{"id":17087,"date":"2015-10-30T03:34:30","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T07:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=17087"},"modified":"2015-10-30T03:34:30","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T07:34:30","slug":"fanged-fucks-top-five-favorite-vampire-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/30\/fanged-fucks-top-five-favorite-vampire-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"Fanged Fucks: Top Five Favorite Vampire Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"neardark\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This Halloween I\u2019m celebrating the holiday by re-visiting some of my favorite vampire movies. Vampires have been one of my favorite monsters, and I\u2019ve seen every title I could get my hands on from Dracula 1931 to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have typically have a soft spot for vampire movies, and have quite a large list of films about bloodsuckers that I can\u2019t boast about enough. While I have a large library of films from the sub-genre I\u2019d love to re-visit someday, I narrowed it all down to five of the best vampire movies I\u2019ve ever seen. These five have constantly popped in to my repertoire time and time again, and never wear out their welcome. These are my five best vampire movies of all time.<\/p>\n

What are some of your favorite vampire movies?<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. Salem’s Lot (1979)
\nDirector: Tobe Hooper<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was one of my favorite horror movies growing up. It\u2019s a tale of pure evil consuming a small populace, and eventually the world. Tobe Hooper\u2019s vampire tale is a classic adaptation of the Stephen King novel, starring David Soul as author Ben Mears who realizes that vampires are taking over his small town of Salem\u2019s Lot. The movie features a lot of build up to the explosion of blood suckers as Hooper\u2019s film chronicles the introduction of the head vampire, and then views how he is able to seep in to town and begin slowly destroying residents of the suburb. From there the terror escalates further and further as the vampires are able to not only take on the persona of their victims, but garner beaming eyes that can hypnotize their victims allowing them to compel their prey in to falling victim to their fangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSalem\u2019s Lot\u201d thrives on horribly haunting imagery, including Ben Mears staking out a morgue awaiting the rise of a neighbor, and Geoffrey Lewis\u2018s character Mike digging up of the grave of one of the victims who rises to bite him. There are also the iconic scenes of undead Brother Ralphie visiting his brother in the middle of the night to claim him as one of the undead, a series of horrifying scenes that became synonymous with Stephen King cinema, and vampire cinema as a whole. \u201cSalem\u2019s Lot\u201d doesn\u2019t mind building up to the scares, and when it does, it\u2019s a bleak look at an unstoppable force of evil destroying a small town from the inside out and building hellish minions out of even the most likable and heroic characters. Hooper\u2019s film isn\u2019t just scary, it\u2019s haunting.<\/p>\n

4. Fright Night (1985)
\nDirector: Tom Holland<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tom Holland\u2019s \u201cFright Night\u201d mixes \u201cRear Window\u201d and the classic seductive vampire in what is one of the best horror comedies ever conceived. Mixing all sorts of horror in-jokes, and tropes of the genre, \u201cFright Night\u201d pictures what it would be like if a very powerful vampire moved in to a small sleepy suburb, using its non-threatening surroundings as a hunting ground for his prey. Charley Brewster is a hardcore horror fan thrust in to the horrific situation of dealing with powerful vampire Jerry Dandridge, when he immediately suspects him of being a vampire.<\/p>\n

Dandridge slowly begins destroying Charley\u2019s life when he begins posing a threat to him, and then aims for his virginal girlfriend Amy. Charley elicits the services of horror host and cult expert Peter Vincent who is forced to fight the pure evil when he accidentally discovers Jerry is a vampire as well. \u201cFright Night\u201d is filled with laughs, creeps, and a wonderfully atmospheric narrative that transforms another suburban dwelling in to a den of terror, as seemed to be a norm for horror in the eighties. Holland\u2019s film is a classic featuring top notch performances by folks like Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall. It\u2019s a childhood favorite that\u2019s thankfully aged beautifully and is still a brutally entertaining horror film.<\/p>\n

3. Near Dark (1987)
\nDirector: Kathryn Bigelow<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s \u201cNear Dark\u201d is a very underrated Western Vampire entry with vampires that are more cursed with vampirism than anything else. Bigelow\u2019s film is an antithesis to \u201cLost Boys\u201d picturing vampires less as charismatic rock stars, and more as repressed nomads stricken with desperate loneliness, isolation, and the ever dreaded immortality. When young farmer Caleb falls in love with Mae, Mae bites Caleb in a moment of passion, turning him in to a potential blood sucker. Caleb is kidnapped by Mae\u2019s clan of nomadic traveling vampires, all of whom struggle to seduce him to the dark side and lure him to killing his first victim and drinking their blood.<\/p>\n

Caleb\u2019s fights the urges while gain a look at their rather tortured lives, which include the clan murdering innocent people, and looking for some form of companionship. Though they are loyal to one another, they crave connection with other people, which becomes dangerous soon enough as Caleb\u2019s young sister becomes a target for the youngest member of the clan. \u201cNear Dark\u201d is teeming with dread and the strong theme of familial bonds, as Caleb\u2019s father and sister struggle to keep him pure and noble, while the clan tear his soul apart and try to initiate him as a creature of the night. There are a ton of great performances from Bill Paxton, and Lance Henriksen, to Adrian Pasdar and Tim Thomerson. It\u2019s especially excellent for fans that love their vampire movies more adult.<\/p>\n

2. From Dusk Til Dawn (1995)
\nDirector: Robert Rodriguez<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino team up to deliver one of the most unusual and unorthodox vampire action movies of all time. It\u2019s also one of the best movie going experiences I\u2019ve ever had. Rather than focusing on regular people and enhancing it with a slow boil horror, \u201cFrom Dusk Til Dawn\u201d is like a violent freight train from minute one. Typical of Tarantino, our main protagonists also happen to be ruthless murderers and criminals on the run from the law. When they take a small family hostage, so they can make it across the border, the hostage situation transforms in to a fight for survival.<\/p>\n

What seems like a normal stripper bar, \u201cThe Titty Twister\u201d is where our characters are forced to fight for their lives, as they learn the hard way that the bar\u2019s strippers and bartenders are all blood hungry vampires. \u201cFrom Dusk Til Dawn\u201d takes off running once the fa\u00e7ade of the bar is dropped, barreling down with a ton of references to horror movies, a slew of wonderful performances from genre veterans like Tom Savini, and Fred Williamson, and an excellent climax involving the remaining survivors, and a legion of hellish blood suckers. There\u2019s also the iconic dance by Salma Hayek, a trio of hilarious roles by Cheech Marin, and some amazing special effects. It never fails to entertain.<\/p>\n

1.The Lost Boys (1987)
\nDirector: Joel Schumacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a film that\u2019s been in my life since I was a child. Growing up, I spent so many days sitting through \u201cThe Lost Boys\u201d and quoting every single moment verbatim. \u201cThe Lost Boys\u201d is a horror vampire comedy filled to the brim with action, compelling characterization, a ton of healthy ambiguity, and some of the best transformations of common vampire lore I\u2019ve ever seen. It also works partly as a mystery, since while David and his clan of teen vampires are destroying Santa Carla by feeding on its residents, you have to wonder who really is leading them, and what the ultimate goal is. \u201cThe Lost Boys\u201d is that pure battle of good and evil where a disjointed family is trying to pick up the pieces have to come together to battle something heinous and supernatural.<\/p>\n

Big brother Michael is almost certainly going to become a vampire, while his brother Daniel is realizing that he has to work fast to keep his brother from falling in to the darkness. \u201cThe Lost Boys\u201d is a raucous horror comedy from beginning to end, and a goddamn great vampire movie to boot. The vampires in this movie are horrific, menacing, deadly, and relentlessly blood thirsty. And there\u2019s just nothing more horrifying than a vampire with puffed up eighties hair coming at you. \u201cThe Lost Boys\u201d has something for everyone, with a young cast of eighties regulars like Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and Keifer Sutherland, paired with a seasoned cast of film veterans like Dianne Wiest, (the late) Edward Hermann, and Barnard Hughes. It also packs not one, but two surprises in the climax.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Halloween I\u2019m celebrating the holiday by re-visiting some of my favorite vampire movies. Vampires have been one of my favorite monsters, and I\u2019ve seen every title I could get my hands on from Dracula 1931 to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have typically have a soft spot for vampire movies, and have quite a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[219,349,420,477,812,858,874,1087,1151],"class_list":["post-17087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-halloween-horror-month","category-list-junkies","tag-comedy","tag-fantasy","tag-gothic","tag-horror","tag-quentin-tarantino","tag-robert-rodriguez","tag-romance","tag-thriller","tag-vampires"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17089,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17087\/revisions\/17089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}