Top Ten Best Vampire Flicks

I love vampire movies. I do, I can't help it. I've been hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't like vampire flicks. Sure there are plenty of people who don't like horror movies (me included) but I have always looked at vampire movies as fantasy rather than horror. The great thing about vampire movies is when their great their great and when their bad their still pretty great (I'm a sucker for B movies what can I say). So here are my top ten favorite vampire movies in no particular order.

Dracula 2000
Dracula 2000 which was released in December of 2000 (of course) tells the story of a group of thieves who break into an antique shop looking for paintings and what not. What they find instead is Dracula who been imprisoned by one Matthew Van Helsing distant relative to Abraham Van Helsing. The story unfolds much like any other vampire story. Dracula is looking for the woman that he loves. He kills everyone in his path trying to get to her. He gets the girl, turns girl into a vampire, girl kills good ole' Drac before she is turned into a vampire for good. What was great about this movie is not the fact that Matthew Van Helsing is actually Abraham Van Helsing (still alive do to an accident that occurred when originally catching Dracula) it's that it creates an interesting history of how Dracula came to be, instead of relying on the old Vlad Tepes scenario which so many other stories do. In Dracula 2000, Dracula turns out to be Judas Iscariot, God having turned him into a vampire as punishment for the ultimate betrayal. This is a great movie if you can enjoy it for the campiness and not take it too seriously.

Best quote: "Never ever f@@K with an Antiques dealer."

Innocent Blood
Innocent Blood was released in 1992 and did something that no other vampire movie had done before. It married the vampire genera with the mobster genera. The story revolves around Marie a vampire with a conscious. She kills only criminals and after doing so she removes their heads. One night she chooses to feed on Sal Macelli (played with such over acting delight by Robert Loggiat) a Pittsburgh mob boss but unfortunately does not get to separate his cranium from the rest of his body. When Macelli wakes up to find himself a vampire he starts to share his new gift with the men that work for him. Anthony LaPaglia plays undercover cop Joe Gennaro and with Marie's help they set out to make things right.

Best Quote: Said by pathologist working in the morgue "Some nights there's so much farting and belching in here, it's like being in a ballpark."

Interview with a Vampire
I don't know any adult that hasn't seen this movie so I won't rehash the plot but give you an interesting tidbit of information instead. Everyone knows that Anne Rice objected to Tom Cruise as playing the part of Lestat. But what many don't know is that Rice originally wanted River Phoenix to play Lestat. She was less than please when he was given the part of the interviewer. I am sure she was even less pleased when he overdosed and the part of the interviewer was given to Christian Slater.

Best quote of the film: "Evildoers are easier and they taste better".

Vampires
John Carpenter's Vampires is one of my all time favorite vampire movies. It is based on the book Vampire$ by John Steakley. If you haven't read the book I suggest you do, its one of the best in the genera. The movie follows Jack Crow (played by James Woods) in his quest to find the Berseires Cross before Valek the vampire does. Vampires is a great movie filled with suspense and wit. The vampire make-up is some of the best I've ever seen. And who would have thought that James Woods could play a fearless vampire killer so convincingly.

Best Quote: By Jack Crow explaining to the new priest why garlic doesn't work on vampires: "Garlic? You wanna try garlic? You could stand there with garlic around your neck and one of these buggers will bend you fucking over and take a walk up your strada-chocolata."

The Lost Boys
Besides my nine year old daughter I don't know anyone else who hasn't seen The Lost Boys, so once again I won't rehash the storyline. What is interesting is after 20 years this movies is still exciting and fun. It's weird to look back at the two Corey's before their downward spiral in to drug abuse and see how talented they really were.

Best Quote: "One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires."

Fright Night
Fright Night is my all time favorite vampire movie. It's funny, sexy, and at some points scary as hell. Fright night follows the tale of Charlie Baxter and his quest to keep his friends safe from the vampire who has moved in next door. Charlie is joined by his friend Evil Ed, his girlfriend Amy (who of course reminds the vampire of his past great love), and Peter Vincent on his quest to kill vampire Jerry Dandrige. Jerry Dandrige played by Christopher Sarandon may be the sexiest movie vampire of all time.

Best Quote: said by Peter Vincent after his television show has been cancelled "Apparently your generation doesn't want to see vampire killers anymore, nor vampires either. All they want to see are slashers running around in ski masks, hacking up young virgins.

From Dusk Till Dawn
Once again a vampire movie that most people have seen. What makes From Dusk Till Dawn a great vampire movie is it's really two movies in one. The first part of the film is a road trip/ kidnapping adventure while the second half is an awesome and gory vampire movie. The vampire make up is amazing and nowhere else have I ever seen vampires in a Mexican standoff. This movie is exciting and funny (and not just because of George Clooney's haircut).

Best Quote: Seth pointing his gun at the hostage "If you try to run, I've got six little friends and they can all run faster than you can."

Blade
Blade is based on the comic book of the same name. The story features Blade who is half vampire (thanks to his mother being bitten while pregnant with him) and half human. Blade hates vampires and does his best to protect mankind and kill all bloodsuckers that cross his path. Stephen Dorff is perfect as Deacon Frost who spends his time in the film trying to screw with Blade and resurrect La Magra, the vampire blood god. Blade was a fun movie with a decent premise. It was nice to see a film with modern vampires who didn't spend their time sulking around and talking about how sad their lives were

Best quote: "I've got his pig sticker."

Buffy the vampire slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a great movie. I never watched the television show because, well I can't stand Freddie Prince Jr's wife. Anyway, the movie was smart, campy, and a hell of a lot of fun. I was still in high school when this movie came out and it was great to see a movie about self absorbed narcissistic teenager who have to battle vampires. Rutger Hauer is the perfect baddie vampire Lothos who has been killing off the reincarnations of the female vampire slayers that came before Buffy.

Best quote: "All I want to do is graduate from high school, move to Europe, marry Christian Slater, and die. Now that might not sound too great to a sconehead like you, but I think its swell. And now you show up and tell me I'm a member of the hairy mole club so you can THROW things at me?"

Underworld
Underworld is a fun vampire versus werewolf story. There's a little love, a little betrayal, and a lot of blood and guts. Even though Underworld vampires were terrible clichés that we have seen so many times before, this movie was still a lot of fun. The battle between vampires and werewolves was very clever and the special effects were too cool. I could have done without all the latex jump suits and dark brooding eyes, but the story of why the lycans and the vampires were at war was very clever. Plus you can't beat Bill Nighy in any movie.

Best quote:" I guess it never occurred to you that you might actually have to bleed to pull off this little coup."