Risen from his Grave
in nineteen sixty eight. The nineteen seventies and eighties brought
a huge vampire boom. On one side, you had serious
reimaginings like Orner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampire in nineteen seventy nine,

(07:10):
which paid tribute to the original. On the other hand,
you had camp you know, like that campy films like
Blackzilla in nineteen seventy two, which folded vampire lore into
at the time what was happening black exploitation cinema. The
Hammer Dracula films still reign supreme, including Tastes the Blood

(07:32):
of Dracula in nineteen seventy Scars of Dracula also in
nineteen seventy. These films featured Christopher Lee in the title
role for most of the series' installments, with the later
films like Dracula AD and then also The Santanic Rites
of Dracula shifting to a more modern for that time

(07:54):
and contemporary setting. To me, this was when I remember
thinking it was strained that evil could change into a
wolf but others could not. It was another morph in
the vampire lore that is best put by another vampire
that will show up later. But that quote says, the

(08:14):
dark gift is different for us all now, if you
already recognize that quote, you're in friendly company. But moving
on through this decade, now, who could forget The Lost
Boys from nineteen eighty seven, leather jackets, motorcycles, and a
gang of teenage vampires that felt more like a rock
band than monsters. This film fused the vampire myth with

(08:40):
youth rebellion and suddenly vampires were cool. It also brought
forth the lowering of the age of the film vampire
and one of the macho lead roles. Even when you
get to the twist and again it shows one never
knows who you think think you know when it comes

(09:01):
to the Lost Boys. Now. Next, still in the eighties
is Fright Night two from nineteen eighty eight, and this
time the lead was a gorgeous exotic female regime was
Jerry's sister from the first Fright Night and she's back
for revenge for killing her brother. The eighties had a

(09:22):
way of making things, you know, a little sexier. I'll
say they really went crazy with the makeup, the hair,
the wardrobe, and it almost made vampires also look like
a poisonous snake or like an amphibian, you know, meaning
that the more elaborate they were on the colors they had,
it meant that they were more vicious or poisonous. The

(09:45):
theme also the theme of the vampire morphing into a
wolf shows up in this one as well, with one
of Regine's henchmen that could when he would hunt, he
would turn into this like wolf like It's almost like
a wolf wolf like state, but so that it appears
once more. These later vampire movies also show the vampire

(10:09):
drinking and draining their prey, where before it was implied
just how much they needed, you know, maybe not all
of it. This upped the ante One had no chance
of survival. But if Phyjene was preying on me, would
I really resist? By the nineteen nineties, vampires had fully
embraced their role as tragic, tortured figures. The biggest influence

(10:34):
here An Rice. Her Vampire chronicle novels, especially Interview with
the Vampire, redefined the vampire as a creature of immense beauty, power,
and existential angst. When everyone met Listatt and Louis for
the first time, our brains exploded. When the film adaptation

(10:54):
Interview with the Vampire arrived in nineteen ninety four, starring
Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, drip with Gothic grandeur. These
vampires weren't villains. They were protagonists, wrestling with immorality, morality,
and desire. Lastat wanted a companion, and he preyed upon

(11:15):
the desperate with famed line I'm going to give you
the choice I never had to, which he drained Louis
to the brink of death and then gave him the
choice die now and meet your maker, or live at
my side. The movie showed the handful of types of vampires.
Lastat was cruel and vicious because he never had happiness

(11:40):
or content. Louis refused to give into his vampiric needs,
and when he did, we got Claudia, a child vampire,
the most deadly of the trio, the most hungry, and
yet because she could not age, she had this fury
inside of her like none other. Then you have the

(12:02):
vampires overseas living in the catacombs, vampire pretending to be human,
pretending to be vampire. As an actor's troupe, we saw
them bring a victim on stage, stripper of her garments,
and as she runs to Arman's arms hoping for help,
she is offered up as a meal, and no one

(12:24):
knows the wiser They think it's completely an act. Ghastly.
That same decade gave us Bram Stoker's Dracula from nineteen
ninety two, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, my favorite movie.
I think, my favorite horror movie. This is a masterpiece.
Gary Oldman's Dracula was equal parts terrifying, and sympathetic a

(12:48):
love story spanning centuries. We meet him as this pale recluse,
and as the story progresses, we see him take the
form of a young, handsome man, and then a wolf
like creature as he prays on Lucy, an oversize bat
at one point, and then even morphs into a mountain

(13:09):
of rats. This version of Dracula displays his origin story
also in full light, very close to Vlad the Impaler,
without straight up calling him Vlad the Impaler, but still
calling him that name in a sense. The love of
his life commits suicide on false pretenses that he has

(13:32):
perished in battle, and then he arrives home to discover this,
and he curses his holy faith and God, cursing his
body and being cursed to be blood drinking immortal forever.
Not vampire related. But you have to ignore Keanu Reeves's
horrible English accent in this movie. Just squinch your ears

(13:54):
a little. When I say it's a masterpiece. That's kind
of the one part that's kind of on the side.
I feel like I need to mention the rest, especially
the brides of Dracula. Oh my God, a chef's kiss,
absolutely wonderful. The world also gets Blade from Dusk Till Dawn,
John Carpenter's Vampires, Buffy the Vampire Slayer the Movie, and

(14:17):
Vampire in Brooklyn. These are all homework, by the way,
and there will be a quizite a future date. But
Blade held the classic idea of vampires, but now the
vampire was the anti hero in this very epic good
against evil vampire flick. This time, vampires weren't just existing
in the dark and slithering from room to room. This

(14:40):
day walker could show up and kick ass no matter
the time of day. It introduced the idea that vampires
could take something to suppress, changing fully into a bloodthirsty vampire.
This movie is essentially a memory for us, you know,
kind of has that assent memory because of I'll say

(15:02):
two words, blood Rave enter the two thousands and a
whole new audience, a whole new millennia, and an entire
shift in vampire evolution once more. Between the year two
thousand and now. There are many vampire movies that show

(15:23):
a shift in the ideas and backgrounds. So let's just
kind of hit the heavy heavy hitters, and then I'll
say my favorites. I'll be staying in the cinema world though,
so I'll be leaving out those masterpieces like True Blood
that was a TV show. I also won't be coming
back around for sequels unless there's something that really shows
up like I mentioned before and Fright Night how it

(15:45):
changed from a male to a female which we had
never seen before, and then lastly before the train leaves
the station for the next part. I'm just talking about
movie versions right now. I know many are getting their
undergarments in a kerfluffle about things mentioned and not mentioned,
but thought I'd tried to prevent that. So moving on,

(16:06):
kicking off two thousand with Dracula two thousand, Not only
does this flick contain the beloved Gerard Butler as the
lead vampire role, but it kicks off with a turn
kind of on that sexy dial a lah Y two
K style. But it also, on the other side, shows
a backstory that takes us back to the days of

(16:28):
Jesus and putting the Dracula origin as Judas, which is
a kind of another turn. Instead of Lad the Vlad
the Impaler when he curses his religion, now he is Judas.
This story shows Judas Uh taking the bribe Jesus being
crucified and his hanging him hanging himself, you know, out

(16:49):
of guilt, but is revived and is now the first vampire.
And that's where the first vampire starts. Right, This idea
is of Dracula exis existing and blaming Jesus for his
eternal damnation. This one sticks out because it was a
y two K version of the original Dracula story in

(17:12):
a sense where Mary and Lucy, you know, instead of
Mina and Lucy, so you had those two. The brides
are now replaced with three kind of sex pot chicks
that from that time par period right that drac has acquired.
And then Van Helsing still exists, but he's been holding

(17:34):
Dracula's body hostage and sampling the goods to keep himself
alive over time, and creators have now injected a very
heavy religious story to his line. So even in this film,
although somewhat cheesy, the very story of their original Dracula

(17:55):
changes to make it more modern. But also now they're
taking a chance because they're making it more religious. Two
thousand and two brought us another book rendition of an
Anne Riis book. This time The Queen of the Damned
was brought to life. With a modern cast but a
taste of what the ancients look like and act like.

(18:16):
This movie showed us what modern vampires do to blend
in and pass through the ages. Lastat is brought to
life by the music coming from his old house and
becomes a rock star unlike any other he's living in
the open. However, now the film shows the pain that
he endured in his life, being made a vampire against

(18:39):
his will, and then having to learn how to exist
after his maker bails because Lestat pulls a big no
no and wakes up a big batty. Something to mention
is they don't have to ask to enter anywhere, which
all these modern movie flicks I have noticed so far.

(19:00):
It's just something that hasn't shown up yet. Shortly after
Queen of the Damned becomes a big film in the
vampire genre, the Underworld Vampire Universe takes off. In two
thousand and three, we get another action packed vampire film. Now,
Selene the lead isn't trying to suppress anything this time

(19:22):
like Blade did. She's what they call a death dealer,
and she's armed with a super sexy pair of auto
agent keys, and she's on a mission to snuff out
Lichen aka were wolves. To me, this is the first
time they get this battle right. They stay close to

(19:43):
the vampires as aristocratic and the Lichen are cut rough
and i'll say kind of scummy. But this time they
are tough. They are not these little wimpy you know pups.
They really are mean. The twist here is that now
we have a love story and a hybrid that happens

(20:04):
in the movie. This is now a time when the
hybrid has the strength and body of a Lichen but
is also a vampire and a new look now next
in two thousand and sevens Thirty Days of Night, which
gave us some of this kind of the most brutal
vampires in modern history. It showed us a small town

(20:26):
plunged into an endless polar night and a horde of
feral vampires who descend like predators. These vampires aren't suave
or seductive. They're hunters, animalistic. Their language is guttural, their
teeth are jagged, and their violence is unflinching. This film

(20:48):
pulled vampires out of the gothic castles and into survival mode.
No romance here, just primal fear. It reminded audiences that
at their core, vampires are monsters. Just one year later
we got the complete other side of the spectrum and
everything changed. I have a feeling you guys know where

(21:10):
I might be going with this. Enter Twilight. Love it
or hate it. The franchise redefined vampires for an entire generation,
even if it was wrong in my opinion. Suddenly they
weren't monsters. They were moody, beautiful immortals with perfect cheekbones
and glittery skin. There were bad vampires in there, but

(21:33):
they still had this very polished appearance. Instead of stalking
prey in the shadows, these vampires attended high school, fell
in love with humans, and yes, sparkled in the sun.
While horror fans groaned like myself, Twilight introduced as softer,
romanticized vampire, one that spoke to themes of eternal love,

(21:55):
self control, and identity. It made vampires mainstream, not just frightening,
but desirable. In two thousand and eight, Twilight exploded onto
the scene, and suddenly vampires weren't just tragic lovers. They
were high school crushes. The Cullen family turned the myth
upside down. Vampires who sparkled in the sun, lived on

(22:19):
animal blood and tried to blend into suburban life. Critics
mocked it, fans adored it, and either way it made
over three million dollars at the box office. So vampires
had gone mainstream for a whole new generation. By twenty fourteen,
the pendulum swung back towards darkness, but with a twist,

(22:39):
Dracula Untold attempted to give us the origin story of
the most famous vampire. Instead of a purely evil count,
we got a sympathetic prince Vladi Impaler who makes a
tragic choice to protect his people. Here, vampism is both
a curse and a sacrifice. The film blends superhero style

(23:02):
action with gothic lore, trying to humanize Dracula while still
keeping him powerful and dangerous. It's part tragedy, part action epic,
and it shows how Hollywood was starting to merge horror
mythology with blockbuster storytelling. Now fast forward again to twenty

(23:22):
twenty four Now, personally, I feel the vampire genre and
story had really gotten just It lost its way, and
up until now I simply could not find a reason
to see a vampire film. Then heard about Nosferatu the remake, Right,
I not only wanted to see this done in modern day,

(23:44):
but I came out of the shadows myself to see
it at the theater on my birthday. Now, those who
know me, I really don't like going to the theater.
There's too many humans and they don't behave so big
deal that I wanted to go. Now, nothing says posts
Christmas Slump like a grotesque and gorgeous era film, in
my opinion. Now a modern reimagining of the nineteen twenty

(24:08):
two classic, this version pulls vampires back into that gothic horror.
Gone are the sparkles and superhero battles. This is all
about atmosphere, shadows, obsession, and again I use the word
grotesque because they really used that when it came to

(24:29):
Count Warlock. Like the original noes Frautu, it portrays vampirism
as plague and corruption. It's not sexy, it's unsettling, and
in an era of sleek CGI monsters, the film's commitment
to dread and gothic aesthetic feels like a chilling reminder
of why vampire scared us in the first place. They

(24:51):
went for it with this one. It's how I would
imagine a creature that could not die would look like,
to be honest, Maggot's mice, a body riddled with wounds
in a wardrobe that is moth eaten from the era
from which the creature was created. Then, just six months
later another film was slated for the cinema, and this

(25:14):
one mister Creep and I went on opening day. So
two films at the theater. Now this one, The Sinners.
The film presents vampires not in castles or fairy tales,
but in gritty realism. These aren't aristocrats or supernatural warriors.

(25:35):
They are grounded, dirty and struggling. Now vampirism becomes a
metaphor for addiction, poverty, and cycles of violence. A strange
thing to note is that of all the vampire isms,
the writer brings back the oldest rule that the vampire
has to be invited in or it may not enter,

(25:59):
which becomes a turning point in the crescendo of the film.
They also introduced this salivation that occurs reminiscent of a
dog drooling when they know that a meal is coming.
Is very strange, but it was again another change to
the vampire itself. Now, Sinners as a far cry from

(26:21):
Twilight's romantic ideals or Dracula Untold's mythic heroism, but instead
Sinners roots the vampire myth into day's anxieties, how hunger, depression,
and survival can corrupt. So looking at this timeline, you know,
everything that we've gone over here, we can see a

(26:43):
pattern of kind of what's happening now. In the nineteen
twenties and the nineteen thirties, vampires are monsters of fear,
you know, vampires as plague, death and foreign threat. In
the fifties and the set to the seventies, they're monsters
of desire. You get a lot of that. There's a
lot going on in the real world. So they are gothic, erotic,

(27:03):
you know, tied to repressed sexuality and counterculture. In the
eighties and the nineties, you get the monsters of cool.
You know, they're stylish, tragic, rebellious. They're aligned with youth
culture and that existential angst of that time period. Now
the two thousands, where you get the Blade in the Underworld,

(27:25):
these are monsters of action. You get supernatural warriors kind
of in blockbuster cinemas, back to back that from two
thousand and eight to twenty twelve. This is really kind
of the Twilight era, the monsters of fantasy. Twilight turned
them into these romantic idols. Now in the twenty twenties,
they're more like monsters of reflection. Nosforatu and Centers show

(27:48):
a split return to Gothic horror and reinvention as gritty
metaphor for kind of modern struggles. So where does the
vampire go next? The vampire future seems endless. They can
be terrifying, sexy, tragic, hilarious, or even political. They are

(28:08):
really a mirror reflecting the fears and fantasies of each
generation that reimagines them. From Nosferatu's plague bearing shadow to
Bela Lugosi's hypnotic Stare, and even to Kristen Stewart and
Robert Patson's Eternal prom date, vampires have sunk their fangs

(28:30):
deep into cinema history. They've evolved with us, feeding on
our anxieties, our desires, and our imaginations, and if history
is any guide, they'll keep evolving as long as stories
are told in the dark. But thanks for joining me
today for this blood soaked journey through the silver screen

(28:52):
with the discussion on the evolution of vampires in film. Now,
if you enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget to subscribe if
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You know, we got to get this out to the masses.

(29:14):
There's lots of people who enjoy vampires as much as
I do, so I want to make sure you know,
share that with your friends. And until next time, watch
your neck, creeps, and I'll catch you next time right
here on Creepy Confidential.