Originating from folklore and legends across different cultures and centuries, the supernatural creatures with a lust for blood and a fear of garlic and crucifixes have become some of the most iconic figures in horror and popular culture. And some of the most popular. The Twilight film series alone grossed over $3 billion worldwide, and likely produced a generation of adults yearning for Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison) and Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) toxic, undying love.
There have been countless iterations of the vampire: monstrous devils who will stop at nothing to feed (Fright Night), tragic antiheroes cursed to watch the years pass by (Byzantium) and everyone they love die over and over again, brooding lovers with skin that sparkles (The Twilight Saga), or hilarious misfits struggling to adapt their night-dwelling ways to the modern world (What We Do in the Shadows).
Narrowing down the best vampire films isn’t easy, but we’ve put together a wickedly fun list of the 12 best vampire films that shows all the different ways the vampire mythology has been adapted on screen. No matter which version you choose to sink your teeth into, you’ll have a bloody good time.
2 / 14
Quentin Tarantino’s punchy dialogue and Robert Rodriguez’s chaotic direction were the perfect match to inject fresh blood into the vampire mythos. The filmmakers throw the crime, vampire, and western genres into a blender and watch the bloody remnants splatter on screen, creating an unhinged movie about a pair of bank robbers (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) who kidnap a preacher and his family, only to end up in a Mexican topless bar with a horde of rabid vampires. Like most of Tarantino and Rodriguez’s films, it’s filled with carnage and tension you can cut with a knife.
3 / 14
Byzantium is a different kind of vampire story. Centered on a mother and daughter vampire duo, Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) and Clara Webb (Gemma Arterton), the Neil Jordan-directed flick is far more pensive, questioning the existential burden of immortality and how you can come of age if you’re stuck at the same age forever. Eleanor wants to step out of her mother’s shadow, feeling remorse for her bloodlust, while Clara uses her power to fight back against the men who oppressed her. This patriarchal struggle offers a fresh spin on the typical vampire figure, and Jordan’s gloomy, atmospheric direction gives vampirism a moving sadness seldom seen.
4 / 14
Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a unique vampire movie because it blends the horror, western, and noir genres while giving the vampire figure a feminist and global twist. It tells the story of an Iranian, skateboarding vampire, played by Sheila Vand, who preys on the men who exploit women. The stark black-and-white cinematography is stunning, giving A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night an eerie and surreal quality. In a world that often tries to hide crimes against women, the sharp, exacting colors reflect the clear-cut nature of the revenge she doles out, leaving no room to question what the men have done or what they deserve.
5 / 14
What’s cool about Fright Night is that the main character, teenage Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale), loves horror films and is completely obsessed with vampire mythology, which the movie both lovingly lampoons and infects with genuine frights. Charley is convinced his neighbor is a vampire and recruits an over-the-hill vampire killer to help defeat him. A highlight of the movie is the practical special effects, making the hellish creatures so well-made and finely detailed that they feel real. The movie cleverly interweaves monster movie tropes while riffing on neighborhood surveillance and suburban conformity, balancing just the right amount of camp and chills.
6 / 14
What if you had to live with your friends for the rest of your life? Ok, what if you were immortal? This humorous concept is at the heart of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s mockumentary, which follows a group of quirky, centuries-old vampires living together in modern-day New Zealand. We observe the vampire flatmates as they go about their rather mundane lives, despite being undead—arguing about household chores, adjusting to new technology, and finding their next feed. With countless pop culture vampires like Blade, Twilight, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this film stands out as a clever and original satire of vampire tropes.
7 / 14
The Lost Boys seamlessly fits vampires into the sunny, fun-loving seaside town of Santa Carla, California. At night, the town comes alive with the roar of motorcycles and the bright, twinkling lights of carnival rides. Kiefer Sutherland leads a grungy gang of leather-wearing bloodsuckers, while Corey Haim and Corey Feldman deliver playful performances as the geeky, comic book-loving nerds who uncover the truth about the gang. The Lost Boys is a lot of fun, mixing humor and scares, while giving vampires a new, 1980s punk aesthetic that fits their rebellious, enigmatic cool perfectly.
8 / 14
Park Chan-wook is often at his best when he tackles more fantastical stories, and Thirst is no exception. His frequent collaborator Song Kang-ho plays a priest who transforms into a vampire after sacrificing himself for a medical experiment to find a cure for a deadly disease. He becomes caught between his moral values and his killer instinct, especially after he falls for an unhappily married woman. The conflict between his saintly and devilish sides is thrilling to watch in scenes with dark comedic twists, erotic encounters, and blood-soaked violence.
9 / 14
Universal Studios’ Dracula (1931), directed by Tod Browning, and featuring Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of Count Dracula, is the most well-known version of the blood-sucking legend in popular culture. Bela Lugosi’s Dracula has piercing eyes that can easily frighten his victims, but he’s also got that suave, seductive sophistication that makes him hard to resist. His heavy Hungarian accent and theatricality adds to the supernatural creature’s sense of mystery and debonair charm. The intricate designs of Dracula’s lavish castle, the melodramatic performances, and the gloomy atmosphere also give this version a lot of bite. This version of Dracula perfectly embodies the Gothic grandeur that immediately comes to mind when we think of the famous vampire.
10 / 14
Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and a young Kirsten Dunst star as a makeshift vampire family navigating eternal life together, beginning in early 20th century New Orleans. Based on Anne Rice’s novel, Interview with the Vampire has the brooding vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac recount the story of his long, undead life to a biographer. We learn how tortured they were watching life change across centuries while never changing themselves. While Interview with the Vampire tends to drag in some parts and could have made the queer elements more apparent, the flamboyant performances (especially from Tom Cruise as Lestat) and ghoulish violence really suck you into their macabre world.
11 / 14
Shadow of the Vampire creatively brings together horror and humor by imagining Max Schreck (a delightfully batty Willem Dafoe), who stars as Count Orlok in Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, as an actual vampire. He insists that he can only be filmed at night, never breaks character, and eagerly drinks blood. The crew can’t tell if he’s deeply immersed in his role, or if there’s some truth to him being the undead. Director F.W. Murnau (played by a wild-eyed John Malkovich) gleefully embraces Schreck’s unsettling commitment to his role—even to the deaths of his colleagues. Shadow of the Vampire makes us question our obsession with creating art that feels real, even at the risk of something truly monstrous.
12 / 14
Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In offers a quieter take on vampire lore by telling a simple story about children. Frequently bullied by his peers, a lonely boy Oskar meets an elusive girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) and learns that she is a vampire. The juxtaposition between childhood innocence and Eli’s thirst for violence is intense and fascinating, revealing itself in very swift and stark ways on screen. The themes of sadness, loneliness, and the struggle to fit in make vampirism feel perfectly suited to this coming-of-age story.
13 / 14
While the image of Nosferatu standing wide-eyed in the middle of the hallway with his claws curled has become more of a joke thanks to his appearance on SpongeBob SquarePants, the 1922 silent film is truly frightening. There’s a sense of dread lurking around every corner in the deep shadows. As Count Orlok, Max Schreck’s wide-eyed, unblinking stare, his hunched, gaunt figure, and those long, sharp curved nails create a truly terrifying character design. The fact that this movie is 100 years old, and you can see that in the grainy film stock, only adds to the creepiness, as if we’ve unearthed something from ancient history that should not be seen.
14 / 14