I don't know about everybody else, but I'm in the mood for some blood, some death, and plenty of thirst. The theme for 2022's Spooky Month is VAMPIRES. I'll watch thirty-one classic, underrated, simply really weird vampire movies and report back my findings day by day. We start tomorrow with, what else? We gotta go with one the OGs, the Ur-Vampire movie, Dracula (1931).
Why vampires? Well, personally if I had to become any class of the various cinematic ghouls, they're what I'd pick. Werewolves have many of the same weaknesses but with fewer interesting powers. And no offense, they probably smell a lot worse. Zombies definitely smell worse, yet are much more durable. Still they lack a certain charisma and sensuality and more importantly, are much less intelligent. Vampires are above all else, cool.
Even back to the very beginning of the vampire genre, these masters of the undead were meant to be scary, sure, but they were compelling. They were stars, baby. Count Dracula, in almost every form, is enigmatic and fascinating. Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker's classic novel might be Mina's good boy she can take home to Daddy, but he's no Daddy, if you get my meaning. Dracula is a Daddy.
A Nosferatu is a horrible cursed being that threatens the very foundations of polite society. It also comes with a suite of inconsistent yet still pesky weaknesses: sunlight, religious icons, garlic, maybe even running water if you're a really unlucky vampire. You gotta live in a coffin. Maybe you need to drag around the grave soil you were buried in too. You gotta eat people. It seems like a lot of work. Yet, in all these movies, no matter how conservative their morals, no matter how much the explains it away the vampire's power as "mind control", people still are tempted. Good gentlewomen leavie their windows unlocked for Dracula when their men aren't looking. You can hate the vampire, you can be disgusted by the vampire, but admit it, you're just a bit horny for the vampire, aren't you?
Anyway, I have ninety years of vampire fiction to work through from all the over the world. This creature has been reinvented, deconstructed, and reconstructed a thousand times. I want to see the vastness and experience all flavors from Bela Lugosi to Bella Swan.
This post will also serve as the master link to all the reviews for my own convenience starting with Day 1 on October 1st, which is tomorrow:
