The Vampire Films Mini-List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Project)

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#101 Post by **Matt** » Sun Apr 19, 2026 11:49 pm

I think I’ve got 12 ballots in, so this will be a “real” list. You all have until I rise from my coffin tomorrow to submit any last-minute ballots or changes.

colinr0380 · #102 Post by **colinr0380** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 8:27 am

With apologies to Hammer, Universal and Jean Rollin, I found that my list went very 80s heavy, which probably makes sense for such a fashion and style-oriented decade to have been perfect for showcasing the most varied and interesting takes on the most elegant of all monsters (plus of course the drop-out vagrant-grunge chic of the Near Dark gang!)

Dr Amicus · #103 Post by **Dr Amicus** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 9:09 am

I had no Universal, quite a bit of Hammer, and a token Amicus (I felt it was expected…)

#104 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 1:32 pm

I kept myself to a single Universal (I prefer their Frankenstein films anyway) and two Hammers, just so I’d have room for other interesting things.

colinr0380 · #105 Post by **colinr0380** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 2:56 pm

Also, given that we just had Neil Jordan's The Crying Game announced, I could not vote for his recent vampire film Byzantium because unfortunately it is still trapped in my to watch pile!

#106 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 3:28 pm

I doubt you’d have voted for it. It’s fine. Nothing stands out about it, but it’s diverting enough.

therewillbeblus · Mon Apr 20, 2026 3:31 pm

I don't think I have any 40s or 50s representation on my list

#108 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 3:50 pm

Horror and Sci-Fi are the only genres I can think of where I don't generally prefer outputs from the studio era. Maybe there's something inherent in these kinds of source materials that calls out for more freedoms of expression or special effects

#109 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 4:54 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:I don't think I have any 40s or 50s representation on my list

I have one from the 50s and nothing from the 40s. But that’s easy to account for: the best vampire films from Universal were in the 30s, with the 40s mostly being third-generation sequels and mashups. Hammer didn’t start doing vampire films until 58, so the majority of their output comes in the 60s and 70s.

So 1940 - 1957 is just that fallow period between the golden age of Universal horror and Hammer’s revivification of Universal. And Italian horror didn’t take off until the end of the 50s with Freda and Bava (was it influenced by Hammer or is that a coincidence?)

TechnicolorAcid · Mon Apr 20, 2026 5:06 pm

domino harvey wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2026 3:50 pm Horror and Sci-Fi are the only genres I can think of where I don't generally prefer outputs from the studio era. Maybe there's something inherent in these kinds of source materials that calls out for more freedoms of expression or special effects

I agree with you but the studio era did manage to create one of the best horror movies of all time with The Bride of Frankenstein so there’s at least that.

Dr Amicus · #111 Post by **Dr Amicus** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 5:38 pm

The Browning Dracula was a tempting addition, mainly for the opening scenes and Lugosi, but just missed the grade. I have a soft spot for Mark of the Vampire, mainly because of the genuinely unnerving appearance of Lugosi out of the mist and then back again, but it missed out as well.

thirtyframesasecond · Mon Apr 20, 2026 8:58 pm

I don't think I voted for anything out of the ordinary but there are two sexy vampires in space films.

#113 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 10:04 pm

Lifeforce and…?

therewillbeblus · Mon Apr 20, 2026 10:40 pm

I was wondering if they were counting Planet of the Vampires, though I wouldn't

Lowry_Sam · #115 Post by **Lowry_Sam** » Mon Apr 20, 2026 11:17 pm

therewillbeblus wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2026 10:40 pm I was wondering if they were counting Planet of the Vampires, though I wouldn't

We discussed it earlier & on the assumption that someone else would be voting for it, I couldn't resist not voting for it, though it was not my highest charting 60s Italian film.

I didn't end up catching up with any of the Hammer films. I think I'm alone here, but there's something about growing up in the 70s that I've never been able to warm to them. Saturday tv was always filled with Hammer films, but they always felt too artificial for me to ever become very engaged. For nostalgia & atmosphere, I've always preferred classic black & white horror, and for more realistic & grislier/grittier horror the films that the 70s was producing always fit the bill much better. I was going to use this as a chance to revisit Hammer, but just didn't have the time.

Another way I'm sure my list will diverge from others (and surprises me) there's only one film from the 80s....and its at #20.

therewillbeblus · Mon Apr 20, 2026 11:36 pm

Lowry_Sam wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2026 11:17 pm
therewillbeblus wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2026 10:40 pm I was wondering if they were counting Planet of the Vampires, though I wouldn't
We discussed it earlier & on the assumption that someone else would be voting for it, I couldn't resist not voting for it.

Oh I voted for it too, movie rules. I just don’t think it qualifies as sexy

#117 Post by **Matt** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 12:35 am

The Vampire Films Mini-List — Results

1. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (Murnau, 1921) 173 / 12 / 2
2. Vampyr (Dreyer, 1932) 159 / 10 / 1
3. Nosferatu the Vampyre (Herzog, 1979) 153 / 9 / 3
4. Martin (Romero, 1977) 112 / 8 / 1
5. Horror of Dracula (Fisher, 1958) 112 / 8 / 1
6. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jireš, 1970) 104 / 7
7. The Addiction (Ferrara, 1995) 103 / 7 / 1
8. Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987) 95 / 7
9. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jarmusch, 2013) 76 / 5 / 1
10. Black Sunday (Bava, 1960) 67 / 5 / 1
11. Let The Right One In (Alfredson, 2008) 62 / 6
12. Fright Night (Holland, 1985) 60 / 5
13. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Coppola, 1992) 58 / 5
14. Brides of Dracula (Fisher, 1960) 57 / 4
15. Dracula: Pages From A Virgin's Diary (Maddin, 2002) 55 / 5
16. Trouble Every Day (Denis, 2001) 55 / 5
17. Dracula (Browning, 1931) 53 / 5
18. Daughters of Darkness (Kumel, 1971) 52 / 4
19. Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola, 2011) 51 / 3
20. Fascination (Rollin, 1979) 49 / 5

KEY: Film / Points / # of Ballots / #1 Placements

Also-rans

Lifeforce (Hooper, 1985) 46 / 4
Fearless Vampire Killers, The (Polanski, 1967) 45 / 4 / 1
Innocent Blood (Landis, 1992) 45 / 4
Salem's Lot (Hooper, 1979) 42 / 3
Planet Of The Vampires (Bava, 1965) 41 / 4
Mr. Vampire (Lau, 1985) 38 / 3
Black Sabbath (Bava, 1963) 36 / 3
30 Days of Night (Slade, 2007) 35 / 3
Cronos (del Toro, 1992) 34 / 5
Nadja (Almereyda, 1994) 33 / 2
Vampire's Kiss (Bierman, 1989) 33 / 3 / 1
Blood For Dracula (Morrissey, 1974) 32 / 3
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Hancock, 1971) 31 / 2
El Vampiro (Méndez, 1957) 29 / 3
Lost Boys (Schumacher, 1987) 28 / 3 / 1
Vampir-Cuadecuc (Portabella, 1971) 27 / 2
Shadow of the Vampire (Merhige, 2000) 26 / 2
The Hunger (Scott, 1983) 25 / 3
Interview With A Vampire (Jordan, 1994) 24 / 3
Resurrection (Bi Gan, 2025) 23 / 2
Dracula (Jude, 2025) 18 / 2
Taste the Blood of Dracula (Sasdy, 1970) 17 / 2
Twins of Evil (Hough, 1971) 17 / 2
Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin / Gillett, 2024) 16 / 2
Story of My Death (Serra, 2013) 14 / 2
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (Amirpour, 2014) 12 / 2
Rabid (Cronenberg, 1977) 12 / 2
Thirst (Park, 2009) 11 / 2

Les orphelines vampires

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Barton, 1948)
As Long as You've Got Your Health (Étaix, 1966)
Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire (Alan Clarke, 1985)
Blacula (Crain, 1972)
Bliss (Begos, 2019)
Blood and Roses (Vadim, 1960)
Byzantium, (Jordan, 2012)
Castle Of Blood (Margheriti, 1964)
Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Hung, 1980)
Doctor Sleep (Flanagan, 2019)
Drácula (Melford, 1931)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (Fisher, 1966)
Ferat Vampire (Herz, 1982)
Ganja and Hess (Gunn, 1973)
Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell (Satō, 1968)
Hotel Transylvania (Tartakovsky, 2012)
The House that Dripped Blood (Duffell, 1971)
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Louis-Seize, 2023)
I Am Legend (Lawrence, 2007)
Immoral Tales [Elizabeth Bathory section] (Borowczyk, 1973)
The Keep, The (Mann, 1983)
Lair Of The White Worm (Russell, 1988)
Last Vampire on Earth (Versace, 2009)
Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (Richard Blackburn, 1973)
London After Midnight (Browning, 1927)
Maciste contro il vampiro (Gentilomo / Corbucci, 1961)
The Mark of Lilith (Fonda et al, 1986)
The Mark of the Vampire (Browning, 1935)
Marty Supreme (Safdie, 2025)
Night Watch (Bekmambetov, 2004)
Nightmares (Herz, 1970)
Ravenous (Bird, 1999)
Renfield (McKay, 2023)
The She-Butterfly [Leptirica] (Kadijevic, 1973)
Shiver of the Vampires (Rollin, 1971)
Sinners (Coogler, 2025)
Son of Dracula (R. Siodmak, 1943)
Two Orphan Vampires (Rollin, 1997)
Vamp (Wenk, 1986)
Vampire Circus (Young, 1972)
Vampire Hunter D (Ashida, 1985)
Vampire Lovers (Baker, 1970)
Vampires (Carpenter, 1998)
I Vampiri (Riccardo Freda, 1957)
Vampiros en La Habana (Padrón, 1985)
Le Vourdalak (Beau, 2023)
What We Do in the Shadows (Clement / Waititi, 2014)

Thanks to everybody who participated!

Lowry_Sam · #118 Post by **Lowry_Sam** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 12:43 am

My #1 & #2 match & #3 is in my top 10, that's a first! Of course the rest of the list isn't close.

Thanks!

#119 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 3:05 am

Black Sunday is vampires? I thought it was witches. Surprised it made it on the list over Black Sabbath.

#120 Post by **domino harvey** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 3:10 am

No the Lost Boys? We lost, boys

#121 Post by **zedz** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 3:43 am

My list was (with successful votes bolded):

1. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013) - Yes, it's a vampire movie, but it tops my list because it's the best film I've ever seen about maintaining a long-term relationship.
2. Resurrection (Bi Gan, 2025) - The feature-length vampire section of this is one of the most spectacular pieces of 21st century filmmaking so far. And the rest of the film ain't too shabby either.
3. Cuadecuc, Vampir (Pere Portabella, 1971) - The best 'straight' Dracula adaptation, even though it's not particularly straight.
4. Vampyr (Carl Dreyer, 1932)
5. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922) - Both of these hoary old classics are way more uncanny and unnerving than most modern, or modern-er, horror movies.
6. Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001) - One of the weaker films in Denis' amazing run from the early 90s through the late 00s, but as a horror movie, and specifically a vampire movie, it's shudderingly visceral.
7. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jires, 1970) - There's so much packed into this striking film that I needed to be reminded it was also a vampire movie.
8. What We Do in the Shadows (Jemaine Clement / Taika Waititi, 2014) - No takers for this astonishing rarity: a genuinely funny horror comedy?
9. Nosferatu (Werner Herzog, 1979) - Despite Adjani being as dead a weight here as she is in everything else, Kinski and Herzog manage to make this one of the most skin-crawling renditions of the Dracula tale.
10. Immoral Tales (Elizabeth Bathory section) (Walerian Borowczyk, 1973) - More vampire films should be this lush and perverse.
11. Story of My Death (Albert Serra, 2013) - Serra's conceit - Casanova meets Dracula - is a neat conceptual gag on both the myth of Dracula as ultimate seducer and the legacy of Casanova as compulsive name-dropper. Surely the "oh, and did I tell you about the time I met Count Dracula?" chapter of Histoire de ma vie was left out purely by oversight? Again, this isn't my favourite Serra, but it's great to see a completely different kind of Dracula film.
12. The Addiction (Abel Ferrara, 1995) - Easily the best of the 'vampirism as metaphor' films.
13. Martin (George Romero, 1978)
14. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (Guy Maddin, 2002)
15. Ganja and Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)

It occurs to me that numbers 11 through 15 are the "so, what else can you do with a vampire film" section of my list. After this I really started running out of vampire films that I even liked any more than tepidly. Next would probably have been Let the Right One In, which is a film I haven't even thought about since I saw it on release.

Lowry_Sam · #122 Post by **Lowry_Sam** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 4:38 am

Mr Sausage wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 3:05 am Black Sunday is vampires? I thought it was witches. Surprised it made it on the list over Black Sabbath.

There are so many films (especially from the 60s) that crossed that vague territory between vampire and zombie or vampire and witch that I would just use Google to settle the matter:

Yes, Black Sunday (1960)—also known as The Mask of Satan or Revenge of the Vampire—is a classic Italian Gothic horror film heavily featuring vampire, witch, and undead tropes. Directed by Mario Bava, it features a vengeful witch (Barbara Steele) who is resurrected centuries later to drain the blood and life force of her descendant to regain her youth and power.

The film was released in some regions as Revenge of the Vampire.

Moreover, I usually enjoyed these much more than those that adhere to the standard vampire tropes, so I was all too happy to include them.

1. Nosferatu (1922)
2. Vampyr (1932)
3. Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell
4. Black Sunday
5. Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979)
6. Lair Of The White Worm
7. Salem's Lot (1979)
8. Castle Of Blood
9. London After Midnight
10. El Vampiro (1957)
11. Interview With A Vampire (1994)
12. Dracula (1931)
13. Dracula: Pages From A Virgin's Diary
14. The Fearless Vampire Killers
15. Planet Of The Vampires
16. Blood For Dracula
17. Night Watch (2004)
18. Le Vourdalak
19. Drácula (1931)
20. The Hunger

A few that were considerations for the bottom of the list but ended up getting bumped off by new additions:
Buffy The Vampire (TV series)
I Vampiri
The Lost Boys
Nadja
Kiss Of The Vampire
Vamp
Mr. Vampire

#123 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 12:22 pm

My list. I think just over half made the final list. Plenty of traditional vampire films on it, and two anthologies with a single vampire segment (tho’ each vampire segment is easily the best of their respective anthologies).

1. Nosferatu (Werner Herzog, 1979)
2. Horror of Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1958)
3. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jireš, 1970)
4. Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary (Guy Madden, 2002)
5. Black Sabbath (Mario Bava, 1963)
6. Martin (George A. Romero, 1977)
7. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
8. Dracula (Todd Browning, 1931)
9. Mr. Vampire (Ricky Lau, 1985)
10. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014)
11. The Vampire Lovers (Roy Ward Baker, 1970)
12. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
13. Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001)
14. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize, 2023)
15. Thirst (Park Chan-Wook, 2009)
16. Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow, 1987)
17. Resurrection (Bi Gan, 2025)
18. Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932)
19. Fascination (Jean Rollin, 1979)
20. Bliss (Joe Begos, 2019)

#124 Post by **domino harvey** » Tue Apr 21, 2026 12:58 pm

01 the Lost Boys (Schumacher)
02 Twixt (Coppola)
03 Fright Night (Holland)
04 Innocent Blood (Landis)
05 Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jires)
06 Fascination (Rollin)
07 Nosferatu (Murnau)
08 Lifeforce (Hooper)
09 Near Dark (Bigelow)
10 30 Days of Night (Slade)

therewillbeblus · Tue Apr 21, 2026 1:07 pm

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders would've been much higher on my list had I considered it a true "vampire film"

1. The Addiction
2. Vampyr
3. Twixt
4. Two Orphan Vampires
5. Only Lovers Left Alive
6. Martin
7. Trouble Every Day
8. Vampire’s Kiss
9. Lifeforce
10. Mr. Vampire
11. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
12. Planet of the Vampires
13. Nosferatu (1922)
14. Doctor Sleep
15. Innocent Blood
16. The Lost Boys
17. Fascination
18. Black Sunday
19. Cronos
20. Rabid

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