Fangs, blood, and immortality are the three main ingredients with most vampires. The bloodsuckers have been around for hundreds of years in the form of books, plays, songs, television, and film. Everything from the original Dracula to the teen horror-comedy The Lost Boys, vampires are as popular as ever and continue to deliver new folklore and mythology to these undead creatures.
The movie box office also loves its vampiric friends as the big tentpole franchise vampire movies have grossed billions of dollars over the years. With every blockbuster vampire film though, there are a dozen lesser-known fanged movies that are completely worthy and excellent that have flown under the radar. Here are the 10 best vampire movies that deserve more attention.
10 Eat Locals
Eat Locals is a British vampire horror-comedy from 2017 that mixes Dog Soldiers and Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels in the best ways. There's even a heavy dose of actors from Guy Ritchie movies involved, including actor/director Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher. A un-blind Charlie Cox even shows up here as a small group of vampires hole up in a small rural English village in order to transform a human to their vampire family, but the military shows up and a Mexican Standoff ensues. Blood, guts, bullets, and an old granny with an anti-aircraft gun can be expected in this thrilling, original, and funny film.
9 The Nightwatchmen
A combination of an Edgar Wright film and a vulgar Seth Rogen comedy comes The Nightwatchmen from 2017 that is raunchy, gory, and full of enough toilet and pot humor for two films. The Nightwatchmen in question are a few security guards who decide to let a wrong delivery stay the night at their warehouse, which is a coffin housing a beloved television clown. Turns out, the clown is a sadistic vampire with 28 Days Later type speed who bites and infects everyone at the building. The result is a hilarious and super fun action-horror romp that will conjure up big gross-out moments and huge belly laughs.
8 The Transfiguration
One of the best vampire films of the last decade comes in the form of this small budget indie drama called The Transfiguration. It's subtle with its horror genre and explores other societal issues that are taking place in Baltimore.
This film is like a two-part episode of HBO's The Wire, but with a little kid vampire who doesn't have an avenue to go down or someone to talk with about his state with the exception of one teenage girl who helps him out when needed. The parallels and symbolism that are drawn in this setting are uncanny and brilliant in every element of film-making. This vampire film is a must-see.
7 Habit
In 1997, horror maestro Larry Fessenden made a quaint vampire film called Habit that took the indie world by storm. The vampire genre sits in the background here that follows a man named Sam (Fessenden) who has been dealt a terrible hand in life. On top of that, a severe drinking problem exacerbates things constantly. One evening, Sam meets a lady on Halloween night and, come the next morning, he has a strange scar. Next thing you know, Sam is having vampire-like traits and tries to get his life back together. It's a completely original take on the genre and one that feels very relatable for anyone dealing with addiction and depression.
6 Twixt
The filmmaker who delivered The Godfather and Apocalypse Now to the big screen made a little known vampire film in 2011 called Twixt. Francis Ford Coppola experimented with nightmarish imagery and a popular visual style to bring Twixt to life, which has aged well over the past decade.
Starring a fit Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, and Elle Fanning, the story follows a once successful horror writer who enters a small town when he begins to have nightmare visions of vampires that might bleed over into real life. With nuanced, dry performances and a Sin City visual palette, Coppola tried for different and it worked.
5 Thirst
Legendary Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park who made Oldboy and The Handmaiden, journeyed into vampire lore with Thirst. A lot of vampire films deal with the romantic angle in these creatures, which Park does here, but in a completely different way.
The film focuses on a priest who is part of a medical experiment in order to cure a fatal disease but ends up turning into a vampire with a thirst-quenching taste for blood. There is also a unique love triangle he's navigating while witnessing people's necks breaking and bloody being sipped up by the newly transformed. It's original and perfect.
4 Pale Blood
This vampire-centric film was made for television in 1990 and was a distinctive and superb look into the world of vampires. If that's not enough, the film starred Wings Hauser. The film plays out like Se7en featuring David Fincher as a detective investigating a serial killer and their murders that are happening quite often. The strange thing is that each murder looks like a vampire was responsible. It turns out that this mythic figure might be in fact a very real threat. The suspense and noir quality of Pale Blood are outstanding.
3 Moon Child
The 2003 Japanese film Moon Child (no relation to The Neverending Story princess), is a phenomenal story about two vampire friends trying to survive in turbulent times. Starring real-life punk rockers Gackt and Hyde, the story centers around their friendship and the relationships they make over the course of many years. What this film looks at more importantly is how lonely and sad the life of a vampire could be, watching loved ones perish and die through the years, begging the question if being immortal is a good option.
2 Afflicted
The 2013 Canadian horror film Afflicted hit upon the found footage genre with this vampire tale, which was intense, scary, and had a few original elements in its storytelling. The movie follows a pair of childhood friends who plan a big excursion around the world, visiting a ton of foreign locales to film their travel web series. Early on into the journey, one ends up bloodied somehow. Soon after that, symptoms get worse and the vampire traits rear their ugly head across the globe. It's a frightening situation and well made for a found footage horror film.
1 The Shed
This 2020 vampire horror film called The Shed has some great moments of horror, gore, and throwbacks to older vampire movies while trying to pass a modern message about bullying. Two teen friends who have been bullied their whole lives at home and in school find a vampire in the backyard shed, where they start luring their tormentors and abusers to be eaten and killed in spectacular fashion. It's silly, cheesy, and little on-the-nose, but it makes its mark in the vampire genre, even if it goes full Lost Boys at the end.
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