Week 2: Vampires Through the Years

The vampire as we know it has gone through a vast amount of changes through decades. It seems as if every new piece of media featuring vampires has rebooted and transformed their biology and look to suit a specific audience. We’ve seen everything from vampires like Nosferatu to the more modern heartthrob vampires as pictured in Twilight.

The classic vampire is something everyone is familiar with. Fear of garlic, crosses, holy water and wooden steaks are typical characteristics that are ingrained into the mythos of the old age vampire. But as time progresses the re-imagining of how vampires work is necessary to not only play to the ideals of new audiences, but also scare them. Holy water and crosses were thrown out as weaknesses as religion and fear of the devil’s minions was not widely shared. This led to versions featured in media such as Anne Rice’s books and future films beginning with Interview with a Vampire, favoring the suave and sensual vampire over the often hideous ones of the past to appeal to the growing number of female horror fans.  

The trend continued into today’s movies such as the extremely popular Twilight. It painted the picture of the forbidden romance with these dark creatures of the night, much to traditional horror fans dismay. Luckily there have been a few movies that cater to us crazy fans that can’t get enough of the monstrous and terrifying interpretations of the horror icon. 30 Days of Night was a great example of how easily you could take a human looking face and with the magic of movie make-up, alter in the slightest way to make it absolutely inhuman. It also used the clever concept of vampires using the month of darkness that Alaska is plunged into, due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis, to move freely and slaughter anyone they wanted.

It’s ideas like these that keep the mythos of the vampire fresh and exciting. Of course not everyone goes for today’s modern vampires, but one thing is for sure. No matter what form they take or how they’re portrayed, vampires will continue to be a huge part of horror and pop culture for many more years to come.