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Friday, August 28, 2009

Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck...

Slate Magazine ran an interesting piece a couple months back detailing the sorry state of today’s vampires called "Vampires Suck: Actually they don’t. And that’s the problem." Vampires seem to be the “it” thing right now, especially in Hollywood, but the vampires nowadays are nothing like the classic vampires. So if you’re like me, and refuse to get into the new vampire craze, or can’t get enough of vampires and need a new outlet to feed your habit, here are a few classic and pre-classic vampire films to try:

Les Vampires (1915): A ten part silent serial about a vamp named Irma Vep, played by Musidora, and a gang of criminals that call themselves Les Vampires. The direction and acting is very artistically done (see the photo above) and each part contains a new and fantastic plot that borders on surreal.

A Fool There Was (1915): Silent film star Theda Bara plays The Vampire, but not your typical bloodsucking vampire. This vampire is a woman who seduces and brings a married man to ruin. This film depicts one of the first vamps which became the prototype for the femme fatal characters of film noir and modern films.

Nosferatu (1922): A German horror expressionist film and the first film adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula starring Max Schreck as the Count Orlock. The vampire portrayed in this film is a scary, repulsive version, which contrasts to later films that show a more aristocratic, sensual vampire.

Dracula (1931): The classic vampire film that made a huge impact on all vampire and horror films that followed. Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula set the standard for what a vampire should look and sound like. Two sequels, Dracula's Daughter (1936) and Son of Dracula (1943) followed.

Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948): A comedy/horror film combines the comedy duo Abbott and Costello with the horror trio Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man. Bela Lugosi reprises his role as Dracula and gives the same great performance in this film as he did in the 1931 Dracula.

1 comments:

Gusto said...

Such a good find on that article.. Too true!