What I Learned from Vampire Movies

Bram Stoker's classic "Dracula" introduced us to the vampire legend. From it, we learned that vampires do not like garlic or crosses and sunlight kills them. Dracula was modeled after a real life prince, Vlad Tepes III of Hungary. He was also known as Vlad the Impaler, he liked to impale his enemies on wooden stakes. Vlad was known as a particularly cruel ruler who killed his enemies in unspeakable manners. He demanded absolute loyalty from his people and killed anyone that he saw as a threat to his country or kingdom.

The vampire legend began in Europe in the 15^th century. The region was hit by a plague that killed many people. The way the legend started was that some of the townspeople reported having seen one of the town residents that had died from the plague, walking through the graveyards. When the body was exumed, the face was pale white with a little glow to the cheeks and what looked like blood around the lips. During the same time, there had been reports of cattle mutilations and it was thought that the dead had risen from the grave and slaughtered the cows for their blood. People of this period were very superstitious.

"Dracula" was one of the classic vampire stories that was later adapted for film. Nosferatu was the first vampire movie made in 1921 and Bram Stoker's Dracula was made in 1992. There were other smaller productions made in 1979-1988 depicting the vampire legend. But Stoker's Dracula made the biggest impression. The vampire myths changed from the old movies to the new ones. Modern age vampires can do a lot more than their older counterparts.

In later years more vampire films followed: Salem's Lot 1979, Fright Night 1985,Interview With The Vampire 1994,The Lost Boys 1987 ,From Dusk Til Dawn 1996,Blade 1998, John Carpenter's Vampires 1998,Dracula 2000, Queen Of the Damned 2002,Underworld 2003, Van Helsing 2004, 30 Days of Night 2007 and Twilight for 2009.

The Basic Vampire Myths and Legends:

Old day vampires

The vampire must drink the blood of the living to survive.

Crosses are blessed objects and therefore vampires cannot look at them.

Sunlight makes them turn to ash and cinder.

Vampires hate garlic, string a wreath of garlic bulbs around your neck and it will keep Dracula away.

Another method of killing a vampire is to drive a stake through the heart and remove the head. Removing the head ensures that the vampire cannot reanimate and come back.

Modern age vampires

Vampires shimmer in the sunlight(Twilight) but do not die.

Vampires can procreate and have offspring(Van Helsing)

Vampires do not hate crosses( Interview With the Vampire)

Vampires can be born as vampires, a half-human and half-vampire hybrid (Blade)

Vampires will never age (The Lost Boys, Twilight and Interview with the Vampire)

Vampires can choose not to kill humans, but drink the blood of animals or blood that is manufactured.

The early vampires were scary looking with pasty white skin and sharp razor-like teeth resembling a large rodent. Dracula was portrayed more as a mysterious gentleman who had a way with the ladies. Modern day vampire movies Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned and Twilight show the modern vampire as seductive and sexy, being irresistible to women and almost make you feel sorry for the villain.

Resources:
http://www.trueghosttales.com/vampires.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_literature