I am not a big fan of horror. I don’t like anything that is over-the-top creepy or gory. In general, zombies, vampires, and werewolves are OK; witches, ghosts, and serial killers are not. I’ve been watching all my favorite vampire movies this month. Maybe I’ll do a werewolf theme next October. In no particular order, here are my blood-sucking faves:
“Only Lovers Left Alive,” 2013. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton play Adam and Eve, a centuries-old vampire couple trying to get by in the 21st century. I really love this film; it is beautiful and philosophical, and sort of slow. This is not an action movie. It’s a mood. You have to let it wash over you. The film is directed by Jim Jarmusch, and also stars Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Jeffrey Wright, and Anton Yelchin.
“Interview with the Vampire,” 1994. I had a phase of being very obsessed with Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles in the ’90s and I watched this way too many times. I remember the outrage of Tom Cruise being cast as bratty vampire Lestat, but he turned out to be perfect for the role. (Director Neil Jordan said Cruise “had an icy quality to him,” which pretty much sums up the great casting here.) Brad Pitt plays the long-suffering Louis de Pointe du Lac, Lestat’s BFF? Life partner? I actually wrote a paper on this movie in one of my college film classes but that’s a story for another time. Kirsten Dunst plays their “daughter” Claudia, and Christian Slater is the interviewer.
“What We Do in the Shadows,” 2014. I’m talking about the movie here, and not the spin-off series, which I did not finish. Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi star in this mockumentary-style vampire comedy, in which the two share a flat with other vampires in New Zealand. Rhys Darby plays a werewolf. “Don’t swear. We’re werewolves, not swear wolves!” Good stuff.
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” 1992. This movie’s popularity was also eclipsed by its spin-off series, but I prefer the film version, starring Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry, David Arquette, Paul Reubens, Hilary Swank, Rutger Hauer, and Donald Sutherland. It may not stand the test of time like some others on this list, but it will always have a special place in my heart. I love Perry and Arquette, and Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) is hilarious. He reprised his vampire role in the episode “The Trial” of the TV version of “What We Do in the Shadows” (as did Swinton from the aforementioned “Only Lovers Left Alive”).
“The Lost Boys,” 1987. This is another one that I watched repeatedly when it came out. Kiefer Sutherland is the leader of a gang of teen vampires in fictional Santa Carla, where divorced mom Lucy (Dianne Wiest) has just moved with her sons Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim). Alerting Sam to the vampire pandemic plaguing their town are the Frog brothers, Edgar and Alan (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander), self-proclaimed vampire hunters he meets in a comic book shop. I described this to my daughter as “set in modern times” (in comparison to “Interview” which is set mostly in the 1800s), and when it started, she said, “This isn’t modern times.” It has come to my attention that 1987 was almost 40 years ago. Yikes.
“Twilight,” 2008. I find these movies, all five of them, incredibly and hilariously cheesy, but that’s part of their charm. My sister and I watched all of them when they came out and were shushed in the theater by more serious fans. I recently introduced my daughter to “Twilight,” and we are carrying on the tradition of mocking such lines as, “Where the hell have you been, loca?” The dialogue is laughably bad, and the plot is nonsensical. Why would someone who is 104 years old attend high school? It’s just one of the many absurdities in the saga of Bella (Kristen Stewart), Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner). You may think of this franchise as romance, but it’s really comedy (does it count as comedy if it’s unintentionally funny?) and also horror. After all, what could be scarier than a 17-year-old girl coerced into a love triangle with not one, but two controlling men – one of whom can barely resist the urge to drink her like she’s a beer at a frat party, and is 87 years her senior? Classic horror, I tell you. Run away, Bella! Don’t go in the house! Do not go upstairs!
What are your favorite old vampire movies? “Dracula”? “Blade”? “The Hunger”? “Fright Night”? The newest vampire flick on my list is 12 years old. What are some newer ones that I should watch? Tell me in the comments!
(Here’s one of my vampire costumes – many, many Halloweens ago!)
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