VAMPIRES DON'T SPARKLE discussion

I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts on which authors or filmmakers changed the vampire genre. I'll start - I think Steve Niles really nailed it with "30 Days of Night." How long have horror writers known about the month-long darkness in Alaska? Centuries surely. Introduce a clan of ship-sailing vamps to that mix and you've got a great story! The idea was there for anyone to see, and yet Niles was the first. Also, his vampires were perhaps the most frightening at least since the Hammer Christopher Lee days.

Who else?

Wow funny you speak about this film as I told my wife we're watching it tonight(spooky lol). But your right about Steve Niles.
I hope that Hollywood realises this about Brian Lumley's books The Necroscope series and including his Vampire Worlds. Especially if they can depict Sunside- Starside how Brian doe's in his books. Not to mention how NASTY his Vampires are, a real treat for us Vampire lovers.

Hey Keith -

Haven't checked those out yet, but I will. You are in for a fun evening for sure. 30 Days is the anti-twilight. Enjoy!

Wow, this is an interesting, yet tough question to answer. "Who are the innovators [of the vampire genre]?"

Well, I definitely agree with your assessment of 30 Days of Night. That is an excellent movie. I also enjoyed the graphic novels very much. It's true, it is surprising that no one came up with that idea years before the Steve Niles did. It was, however, sort of teased at and joked about in other vampire films and TV shows, etc. For instance, there was an episode of Forever Knight where Nick Knight jokes about leaving Toronto to live in Alaska because of the long periods without any sun. But, a serious and terrifying idea...about vampires going to a place where there is a month without sunlight to party at the all you can eat blood bar. That is a pretty awesome and new concept. I love that film. I've probably seen it like thirty or forty times so far...LOL.

Um, so...Innovators. Well, movies like Nosferatu and the 1931 version of Dracula really did lay down the ground work for the genre as far as movies are concerned. And, yes, the Hammer films with Christopher Lee were awesome too (I actually prefer Christopher Lee over Bela Lugosi).

Personally, I think the vampire movies of the eighties...The Lost Boys, Near Dark, Fright Night, Vamp....were the innovators in terms of film. I'm saying that because one; in the eighties people were sick of seeing vampire films and just wanted to see all the slasher stuff. But the few vampire movies that did come out in the eighties were not only hits but became movies we still remember today. Two; those movies were a bit scarier, they could do more, and most importantly...they brought vampires into the modern day.

As far as literature goes, Bram Stoker (even though there was already lots of vampire stuff before he wrote Dracula), was really the architect of what everything vampire related is today. The innovators of vampire literature, I think, were; 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King, The Light at the End by John Skipp and Craig Spector, and I'm going to include I Am Legend by Richard Matheson even though I didn't like that one. And, yes, I'll include Anne Rice because her stuff got people interested in reading vampire stories in the eighties and nineties.

Well, that's my answer. I probably left a few off that list...LOL. Yeah, this is a tough question because it could go in so many different directions. Good topic, Keith!

Dan -

Impossible not to like "The Lost Boys" and the original "Frightnight." They infused humor with frights, and both breathed new life into the genre. "Near Dark" was genius because it introduced a kind of roving band of cowboy vamps - and Bill Paxton - was built to play a psycho-path vamp. "Salem's Lot" scared me near to death when I saw it for the first time. That was a TV movie and maybe the scariest one of all time.

I'd like to add one to my list - "Let the Right One In" was very interesting because it dealt with a child as the lead - although "Interview" had Kirsten Dunst.

Matt wrote: "Dan -

Impossible not to like "The Lost Boys" and the original "Frightnight." They infused humor with frights, and both breathed new life into the genre. "Near Dark" was genius because it introduc..."

I enjoyed the 1979 'Salem's Lot movie very much, and even the 2004 'Salem's Lot movie, which most people didn't like. But the book scared the shit out of me the first time I read it. I mean, (view spoiler)[the part where Ben Mears has to drive a sharpened ash baseball bat trough Susan Norton's heart after she became a vampire (hide spoiler)] that part scared the holy fuck out of me!!! Although I forgave Stephen King for killing that character later on, and re-read it twice. I also became a big fan of his work after that and have read several of his other books since.

I never read the Let the Right One In novel, nor did I see the swedish film version of that. But I did see the British/American version, Let Me In and I really liked that movie.

Dan -

You should check out the original Let the Right One In. We are not great at remaking movies made in other countries. There is a certain sensibility that doesn't translate well here. Don't get me wrong - I am not an America hater, I just don't think we should remake foreign films for a 'money grab.' I think of La Femme Nikita, and Point of No Return - the American version was an embarrassment! We just don't capture the same nuance that the foreign filmmakers seem to.

Just my ridiculous opinion, considering I'm one notch above a circus clown on life's pecking order!

Matt wrote: "Dan -

You should check out the original Let the Right One In. We are not great at remaking movies made in other countries. There is a certain sensibility that doesn't translate well here. Don't g..."

LOL...that's cool. You may be right. Actually, I think I have been told this by a few European people in the past. Me, I don't like the current remake trend of older movies that were already good.
I will check out the original Let the Right One In film soon and let you know what I think of it.