From Nosferatu to Twilight.
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Of all the ghouls and monsters that have haunted cinemas over the years, the vampire may be the most common, and the most interesting.
But according to researcher Gary Rhodes, the first time a vampire was shown on film was in Loïe Fuller (1905), in a brief scene where a bat flies onto a roof and transforms into a woman.
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Universal’s Dracula turned Bela Lugosi into a horror icon and established the canonical film vampire. Jet-black hair, piercing eyes, and a snazzy cape became essential parts of the vampire playbook.
George A. Romero’s Martin (1976) riffs on the pop culture obsession with vampires. Its title character claims to be a vampire while attacking women with razor blades to feed on their blood.
Until this point, film vampires are overwhelmingly male. That changes in the ‘70s with a subgenre of sexualized lesbian vampire movies, the most famous of which were made by Hammer Films.
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Following a Dracula remake and the somber Interview with the Vampire, ‘90s and 2000s vampire movies took a fun, campy turn.
The Twilight series brought vampires even further out of the shadows (but it’s okay — they only sparkle in the sun now) and made them figures of romance instead of fear.
These days, vampires can fit in seemingly any genre. Only Lovers Left Alive and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night bend genre to explore the inner lives of the undead...
... while What We Do in the Shadows, one of the best vampire movies (and shows) of the last decade, turns them into lovable goofs.
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Film vampires have been villains and heroes, metaphors for addiction and disease, and iconic figures since the early days of film.
Not bad for a centuries-old myth with a garlic allergy.