The 32 best vampire movies (original) (raw)
The subject of vampirism lends itself to all manner of juicy metaphors. You might be hard-pressed to locate a film about vampires that isn't taking on themes larger than simple blood siphoning. Vampires are perhaps the only movie monster that is tonally fluid, headlining a variety of films ranging from existential ruminations on bullying from Sweden, raucous New Zealand mockumentaries, mystical musicals starring one of the Beatles, and even superhero movies.
Below, we've listed our picks for the 32 best vampire movies of all time, in no particular order.
Let the Right One In (2008)
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The quintessentially Swedish horror-drama Let the Right One In tells the tale of bullied young Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) who is befriended by Eli (Lina Leandersson), a mysterious new neighbor who harbors a centuries-old secret. Tomas Alfredson's atmospheric, brutal chiller is one of the most moving and memorable films about childhood put to screen.
Where to watch Let the Right One In: Tubi
The Lost Boys (1987)
Everett Collection
The myth of the modern teenage vampire took root with Joel Shumacher's stylish yet droll teenspolitation flick, without which there would be no Twilight and certainly no Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Lost Boys finds the Emerson brothers, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim), moving with their mother Lucy (Dianne Wiest) to the small, coastal (and fictional) California town of Santa Carla. It is positively idyllic…except for the roving gang of motorcycle-loving vampires (led by Kiefer Sutherland) who operate from the town's boardwalk and are responsible for the preponderance of missing kids in the area.
Conceived to mimic the appeal of The Goonies (1985), The Lost Boys was originally slated to be directed by the mastermind of that seminal-teen adventure, Richard Donner. Inevitably, Donner would only serve as producer here, as he was presumably busy with 1987's Lethal Weapon. However, his absence makes way for Schumacher to craft one of his most deliciously-gonzo films, an unceasingly fun rollercoaster ride of fangs, big hair, and brilliantly gooey practical effects. Each frame of The Lost Boys evokes the gauzy coziness and charm of peak-era '80s horror films such as Silver Bullet (Haim's 1985 werewolf feature), with its wilder elements anchored by a murderers row of accomplished performers. Joining Patric, Wiest, Sutherland, and Haim are Corey Feldman, delivering a performance that rivals his own in The Goonies; Jami Gertz as the '80s answer to a femme fatale; and Gilmore Girls grandpa Edward Herrmann in a very surprising role indeed.
Where to watch The Lost Boys: Pluto TV
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 (2012)
Doane Gregory/Lion's Gate
Bill Condon infuses the finale to this mostly tepid franchise with something the previous four films lacked: a true holy-s–- factor. This movie is beautifully bonkers, entirely aware of both what it is and how campy it must be in order to work.
In the final movements, Breaking Dawn — Part 2 does walk back its wilder elements, but retains much credit for consistently delivering jaw-dropping moments of shocking violence as well as comedy.
Where to rent Twilight: Breaking Dawn — Part 2: Amazon Prime Video
John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)
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Vampires is one of John Carpenter's better late-era efforts. (Even Gene Siskel, a notorious opponent of violent horror pictures, loved the film.) It's a relentlessly hard-edged neo-Western with vampires, a concept that is perfectly suited to the director. James Woods, leading a team of Vatican-endorsed vamp-hunters, is having great fun with his role. The gore effects are practical and plentiful, and Gary B. Kibbe's cinematography will make you swoon.
Where to watch John Carpenter's Vampires: Netflix
Lifeforce (1985)
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Tobe Hooper's film is so full of wild invention that it very nearly defies description. All you need to know is: Fully-nude cannibal-zombie vampires from outer space attack London in this film written, directed, produced, and edited seemingly by genre legend Hooper's sheer enthusiasm.
Where to watch Lifeforce: Tubi
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2015)
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After Dr. Hess Green (Stephen Tyrone Williams) is stabbed by his assistant with an ancient dagger, the anthropologist awakes with a thirst for (what else?) blood, which is complicated by the arrival of the now-deceased assistant's wife, Ganja (Zaraah Abrahams). A torrid affair between the two ignites almost immediately, though it's not long before Hess turns Ganja onto the blood-drinking scene, and they proceed to carve a bloody swath across Martha's Vineyard. Spike Lee directed this remake of Bill Gunn's Blaxploitation classic Ganja & Hess after he helmed his remake of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy, a production on which Lee experienced so much studio interference, it became the only film in the director's filmography that does not bear his signature "A Spike Lee Joint" accreditation.
Funded entirely through Kickstarter, with a final budget of just $1.4 million, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, (which the legendary director describes as "an official Spike Lee Joint"), is a radically experimental work from a veteran filmmaker who appears utterly untethered from expectation or input, all for the best. Lee's film essentially functions as a musical, with two stunning dance sequences that bookend the film as well as a brilliant selection of music that Lee solicited from a bevy of highly skilled, yet unsigned musicians playing under practically every scene. The result makes for a memorable sonic and visual experience. Jesus not only looks unbelievably rich for its budget, but it also possesses a sound unlike any other installment in Lee's filmography or the vampire genre. It's both hypnotic and erotic, not to mention a bloody good time.
Where to watch Da Sweet Blood of Jesus: The Roku Channel
The Vampire and the Ballerina (1960)
Everett
Renato Polselli's seminal Italian genre entry is an occasionally uneasy mix of gorgeously rendered Gothic folk-horror and the type of cheesecake-lingerie shots that would become de rigueur in '60s exploitation movies.
Despite its tonal inconsistencies, The Vampire and the Ballerina is one of the most influential additions to the canon. There is a direct line between this film and the Hammer Dracula films of the '60s. Polselli brings a painterly gaze to scenes of quiet dread, such as a figure gradually appearing out of thick brush as two women make their way home through dark woods.
The Vampire and the Ballerina is not available to watch or rent.
Son of Dracula (1974)
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Ringo Starr and Harry Nilsson headline this unhinged British musical, in which Merlin the Magician (Starr, who also produced) tries to convince Nilsson's reluctant immortal to assume the family throne. Much bloodletting, and a whole lotta rockin', ensues. Freddie Francis, the veteran schlockmeister who also lensed Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear, directs the beautiful absurdity.
Son of Dracula is not available to watch or rent.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Unison Films
Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, who previously collaborated on the splendid HBO show Flight of the Conchords, co-write and direct this New Zealand-based mockumentary, which is perhaps the most lovable film about vampires to date. It follows a group of undead bloodsuckers living together in a Wellington apartment who find their centuries-old existence disrupted by a newly-turned vampire (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer) who comes to stay with them.
What We Do in the Shadows, which was spun off into an equally, if not more fun FX series, is a brilliantly realized fusion of horror and comedy, a remarkably literate send-up of the well-worn tropes of the undead (zombies and witches get to share the spotlight, too) and a perfect showcase for Waititi and Clement's signature deadpan humor.
Where to rent What We Do in the Shadows: Amazon Prime Video
Horror of Dracula (1958)
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Each of Christopher Lee's nine Hammer Dracula films are worth seeking out, but Terence Fisher's first picture, which also features Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, is undoubtedly the leader of the pack.
Horror of Dracula stands alongside Tod Browning's 1931 masterwork, Dracula, as a seminal entry in the genre. It dictates the visual language not just of Lee's ongoing Dracula series, but the rest of Hammer's peak-era output as well. The tight script by Jimmy Sangster slots the best parts of Stoker's novel into a pace-y, sub-90-minute runtime, and Jack Asher's color cinematography still appears lush today.
Where to rent Horror of Dracula: Amazon Prime Video
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
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Horror of Dracula may be the best film in Christopher Lee's vampire series, but this eighth installment (Lee's penultimate donning of the fangs) is arguably the most entertaining. Satanic Rites approaches the genre in an inspired way that more films should — as a gory political thriller with vampires. It's unfailingly propulsive, a candy-colored odyssey through groovy '70s London, set to a swinging soundtrack.
Where to watch The Satanic Rites of Dracula: Freevee via Amazon Prime Video
Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973)
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Voodoo meets vampirism in this wild grindhouse sequel to Blacula. The film finds a disgruntled voodoo practitioner getting more than he bargained for when he reincarnates Blacula. Pam Grier, as the final girl who herself has a penchant for voodoo, is the highlight here, as she often is.
Where to watch Scream, Blacula, Scream: Tubi
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
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To see this Quentin Tarantino-penned, Robert Rodriguez-directed picture knowing nothing of its twist would be one of the great treats cinema has to offer. Unfortunately, many of us know, and truly, if you haven't seen it, and don't know what lies ahead, stop reading now. What begins as a standard crime thriller turns into a full-on vampire bloodfest midway through.
The switcheroo in From Dusk Till Dawn is so masterfully handled that it'll still pack a wallop even if you know what's coming. George Clooney is terrific as the antihero, but the real MVPs are Harvey Keitel, playing against-type as a soft-spoken, grieving man of faith, and (perpetual MVP) Juliette Lewis as Keitel's daughter, a seemingly naive girl who proves to have more mettle than the criminals and the vampires combined.
Where to watch From Dusk Till Dawn: Max
Fright Night (1985) and Fright Night (2011)
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Child's Play director Tom Holland's original Fright Night plays like a subversive riff on Rear Window, using vampirism as a metaphor for discovering one's sexuality. It's a good-time horror picture that, in addition to being ahead of its time, features an inspired and tender turn by Roddy McDowall, as well as one of the longest (and smokiest) dance sequences ever committed to celluloid.
Equally worth a watch is journeyman director Craig Gillespie's (I, Tonya, Cruella) 2011 remake, this time set in Sin City. It's one of the more lively and playful additions to the horror remake boom of the last two decades and boasts a surprisingly all-star cast (Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Imogen Poots, Toni Collette, and, in the McDowell role, David Tennant), all of whom know exactly how to handle the material, making the film a highly entertaining vampiric romp.
Where to rent Fright Night (1985): Amazon Prime Video
Where to rent Fright Night (2011): Amazon Prime Video
Salem's Lot (1979)
Warner Bros./Everett
Tobe Hooper's second entry in this list is a vampire story of an entirely different ilk. In fact, Salem's Lot is one of Hooper's most restrained films, perhaps due in part to the fact that it was made for CBS.
He takes advantage of the elongated format (the film runs 187 minutes) to draw out moments of unbearable suspense and etch vivid characters that we care greatly for once an epidemic of vampirism begins to consume the small coastal village that is the film's namesake.
Where to rent Salem's Lot: Amazon Prime Video
Trouble Every Day (2002)
Everett
Claire Denis' films have always been more about feelings and ideas than linear plotting, and this haunting erotic thriller sees the director playing at the height of that style.
A scientist (Vincent Gallo) goes in search of his former colleague (Béatrice Dalle), who it turns out has been confined to her bedroom because her bloodlust for young men has become too much for her husband to handle. Trouble Every Dayis one of the most disturbing and violent films ever made, yet it's also the most conceptually rich work Denis has produced yet.
Where to watch Trouble Every Day: Shudder
Fascination (1979)
Cinefear
Jean Rollin's work could be charitably described as "leisurely paced," but if you enjoy classic Euro-horror or an old-fashioned slow burn, Rollin's ethereal nightmare — about a thief taking refuge in a manor presided over by two ravenous (in all fashions) chambermaids — should be right up your alley.
The film is a clear influence on Trouble Every Day in its portrayal of vampirism as an all-consuming and painful condition, rather than a romantic one. Unlike Denis, however, Rollin is never afraid to indulge in camp, and occasionally outright sleaze, to juice his narrative at just the right moments.
Where to rent Fascination: Amazon Prime Video
Near Dark (1987)
Everett Collection
Long before Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win a Best Director statue at the Academy Awards for The Hurt Locker, she helmed this elegiac Western/horror mash-up about a crew of roving bloodsuckers (including Lance Henriksen and the late, great Bill Paxton) and their new recruit (Adrian Pasdar).
Bigelow's film is highly original without insisting upon itself, or its clever premise. Its supreme confidence in its own vision, coupled with a gorgeous score from Tangerine Dream, makes Near Dark the most valuable addition to the (unfortunately rather small) group of films that mix horror with Western archetypes.
Near Dark is not available to watch or rent.
Nosferatu (1922)
Max Schreck in 'Nosferatu'. Frederic Lewis/Hulton Archive/Getty
F.W. Murnau's pioneering work is more than a century old and remains remarkable for what the director is able to evoke. Nosferatu is a film that conjures and then sustains, for its entire running time, the feeling of being a child, up late at night channel-surfing, and coming across a film that is so alarming, so out-of-this-world, you have to hope it was only a dream.
Where to watch Nosferatu: Tubi
Dracula (1931)
Bela Lugosi in 'Dracula'. Universal/Getty
No list of great vampire films would be complete without Tod Browning's adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, which combines elements and scenes from Nosferatu. Dracula is so acclaimed that any praise toward it has become something of a cliché in itself, but it's impossible not to be bowled over by the exquisitely-immersive sets, the masterful use of light and shadow, and, of course, Bela Lugosi's iconic performance at the center.
Where to watch Dracula: Amazon Prime Video
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Gary Oldman in 'Bram Stoker's Dracula'. Columbia Pictures/Fotos International/Getty
Francis Ford Coppola once told EW that it was none other than Winona Ryder (who stars here as Mina Harker) who convinced the director to helm his singular vision of Stoker's novel. As Coppola explained it, he decided to film his Dracula "much in the way that the earliest cinema practitioners would have…in the script, there were a million effects, but I wanted to do them all live. Nothing in post-production; do them all in the camera." Despite a troubled production that earned it the nickname "Bonfire of the Vampires," the resulting film is a giddily unrestrained gothic horror tale that finds the director presiding over his most eloquently designed production to date. (The film was awarded three Oscars for Best Costume Design, Sound Editing, and Makeup, plus earned a fourth nomination for Best Art Direction.) Coppola's use of shadow throughout is nothing short of mesmerizing, while the ingeniously rendered practical special effects hold a subtle, '40s-style camp value without losing their weight within the narrative.
A sequel, The Van Helsing Chronicles, was planned, though interest from the original cast in returning for a sequel appeared low and it never came to pass. (Ryder, who has shared her tumultuous experiences on the film, which included an accidental marriage to costar Keanu Reeves, responded to EW's query of her involvement in a sequel by simply remarking that "Dracula was a pretty chaotic movie. It was everyone running around and chasing each other with fangs.") Although it would have been a delight to see another straight horror production from Coppola, his version of Dracula speaks for itself as one of the best (fairly) recent vampire films.
Where to rent Bram Stoker's Dracula: Amazon Prime Video
Shadow of the Vampire (2001)
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Willem Dafoe deservedly received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his turn as Max Schreck, the mysterious actor who played Nosferatu in Murnau's namesake film. E. Elias Merhige's clever alternative history posits that Murnau (John Malkovich) was able to helm one of the most realistic vampire films of all time by casting a very real vampire in Schreck. Merhige treads a very fine line between crafting his own vampire story while also delivering a devious industry send-up, as well as a striking homage to Nosferatu.
Shadow of the Vampire coincidentally shares many of its themes with Nope, Jordan Peele's very satisfying summer hit (and one of 2022's best films). Both use horror constructs to devise brutal parables depicting the film industry as a business that, once it has wrung all it can from the talent, will quite literally chew them up and spit them back out.
Shadow of the Vampire is not available to watch or rent.
Black Sabbath (1963)
Everett
This distinguished film from giallo pioneer Mario Bava, which stars the one and only Boris Karloff, is one of the rare entries in the anthology canon in which each segment fires on all cylinders. Bava begins the proceedings with a tale of a telephone creep harassing a woman and closes with ghostly revenge. The second (and best) story is titled "The Wurdulak" and concerns an undead creature that returns to feast on the blood of its loved ones — it's a real doozy.
Where to watch Black Sabbath: Kanopy
The Hunger (1983)
MGM/Everett
David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve star as a pair of particularly horny vampires who lure an age research doctor (Susan Sarandon) into their sordid life of carnal jugular-ripping.
Tony Scott's first feature opens with Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy warbling "Bela Lugosi's Dead" and only gets more '80s-tastic from there. Yet, in spite of its frequent excesses, The Hunger is perhaps the most introspective and mature film Scott would make.
Where to rent The Hunger: Amazon Prime Video
Vampyr (1932)
Julian West in 'Vampyr'. Jerry Tavin/Everett
Despite being considered something of a critical failure at the time of its release for trailblazing Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer, Vampyr's legacy has endured, with its genes irrefutably present in the works of David Lynch and Darren Aronofksy.
Dreyer's eccentric compositions and hypnotic atmospherics make the film feel truly dream-like, or perhaps more accurately, like a nightmare you can't seem to shake.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1972)
Everett
Investigative reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin, Ralphie's old man in A Christmas Story) finds himself on the case of a serial killer, who is actually a vampire abducting women and draining them of their blood.
Veteran director John Llewellyn Moxie delivers a rollicking 75 minutes of pure adrenaline, leaping seamlessly from spooky set pieces (some played brilliantly without music), vampire karate fights, and solid bits of character comedy. This immensely popular made-for-TV movie spawned a sequel, as well as a TV series and it also served as the inspiration for The X-Files.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is not available to watch or rent.
Jennifer's Body (2009)
Doane Gregory/20th Century Fox
While technically more of a succubus movie than a vampire story, Diablo Cody's criminally underrated (and superior) follow-up to Juno shares enough tropes with and homages to the vampire genre that its inclusion here is justified.
Megan Fox displays formidable comedic chops in the title role of a young woman who is turned into a blood-sucking fiend after she is assaulted by a group of alt-rocking Satanists. The film is funny, sad, and scary in equal measure. Cody's script (directed without fault by Karyn Kusama) is an unexpectedly moving parable about body autonomy and the divergent ways people cope in the wake of tragedy.
Where to watch Jennifer's Body: Max
Monster Squad (1987)
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Director Fred Dekker's love letter to horror classics concerns a group of young kids (the titular Monster Squad) who worship old-school movie creatures of the Universal Studios ilk. When the monsters make it out of the movies and into real life, the kids must use their knowledge of classic horror movies to stop Dracula (an imposing Duncan Regehr), the Mummy (Michael MacKay), and Frankenstein's monster (Tom Noonan), among other retro baddies, from enacting a catastrophic scheme.
Where to rent The Monster Squad: Amazon Prime Video
Les Vampires (1915)
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A young journalist (Édouard Mathé) investigates a series of brutal murders, committed by a gang of criminals who call themselves the Vampires, in Louis Feuillade's silent epic, which clocks in at nearly seven hours. With its extended length and detailed intertitles (meticulously translated into English from the original French), Les Vampires feels like a great book, something to tuck into for an hour or so each night before bed.
Feuillade pioneered a visual language here that became highly influential in thriller and horror films over the ensuing decades; it continues to live on over a century later, particularly in the work of Jennifer Kent (The Babadook, The Nightingale) and Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse).
Les Vampires is not available to watch or rent.
Irma Vep (1996)
Zeitgeist Films/Everett
Punk auteur Olivier Assayas (who directed vampire royal Kristen Stewart in not just one, but two, of her best performances) helms this exhilarating, self-reflexive spin on the age-old vampire story. Hong Kong action star Maggie Cheung, never better than she was here playing a version of herself, arrives in France to play Irma Vep in an ill-fated remake of Les Vampires, directed by the perpetually disturbed René Vidal (Jean-Pierre Léaud). Assayas employs the standard tropes of vampiric lore — endless nights, sleepy days, doomed relationships that can only last so long — to poignantly parallel the lives of those bloodsucking monsters of filmland with the lives of those who inhabit them on screen.
Assayas returned to direct a 2022 HBO limited series, also titled Irma Vep and starring Alicia Vikander in Cheung's role, that is both a remake and an expansion of this film. It's streaming on Max, and well worth watching if you wish to travel further down the metatextual wormhole.
The Addiction (1995)
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A philosophy student (Lili Taylor, in one of her finest roles) develops a sickening, obsessive appetite for blood after a chance encounter with a vampire (Annabella Sciorra) in Abel Ferrara's saturnine addition to the vampire genre.
The Addiction, which also stars Ferrara fave Christopher Walken, benefits from low-budget grit, as it's populated with the authentic Manhattan characters and locations that one associates with Ferrara's best work and lensed by Ken Kelsch in sumptuous black and white. Ferrara makes no ambiguity of the fact that here, vampirism represents heroin addiction, something the director himself battled. However, it's also a searing critique of the AIDS crisis at a time when the disease was pervasive and yet still largely misunderstood.