Even In 2018, Filmgoers Are In The Thrall Of Vampires

Vampires haven't really gone anywhere, but 2018 marks ten years since an important resurgence in the genre. 2008 brought us the first Twilight film and the first season of True Blood. Of course, Twilight and True Blood focused less on the horror aspect of vampire lore and more on the romance. Many people criticized the former for bending the "rules", but why shouldn't vampires sparkle? This extremely odd choice for a vampire trait should be embraced for its ridiculousness and not ridiculed for altering something that was never even real.When contemplating the question of what makes the living dead so appealing, there's no doubt that people are enticed by the concept of living forever without aging or consequence. While some people do have blood fetishes, a vampire's diet is mostly inconsequential when it comes to what makes them appealing. First and foremost, they're sexy. They're almost always portrayed as being beautiful and enthralling. Most vampire shows and movies, no matter the genre, have an erotic flavor to them.Many people seem very drawn the the human-vampire relationship. When the fourth Twilight book was released, bookstores had midnight release parties that featured polls asking patrons if they thought Bella would be turned into a vampire.People are suckers (pun-intended, sorry) for that everlasting love and they were not disappointed by Breaking Dawn's outcome (in the romantic sense, but the lack of a real confrontation/battle was universally disappointing). The idea that someone would choose to "die" in order to be with the person they love forever would be horribly creepy in any other circumstance, but it seems to resonate here, despite the additional appetite for blood.In any regular love story, even the most successful romantic outcome will inevitably end in death (can you imagine if Peter Kavinsky was immortal?). Which brings us to the more tragic vampire/human romance: when the human half is unable or unwilling to become a vampire, for example, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.Buffy being turned isn't a viable option: 1. It's her sworn duty to kill vampires. 2. In that universe, vampires don't have souls, which isn't appealing to a superhero. People still root for Buffy and Angel or Buffy and Spike, though. You'll find very few fans out there rooting for Riley, Buffy's only human steady.While a lot of the newer vampire stories focus on love, many older classics focused their energy on sex. The Hunger, starring David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve, and Susan Sarandon is one of the sexiest movies ever made, vampire or no. The tantalizing Tony Scott film focuses on the love triangle between a doctor and two vampires and it is STEAMY.Of all the classic horror creatures, vampires have always had a sexual edge to them, which is an odd choice history has made, but one we're happy to embrace.

One of the greatest vampire movies of the last decade is Only Lovers Left Alive, a Jim Jarmusch film starring Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston (can you imagine better vampire casting than those two?). This is a slow-moving, visually stunning, and unique look at a couple who has been together for generations and must deal with the depressing state of the world and its destruction by the "zombies" (humans).Let The Right One, the Swedish horror from 2008, is the best example of a vampire movie that balances big scares with big drama. It even had a fairly decent American remake in Let Me In. While unique for being one of the few sexless vampire movies, it's still romantic, but in a very different way from the vampire norm.A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which is described as a "Persian-language American vampire western" was a unique addition to the genre in 2014. It's slow, methodical, and beautifully acted by Sheila Vand. If you didn't leave that movie wanting to be a skateboarding vampire, you're a lost cause.