Are there any more scary vampires left?

Nosferatu 1922 Film

Whatever has happened to the really scary vampires?  You remember.  The ones that made you afraid to walk home alone at night after a vampire movie.  It seems those days are over.  Instead of being afraid of vampires, we are in love with them.

I’m not talking about vampires that tear people apart.  The movies and TV are full of those.  I’m talking about the mysterious, dark creatures that even the servants are afraid of.

Have we been bombarded with so many stories about vampires that we no longer fear them?  Do we simply know too much about them to be afraid?  As they say, you fear what you don’t understand, and unless you live under a rock, you have at least heard about all the vampire hit movies and TV shows that have come out over the past years.

Where is my suspense, my edge of the seat drama waiting to see the mysterious evil creature?  Now day’s vampires come off as the good guys, not as creatures that used to haunt our dreams.  Have we become so desensitized that vampires not longer scare us?  I can’t think of a single modern vampire, good or bad that really comes to mind that I think is scary.

Now if you saw the movie ‘Signs’, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, you saw the aliens at the most 4 times in the entire movie. The scene at a children’s birthday party where the alien simply walked past the screen was hailed by many critics as one of the most thrilling and scariest scenes that year.  The timing was perfect as we looked out the window, down an ally, yet all the alien did was walk past the screen and people jumped out of their seats.

Now with regards to vampires, it seems that Hollywood has run out of ideas.  In the movie Underworld, Rise of the Lycans, you see a vampire and a Lycan fall in love.  And the Twilight Saga is basically nothing but a love story between a vampire and a human.

And don’t get me started about ‘True Blood’.  Nothing but campy stories where all the woman talk like truck drivers.  Its sex, blood, without the rock and roll.  No fun at all.  Indeed it seems we have lost our fear of vampires.

So when did we stop fearing vampires and start loving them?  Some would say it started with the 1931 movie, ‘Dracula’.  Personally I think it really started with the 1994 classic, ‘Interview with the Vampire’, and in 1998 I think men started to like vampires because of the movie, ‘Blade’, with Wesley Snipes.  The half vampire, half human that could really kick butt.

However the 1992 remake of ‘Dracula’ that starred Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Keanu Reeves, still portrayed Dracula as the bad guy, but we also saw someone who was in pain due to losing the love of his life.  I’m sure there were many that felt sorry for him in the end.

Each of these movies showed vampires with human emotions.  Not as bloodthirsty evil creatures that haunted our dreams so many years ago.

So unless Hollywood can come up with a new type of vampire that can somehow put the fear back into us, I’m afraid the scary vampire is gone for good.  However, if you want to read a story with a different twist on the vampire story, I invite you to read my book, ‘Faith of a Vampire’.  It won’t give you nightmares, but I promise you will enjoy the ride.

(You know I had to plug my book in here somewhere)

Cheers all,

Mark