Chapter 10

REEL-TIME:
THE SEVENTIES THROUGH
THE NEW MILLENNIUM

As you’ve learned in the previous chapters, early vampires left a lasting impression on the world of cinema. Now it’s time for you to enter the world of the modern-day vampires, where from the 1970s to the present day, an amazing preternatural explosion of vamps sucked their way through everything from horror to comedy. What you might be most impressed by is how truly immortal the vampire has become, serving up a strong dose of romance, Matrix-like action, black comedy, teen screamers, and even a cheerleader named Buffy to lead them on.

MODERN-DAY IMMORTALS

The vampire genre of films is indeed immortal in regard to movie-making history, having begun with the Silent Era in 1896. From the 1930s through the 1960s, the genre grew stronger, in part as a result of both international and domestic filmmakers casting a wide net over Bram Stoker’s historical character and also with the emergence of Hammer Films— which you learned about in Chapter 7—and their churning out one horror flick after another.

Beginning in the seventies, despite the fact that Hammer productions began to slide, that trend continued and moved on throughout the following decades in a natural progression that would see vampires and vampirism brought to new levels of intrigue, action, comedy, and otherworldly proportions.

THE 1970S: GROOVY, GORY, AND GHOULISHLY GRAND !

If you’ve ever watched reruns of The Brady Bunch or The Love Boat, then you know all about how wacky and tacky seventies programming could get. The vampire genre is no exception, with its enormous mixed bag of vamp flicks jam-packed with everything from traditional Draculas to a post-apocalyptic blood scourge to epic battles between Frankenstein and the Wolf Man to campy vamps, kung fu vampirism, a vampire musical, and even a Dracula adaptation geared toward the hearing impaired. The wide variety of films speaks to the fact that so many vampire flicks were being made that filmmakers were in danger of beating immortal bad boys into an early grave. (At least until they could be resurrected!)

For starters, the 1970s introduced us to another of the Hammer Films’ brood—the ineffable Polish actress Ingrid Pitt, who first appeared in the 1970 film The Vampire Lovers and again in 1971 in one of the four tales comprising The House That Dripped Blood. That same year, Pitt took yet another bite out of the genre, playing the lead in Countess Dracula (see Chapter 8). In 1972, the first substantial African American bloodsucker bared his fangs in Blacula and again a year later in the sequel Scream Blacula Scream. In both installments, Blacula was played by William Marshall with a cast of African American actors who used the films as a springboard to bigger future endeavors (see Chapter 5).

Also part of the prestigious mix of actors lending their talents to the world of the undead are Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins (in the 1970 House of Dark Shadows and 1971 Night of Dark Shadows), Robert Quarry (as Count Yorga, Vampire in 1970 and in The Return of Count Yorga the following year), Jack Palance (in the 1973 television premiere of Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Udo Kier (in the bizarre 1974 outing Andy Warhol’s Dracula), David Niven (as the hysterical “Old Dracula” in the 1974 film Vampira), and Louis Jourdan (in Count Dracula as part of Great Performances in 1977).

Worthy of special note in this explosion of bloodthirsty ghouls are two actors who are often singled out for their 1979 performances. The first is George Hamilton for his over-the-top Count in Love at First Bite, the tenth highest grossing vampire film of all-time (see Chapter 8). The second is that of Frank Langella in Dracula, which ranks at number eighteen on the all-time list. This film is widely considered to be one of the best in the vampire genre, with Langella giving a smoldering portrayal in a remake of Lugosi’s 1931 Dracula which played off the Hamilton Deane and John Balderston theatrical productions (see Chapters 7 and 8).

Yet another cult favorite graced the big screen in this decade, offering up a new take on the vampire hunter and setting a standard for those who would follow. The 1974 film Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter features dashing German actor Horst Janson as the suave and debonair Kronos, and John Cater as his hunchbacked sidekick Professor Grost. What makes this outing so fun and memorable is director Brian Clemens’s melding of several film genres, most notably a type of Western with hints of traditional mystery, romance, science fiction, and Count of Monte Cristo swordplay all interwoven amid a steady dose of drama and cliché. For true vampire aficionados, Captain Kronos is a must-see.

It’s not often that filmmakers can break entirely new barriers in the mainstream industry, but the 1975 film Deafula did just that. Deafula is the brainchild of its director, writer, and star Peter Wolf Wechsberg (cited under the name Peter Wolf), who is himself deaf. Unchallenged in its unique approach to filmmaking, Deafula is the first-ever feature film conveyed entirely in sign language.

So if you’re up for a few good shivers, scores of naughty nightcrawlers, and some big laughs, you don’t want to miss a few of the vampy, campy, artistic, and fantastic films of the seventies, including:

• Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) Robert Quarry, Roger Perry, Michael Murphy

• Countess Dracula (1970) Ingrid Pitt, Nigel Green, Sandor Elès

• House of Dark Shadows (1970) Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Kathryn Leigh Scott

• Scars of Dracula (1970) Christopher Lee, Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley

• Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford

• The Vampire Lovers (1970) Ingrid Pitt, George Cole, Peter Cushing, Kate O’Mara

• Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) J. Carrol Naish, Lon Chaney Jr., Zandor Vorkov

• The House That Dripped Blood (England 1971) Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliott, John Bennett

• Lust for a Vampire (1971) Ralph Bates, Barbara Jefford, Suzanna Leigh

• Night of Dark Shadows (1971) Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, David Selby

• The Omega Man (1971) Charleton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash

• The Return of Count Yorga (1971) Robert Quarry, Mariette Hartley, Roger Perry

• Twins of Evil (1971) Peter Cushing, Damien Thomas, Madeleine and Mary Collinson

• Blacula (1972) William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas

• Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham, Christopher Neame

• The Night Stalker (1972) Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland, Carol Lynley

• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1973) Jack Palance, Simon Ward, Nigel Davenport

• Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1973) Lesley Gilb, Cheryl Smith, William Whitton

• The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Michael Coles, Joanna Lumley

• Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973) William Marshall, Don Mitchell, Pam Grier

• Blood for Dracula, aka Andy Warhol’s Dracula (1974) Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Arno Juerging

• Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) Horst Janson, John Carson, Shane Briant

• The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974, kung fu vampirism!) Peter Cushing, David Chiang, Julie Ege

• Son of Dracula, aka Count Downe, aka Son of Dracula (1974 musical) Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, Dennis Price, Peter Frampton, Keith Moon

• Vampira, aka Old Dracula (1974) David Niven, Teresa Graves, Peter Bayliss

• Deafula (1975) Peter Wolf, Gary R. Holstrom, Lee Darel

• Count Dracula (1977) Louis Jourdan, Frank Finlay, Susan Penhaligon

• Dracula (1979) Frank Langella, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence, Kate Nelligan

• Love at First Bite (1979) George Hamilton, Susan Saint James, Richard Benjamin

• Salem’s Lot (1979) David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin

THE 1980S: CAMPY, VAMPY, AND TRAMPY

No doubt you’ll recognize the infamous names Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Vorhees, who began their longstanding cinematic onslaught during the 1980s. But despite the overwhelming presence of that infamous horror trio, a few vampires managed to make their presence known.

Lacking the classic charm of their predecessors of the fifties, sixties, and seventies, eighties bloodsuckers, like so many disco songs, are often left to obscurity. But as with all film genres of the time, there are a few gems hidden in the shadows, several of which are cult classics.

One of these is the 1983 film The Hunger, an artistic and overly sumptuous tale based on Whitley Strieber’s 1981 novel of the same name. It stars the timeless Catherine Deneuve, arguably one of the best female vampires of all time, as Miriam Blaylock, a cold-blooded alien vampire of ancient Egyptian origin now residing in New York (see Chapters 6 and 8).

In 1985, came the fun and campy horrorfest known as Fright Night, featuring Roddy McDowall as a former horror star, William Ragsdale as a teenage horror fan, and Susan Sarandon’s former husband, Chris Sarandon, as the “real” vampire they must conquer. Fright Night was a commercial success, raking in close to $25 million and ranking sixteenth on the all-time vampire movie list. Its 1989 sequel didn’t fare quite as well but remains in the top fifty.

Of the vamp films of the eighties, a handful still maintain rankings on the all-time list, including Jim Carrey’s 1985 comedy Once Bitten, the Jeff Goldblum vampire spoof Transylvania 6-5000 also in 1985, and the frightening brood of Southern bloodsuckers featured in Kathryn Bigelow’s 1987 offering Near Dark. What did prove to be a box office success in 1987 was director Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys, a vamp flick with decidedly more comedy than drama that pits teen vampires against teen vampire hunters in a small coastal community dubbed the “murder capital of the world.” A cult fave to be certain, the film grossed over $32 million.

Here are a few vampy flicks of the eighties you might get a chuckle out of:

• The Hunger (1983) Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon

• Fright Night (1985) Roddy McDowall, Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale

• Lifeforce (1985) Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Mathilda May

• Once Bitten (1985) Lauren Hutton, Jim Carrey, Cleavon Little

• Transylvania 6-5000 (1985) Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, Joseph Bologna, Carol Kane

• Vampire Hunter D, aka Banpaia hanta (1985, Japanese anime) Kaneto Shiozawa, Michael McConnohie

• The Lost Boys (1987) Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Dianne Weist

• Near Dark (1987) Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton

• A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987) Michael Moriarty, Ricky Addison Reed, Samuel Fuller

• Fright Night Part 2 (1988) Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale, Julie Carmen

• My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988) Robert Sean Leonard, Rene Auberjonois, Cheryl Pollack

• Vampire’s Kiss (1989) Nicolas Cage, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jennifer Beals.

THE 1990S: BUFFY, BLADE, AND BIG-TIME BAD BOYS !

As you can see, the eighties gave us a chaotic mix of vampire movies, which meant that the nineties were primed and ready for a resurgence of movies that would bring the world of the undead back to its roots.

If there’s one nineties vamp flick that fits the bill, it’s Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a stylish and taut retelling of Stoker’s masterpiece with an exceptional cast and stellar performance by Gary Oldman, who as Prince Vlad is one of the best bloodsuckers ever to the grace the silver screen (see Chapter 8).

In this telling, Dracula begins in 1462 in Transylvania with Vlad the Impaler’s tragedy and transformation before moving to the late 1800s to imprison Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) and Vlad’s embarkation to London to pursue Harker’s fiancée Mina (Winona Ryder), the reincarnation of Vlad’s beloved wife Elisabeta. Along the way, Vlad must deal with the traditional Stoker characters and match wits with Abraham Van Helsing, a role that would’ve suited no other actor than the brilliant Anthony Hopkins.

Tom Waits’s performance as Renfield is perhaps one of the most underrated of the historic cinematic Renfields. With its stunning visual appeal, tense story line and action sequences, and strong seductive undercurrent, this Dracula rendition is a must for all vampire aficionados.

Two years later, in 1994, yet another blockbuster arrived in the long-awaited film adaptation of Anne Rice’s best-selling novel Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. Much ado was publicly made by Rice herself when the final casting was announced, but she later recanted her comments after viewing the film.

Did you know that the casting of Interview had been bantered about for over thirty years? During the late seventies it was John Travolta who was said to have been slated as the film’s star. Rice herself over the years made mention of Rutger Hauer, Jeremy Irons, and Daniel Day-Lewis taking part. It’s also said that for the big-screen version, Johnny Depp was offered the part!

Whether you agree with the casting of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt or not, it must be said that what resulted was a lush if not accurate portrayal of Lestat, who aside from Stoker’s Dracula, is the best-known vampire in this and other worlds (see Chapters 6 and 8).

Coming in third on the all-time box office vampire gross with a take of over $105 million as compared to Coppola’s fourth place ranking at over $82 million, Interview is faithful to the novel, and rife with the interplay of Lestat’s arrogance matched up against Louis’s pensiveness and the wickedness of their daughter Claudia, played by Kirsten Dunst.

The nineties also gave us our first glimpse of the popular franchise that would become Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A feature film in 1992, it stars Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, and Rutger Hauer. One of the top twenty all-time grossing vamp flicks, Buffy launched the popular television franchise and Buffy’s star Sarah Michelle Gellar (see Chapters 6 and 11).

The year 1998 marks the arrival of one of the more innovative and popular vampire-human hybrids, who kicks some serious bloodsucker booty. As with most vampires, he’s known by a single name—Blade—and he’s a force to be reckoned with (see Chapter 8). Starring Wesley Snipes, Blade is adapted from the character who first appeared in Marvel Comics in July of 1973 in Tomb of Dracula.

In Blade, his fight against an evil underground network of hard-core vampires casts him as a necessary but somewhat reluctant hero that carries through both sequels, Blade II in 2002 and Blade: Trinity in 2004.

We now introduce you to a few of the more renowned vamp flicks of the nineties:

• Nightlife (1990) Ben Cross, Maryam D’Abo, Keith Szarabajka

• My Grandfather Is a Vampire (1991, New Zealand) Al Lewis, Justin Gocke, Milan Borich

• Subspecies (1991) Anders Hove, Angus Scrimm, Laura Mae Tate

• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer

• Innocent Blood (1992) Anne Parillaud, Chazz Palminteri, Anthony LaPaglia, Robert Loggia

• Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993) Anders Hove, Denice Duff, Kevin Blair

• Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994) Anders Hove, Denice Duff, Kevin Blair

• Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst

• Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) Leslie Nielsen, Peter MacNicol, Harvey Korman, Amy Yasbeck

• Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Allen Payne

• From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino

• Blade (1998) Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson

• John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998) James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee

• Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm (1998) Anders Hove, Denice Duff, Jonathon Morris

• From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) Robert Patrick, Bo Hopkins, Duane Whitaker

• From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter (1999) Marco Leonardi, Michael Parks, Temuera Morrison

THE NEW MILLENNIUM: HIP AND HORRIFICALLY ROMANTIC

The turn of the century featured a new strain of vampire cinema, and while many films and filmmakers paid homage to their distinguished predecessors by retaining some portion of the Dracula legend, many surprised us with innovative twists, bigger and better monsters courtesy of innovative CGI techniques, slick Japanese anime, and a few kick-butt female action heroes.

In 2000, we were treated to Shadow of the Vampire, a film that paid its respects to the 1922 silent film classic, Nosferatu (see Chapter 7). In Shadow, Willem Dafoe takes on the role of Max Schreck, the actor who played Count Orlock in Nos-feratu, and the purported real-life turmoil that came with his relationship to Nosferatu’s director F.W. Murnau (played by the appropriately creepy John Malkovich) during the silent film’s production. So compelling was Dafoe’s performance that he garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Hardly the standard for a vampire flick.

Though it was panned by critics when it hit the big screen in 2004, Van Helsing proved to be no slouch at the box office, garnering over $120 million and becoming the second highest grossing vampire film of all time. Taking very little from the Van Helsing legacy of Peter Cushing or Edward Van Sloan, Aussie heartthrob Hugh Jackman transformed himself into an action superhero of supernatural proportions. For pure fun and a visual CGI feast, you don’t want to miss the action-packed romp that is Van Helsing.

A fast and furious horrorfest, the film finds Van Helsing in the secret employ of the Vatican during the late 1800s, as a somewhat conflicted hired gun of the underworld. As such, Gabriel Van Helsing has the unenviable job of hunting down the crème de la crème of paranormal perpetrators, including a rather bulked-up Mr. Hyde, a sympathetic Frankenstein, and of course, Dracula.

In what would prove to be an epic battle of werewolf versus vampire, and with the help of Anna Valerious, a gypsy princess played by Kate Beckinsale, Van Helsing ventures to Transylvania to take on Count Vladislaus Dracula, played to the hilt by Richard Roxburgh (see Chapter 8).

What makes Jackman’s interpretation of Van Helsing intriguing is the plot twist, whereby Dracula, through his taunting, helps Van Helsing regain his lost memories of how he came to be—a revelation with, shall we say, eternally angelic consequences. Despite its lack of critical acclaim, Van Helsing proves yet again that Bram Stoker’s legendary conception continues to provide inspiration while also keeping vampire fans firmly seated at the edge of their coffins. And besides that—Hugh Jackman is the ultimate action-horror hottie!

In the 2000s, we were also introduced to a new kind of vampiric chick in Kate Beckinsale, who transforms herself into Selene, the rebellious “death dealer” and star of 2003’s Underworld and its 2006 sequel, Underworld: Evolution, both of which are ranked ninth and seventh respectively on the all-time top-grossing vamp flicks and thrust Beckinsale into the vampire Hall of Fame (see Chapter 8).

Along those same lines, only with a distinctly futuristic sci-fi bent is Milla Jovovich’s turn in the 2006 tour de force, Ultraviolet. In the film, Violet stands alone amid a raging war between a totalitarian late twenty-first century government and a sub-faction of individuals at the bad end of biological warfare experimentation that resulted in a vampire-like disease.

With its graphic novel style, primary colors, and Matrix/ Aeon Flux-type aura, Ultraviolet is hands-down one of the most succulent and mind-blowing films to date. As one of the infected “Hemophages,” Violet’s sole purpose is protecting a young boy and seeking revenge for her kind. Vampire fans should hunt down the uncut version of Ultraviolet, which more fully draws on the vampiric aspect of the plot.

Yet another crossover of the vampiric horror and sci-fi genre is the third remake of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend. For Matheson’s concept, the third time was the charm. Will Smith’s 2007 portrayal as military virologist Robert Neville in I Am Legend was a blockbuster, amassing over $256 million at the box office and making it the highest-grossing vampire film in history.

As for the present day, everyone is eagerly anticipating the 2008 winter release of the screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s novel Twilight, a modern-day twist on Romeo and Juliet, featuring Bella, a young high school girl in love with Edward, a stunning young lad who, as luck would have it, happens to be a vampire (see Chapter 6).

Let’s take a look at some of the bloodsucking cinema the new millennium has offered up thus far:

• Dracula 2000 (2000) Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell

• Shadow of the Vampire (2000) Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich, Udo Kier, Cary Elwes

• Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000, Japanese anime) Hideyuki Tanaka, Ichirô Nagai, Kôichi Yamadera

• The Forsaken (2001) Kerr Smith, Brendan Fehr, Izabella Miko

• Hellsing, aka Herushingu (2001, Japanese anime) Jôji Nakata, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Fumiko Orikasa

• Blade II (2002) Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Leonor Varela

• Queen of the Damned (2002) Stuart Townsend, Lena Olin, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Perez

• Underworld (2003) Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy

• Blade: Trinity (2004) Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Dominic Purcell, Jessica Biel

• Van Helsing (2004) Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh

• BloodRayne (2005) Kristanna Loken, Michael Madsen, Matt Davis, Udo Kier

• Hellsing Ultimate OVA Series (2006, Japanese anime series) Jôji Nakata, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Fumiko Orikasa

• Ultraviolet (2006) Milla Jovovich, Cameron Bright, Nick Chinlund

• Underworld: Evolution (2006) Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran

• BloodRayne II: Deliverance (2007) Natassia Malthe, Zack Ward, Michael Paré

• I Am Legend (2007) Will Smith, Alice Braga, Abby (Sam the dog)

• 30 Days of Night (2007) Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston

• The Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008) Tad Hilgenbrink, Angus Sutherland, Autumn Reeser

• Twilight (2008) Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

SMALL-SCREEN SCREAMERS

So in your wildest dreams, did you ever guess that vampires have been flying across the silver screen for over a hundred years? For a creature evolved from lore and fiction, that’s a bitingly big accomplishment. More than likely, you’ve spent plenty of time mesmerized by many of the children of the night. Now that you’ve had a peek into the big screen crypt of the vampire, it’s time to sink your chompers into the realm of the television vampire, from made-for-TV movies and miniseries to kiddie nosferatu and some of the most beloved television series in history.