Loosetooth's Top Five: Vampire Movies

Vampires have been apart of our collective consciousness since long before Bram Stoker put pen to paper, and as long as movies have been around so too have those ol' blood suckers graced the screen

Is it possible to narrow the stacks, or stakes, of movies featuring the Prince of Darkness as the title would suggest? Well we're going to give it a damned good try...pass the garlic.

#5: Interview with the Vampire (1994)
An adaptation of Anne Rice's 1979 novel in which a vampire named Louis recounts his afterlife story to an initially sceptical journalist. The story covers the reason he became a member of undead, his struggle with what it means to be a vampire and his eventual tiring of the life he chose.

It's a film that explores the romanticism associated with vampirism, long before the glitter vamps of Twilight, it helped solidify the career of then up-and-comer Brad Pitt and reminded everyone that Tom Cruise is actually a great actor (we need reminding of this every few years), but if you want a film the wariness of the immortal life you're better off checking out Only Lovers Left Alive.

#4: 30 Days of Night (2007)
Th premise for 30 Days of Night was originally pitched as comic, then pitched as a movie, before becoming a comic several years later...which was then adapted into a film.

The film takes place in a small Alaskan town where each year they experience thirty days without sunlight, with the majority of the townsfolk skipping town for the month of darkness. A group of nomadic vamps have heard all about this all-you-can-eat buffet however, equal amounts of carnage and hiding ensue.

#3: Let the Right One In (2008)
Swedish vampire film based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's book of the same name, about a lonely and bullied twelve year old named Oskar who befriends his new neighbour, an odd girl who appears to be the same age.

The film won several awards including four Guldbagge Awards, the Swedish equivalent of the Oscars, for direction, screenplay, cinematography and production design. It was also remade by Hammer in 2010, this time set in American (of course it did, because everything that ever happened happend in America) and called Let Me In.

#2: Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
Hammer's second Dracula film starring Christopher Lee, who is probably the most recognizable Drac of them all, even more so than Bela Legosi or Max Schreck...and if you don't know who they are then shame on you.

Following on from previous film, Horror of Dracula, where Count pointyteeth was slain by vamp hunter Van Helsing, he's resurrected after a house guest gets slain by Drac's servant and his blood mixed with Dracula's ashes. Hilarity ensues...oh no, wait a minute.

#1: The Lost Boys (1987)
Following their parents divorce David and Sam move to Santa Carla with their mother. David falls in with the wrong crowd, a group of leather jacket wearing, motorcycle riding, blood suckers with a taste for Chinese food. As it would happen Sam befriends the Frog brothers, who while not running their parents comic store are freelance vampire slayers.

It's unlikely there will ever be a cooler vampire flick than The Lost Boys, although that years other vamp movie, Near Dark, often receives more critical acclaim. Even if they are pretty much the same movie; outsider falls for a girl who happens to be part of a vampire clique, outsider wrestles with his humanity, gets his family involved,gets all the vamps who befriended him killed, and most importantly gets the girl and the ability to watch the sun rise.

The problem is though, Near Dark despite being directed by a future Oscar winner was a financial flop, not even making back it's budget, and The Lost Boys was a success, making more than triple it's budget back. Not to mention the money the soundtrack made, featuring big names of the day like INXS & Echo and the Bunnymen.

What do you make of Loosetooth's Top Five? What's missing and what would you leave off? Let me know in the comments below.