For over 100 years, the best vampire movies of all time have instilled audiences with a sense of romantic, melancholic dread, intense sensual lust, and a fantastical sense of gothic wonder as they sit in theaters and watch these devastating creatures of the night do their bidding. The best vampire movies masterfully blend romance and terror to create a feeling of everlasting life, love, and lust to send chills down the spines of moviegoers across the globe. As time has gone by, however, the vampire film has grown to encompass not just lust and terror, but, action, adventure, war, science fiction, and even comedy. With such a lush and everlasting catalog of films to choose from, this of course raises the question, what is the best vampire movie of all time?
With gothic dramas like Bram Stroker's Dracula,Interview With the Vampire, and Let the Right One In to terrifying tales of blood lust and carnage in films like 30 Days of Night and From Dusk Till Dawn to hilarious horror comedies like What We Do in the Shadows and Fright Night, the wide array of vampire movies range into every single genre, with each being holistically unique, special, and masterfully crafted. Lest we forget to mention the masterpieces that started it all with Dracula and Nosferatu, and we have a list of not only some of the best vampire movies of all time but some of the best films ever made.
A beautiful blend of thrills, horror, humor, and phenomenal style, The Lost Boys is the quintessential vampire film for both newcomers to the subgenre and those who are seasoned vets. With a fast-paced and wicked story wrapped in classic 80s angst and style, The Lost Boys leaves audiences with a story they won't ever forget and introduces some of the most beloved and revered vampires of all time to the movie-going world.
You're a Creature of the Night, Michael. Just like out of a comic book.
Actors: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes, Edward Herrmann
Utterly brutal in every sense of the word, 30 Days of Night gives a new look to Vampires, as the sensual and lust-filled creatures are replaced by ravenous blood-soaked creatures of the night who hunt and kill like wild animals. An adaptation of the comic of the same name, 30 Days of Night is a shocking and utterly brutal film that will have any vampire fans question if they ever want to get bitten by these creatures of the night.
When man meets a force he can't destroy, he destroys himself. What a plague you are.
Actors: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, Mark Boone
After decades of campy, cheesy, and downright horrific interpretations of the story, Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stroker's Dracula returns to the stories roots and gives audiences one of the most intense, endearing, sensual, and gothic adaptations the story has ever known. Gary Oldman's portrayal of the titular Dracula is one of the greatest on-screen performances of the Vampiric icon to date, and this groundbreaking gothic fantasy helped reinvigorate the horror genre.
Listen to them: the children of the night. What sweet music they make.
Actors: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Richard E. Grant
A heartbreaking love story between a young vampire and a boy, Let the Right One In flips the vampire genre on its head and mixes the lust-filled joy of the genre with brutal scares and magnificent storytelling. Sinister, gorgeous, and compelling as any love story that ever way, Let the Right One In is a terrifying and heart-wrenching tale of love, and the irreparable damage it can cause.
I'm twelve. But I've been twelve for a long time
Actors: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist
Combining spine-chilling thrills with side-splitting humor, Tom Holland made a masterful blend of horror and classic 80s John Huges-esque style to create a masterpiece of a vampire film with Fright Night. Showcasing some of the most original and frightening vampires of the 80s, Fright Night perfectly blends humor with horror and creates an incredibly good time at the cinema.
He got me, Charley! He bit me! You know what you're gonna have to do now, don't you? Kill me. Kill me, Charley... before I turn into a vampire, and... give you a hickey!
Actors: Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Amanda Bearse, Stephen Geoffreys
A gothic aesthetic, a pulp-infused action horror story, and loads of leather-wearing vampires gave audiences one of their favorite vampire franchises of all time with Underworld. Kate Beckinsale shines as Selene, a vampire hunting down the last of the Lycans in this wonderful action film that oozes charm, charisma, and gothic sensibilities.
Whether you like it or not, you're in the middle of a war that has been raging for the better part of a thousand years. A blood feud between vampires and lycans. Werewolves.
Actors: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Michael Sheen, Shane Brolly, Bill Nighy
