I’m pretty sure something like this gets brought up a lot, but someone’s constantly putting out another one, so perhaps there’s something at the video store that snuck under my radar. Plus, I just like to share with everyone who hasn’t seen it the wonder that is Near Dark. Personally, that gets my personal vote for best. It’s just so unlike all the others I’ve seen. After that, I’d say Universal’s Spanish version of the original Dracula. So, those are my top two, what else is good (and anyone who says Modern Vampires gets stabbed in the thigh).
My personal favorites are:
Lost Boys
From Dusk to Dawn
Blade
I doubt anyone will agree with me, but I think Fright Night and Fright Night 2 (it’s been so long since I’ve seen them, I can’t remember which is which) are my favorites. They’re kind of precursors to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” in that they didn’t take any of it seriously, but managed to get some genuinely creepy and downright scary moments out of the nonsense. The vampire design, especially, manages to be surprisingly creepy.
And I really liked how they managed to throw in references to Dracula and some of the folk legends while still managing to update them. One of them had a scene in which a vampire is killed with roses, which is an aspect of the legend I’d never heard before. And one of them had a really gruesome death scene with the Renfeld character, where you see millions of insects crawling out of his corpse. That just seemed like a cool, overkill, 80’s horror movie way of treating a character that eats bugs all the time.
Oh yeah, and the Salem’s Lot made-for-TV movie is generally awful, but it does have one of the all-time most memorable and creepiest scenes from a vampire movie, with the kid scratching on the other kid’s window.
Yes! YES! YES!!! That was so creepy! That was the scene!
I kind of liked “Lost Boys.” Very '80s, but hey. I still liked it. I also have a soft spot for the 1979 (I think it’s 1979) version of “Dracula,” with Frank Langella and that (in my opinion) great John Williams score.
The first is still the best. Nosferatu (1922) by F.W. Murnau. Accept no substitutes.
Shadow of the Vampire–a very clever movie.
Lost Boys–One thing I can’t abide living in Santa Clara is all the goddamned vampires. Best last line in any movie ever.
I like the Christopher Lee films made by Hammer Films.
Another vote for Lost Boys. Kiefer Sutherland is the only person in the world who can make a mullet look sexy. 
I’ll second Near Dark. A vampire movie where no one actually ever says the word vampire. Bill Paxton’s character is great. Lost boys is also one of my faves.
One that I personally quite enjoyed was Interview with a Vampire. I liked the depth of the characters in that one. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, the latter’s performance being a pleasant surprise in that movie and one of his better ones.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer deserves special mention for being one of the worst movies ever with a surprisingly starrish cast. If you then watch the first episode of the series, the change almost couldn’t have been bigger! Very funny.
I totally agree, and Fright Night (the original) was my first thought on seeing this thread. Roddy McDowell did a fantastic job, and Chris Sarandon was a wonderfully scary and sexy vampire. Lots of good humor, too.
I’ll go along with Fright Night and Lost Boys.
Does Lifeforce count. Ok, it was a bad movie but that girl was the sexiest vampire ever.
Hmmn. Much as I love vampire fiction, I can’t really think of a first class vampire movie. Nosferatu is pretty good (both versions), and the original Dracula is OK (but stagy), but nothing really sticks out. Even Buffy the Vampire Slayer is nowhere up to the level of the TV show.
Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust have affected me VERY DEEPLY. :eek: :eek: :eek:
Most of my favorites have been mentioned (Fright Night, Near Dark, The Lost Boys), but one that hasn’t been is The Wisdom of Crocodiles, starring Jude Law and Elina Lowensohn. Sexy! (The American video title is ‘Immortality’.)
Many good choices so far; the one that I’ll add is Cronos, a Mexican vampire flick that’s really more of a love story about an old man and his granddaughter. Funny, weird, and moving.
Daniel
Abel Ferrara’s THE ADDICTION- vampirism as metaphor for nihilistic moral relativism, promiscuous sex & the attendant diseases; B&W; Christopher Walken cameo; Vampiress quotes Calvinist theologian R.C. Sproul RE Original Sin: Catholicism brings deliverance.
Fascinating.
'Nuff said.
Two that haven’t been mentioned yet:
Innocent Blood
Dracula 2000 – not because the movie is so good, but because the ending is. It really explains a lot about why the standard legends are what they are (Dracula’s aversion to crosses and silver, and who he really is).
I also recall many years ago being at a rather wild party where someone was showing a copy of Drag-ula . I remember him biting people on the wrist, which would then go instantly limp. I found it hysterically funny at the time…but then I was exceedingly drunk at the time. So who knows?