Evolution of the Vampire

BY ZEP

So with all the Twilight madness sweeping the nation, I thought I'd do a little history lesson to show just how we arrived at the current incarnation of vampire in film.

1921: Nosferatu

One of the earliest vampire films, this was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula, the novel by Bram Stoker. Because Friedrich Murnau made this film illegaly, he changed certain details and names to try and avoid copyright infingement. ("Vampire" became "Nosferatu"). Count Orlok, this movie's version of Dracula, was known for his bony fingers, pale skin, and dark eyes. Contrary to most versions of vampires, he did not suck blood, but rather inflicted plagues and diseases among other things.


1931: Dracula

The official adaptation of Stoker's novel saw Bela Lugosi play the role of the fiendish vampire for the first time. Unlike Nosferatu, Lugosi played the character as a suave but dangerous man. This version of the character became the stereotype for all versions of vampires, with slicked hair, pale skin, fangs, and a cape.




1987: The Lost Boys

Throughout the years there were a slew of vampire films. There were remakes of Dracula (one of the more notable ones starring Christopher Lee), a remake of Nosferatu, comedic spinoffs, and even television series, with Dark Shadows being one of the longer-running ones. However, it wasn't until 1987, when Joel Schumacher (who hadn't yet ruined the Batman series) directed The Lost Boys. Kiefer Sutherland completely reinvented the look of the vampire in the role of David, with punk-rock clothing and a platinum blond crew-cut. The film also inspired a "transformative" look, with the vampires normally resembling humans before changing into monsters with extended fangs and red eyes.

1997: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This show gave vampires a whole new area of exposure. Based on the movie of the same name, Buffy was a long-running TV show that focused on Buffy Summers, a young girl chosen to combat vampires, demons and otherwordly creatures. While Buffy's adventures didn't always have her fighting vampires, she was involved with them in some way or another. The show even had her romantically involved or pseudo-involved with a vampire, the first being Angel, the second being Spike. Buffy ran for a total of seven seasons and was wildly popular, especially since the 90's was considered more of a "romantic age" for vampires.

1998: Blade

Based on the comic books character of the same name, The Blade trilogy brought the action and violence back into the vampire genre. Played by Wesley Snipes, Blade, a vampire hunter, was one hell of a badass and brought down vampires in various bloody ways. Oh, and the vampires had a little bit of action too.

2007: 30 days of Night

Following the trend of Blade, 30 Days of Night was also based on a graphic novel, and saw an even bloodier take on vamps. Giving them sharklike teeth, black eyes, and one hell of a lust for blood.

2008: Twilight

Here we are! Based on Stephanie Meyer's wildly (and i mean WILDLY) popular novel, Twilight follows the story of Bella, a girl who moves to a new town and meets the mysterious Edward Cullen. Soon, Bella discovers the pretty obvious truth about Edward....he's actually Robert Pattison! Whoops, I meant, he's actually a vampire!!!! The two soon fall in love, leading to an epic romance and to three sequels that will soon be in the works. The book seems to have brought a resurgence to the "romantic" vampire era that was seen in the 90's.


There you have it! Though there have been many other films in between, those are the major ones. Now I'm off to go drink some blood...I mean...water....