Vampires, the immortal creatures of the night, are the first monsters I can remember being afraid of but also endlessly infatuated with. And what's Halloweentober without the undead?! After all, if it wasn't for vampires I probably never would have developed such a fondness for Halloween in the first place...
The 1980s especially hosted a smorgasbord of the undead for me to, uh, sink my teeth into. From the hilarious to the horrific, the vampire films of my childhood were the things that kept me up at night. I was blessed with having my own television in my bedroom at an early age, with parents who were kind enough to respect my privacy and leave me alone when the door was shut. So staying up to watch vampire flicks until dawn was quite normal for me in adolescence.
Once Bitten was one the first I can remember staying up late for and was Jim Carrey's movie introduction to me years before In Living Color debuted on Fox in 1990. Jim's affable virgin Mark Kendall, hounded by one hot woman after another, somehow still struggles to lose his virginity. Whatever, it's the '80s. There's a fun but corny by today's standards dance-off in the gymnasium with a great song. Cleavon Little plays gay vampire Sebastian, and I love this character. He's snarky and witty, and I remember thinking this guy was awesome even as a kid, and Lauren Hutton's Countess is sexy AF in this movie. I had a lot of, um, first feelings about this woman in particular around this time... I probably could've kept that to myself.
Fright Night was another vampire flick that I fell in love with during my first watch. It utterly captivated me, with Charlie Brewster in his room, watching late night creature feature Fright Night, and peaking outside from his bedroom window at the neighbors below. That was me, right there. I felt like Charlie more than any other character at the time! And the transformations of the vampires late in the film, just wow. Sharkface vampires, I never saw that coming... The soundtrack in this film is exceptional, too.
My Best Friend is a Vampire. This one is a bit cooky, but cool in that '80s way. Jeremy is bitten delivering groceries to what appears to be a derelict home. But once inside, and letting himself in, the place appears perfectly gothic. A black cat appears and scratches Jeremy on the finger. The cat runs away like a lil black bitch, and then enters a beautiful woman, ready to suck his finger. The woman offers Jeremy back to her fanciful abode later that night and bites him after sex. As a kid this stuff was exciting as hell! She's a vampire, and she gets nailed again, this time with a wooden stake (hey-oh!). Jeremy wakes up a vampire, and the fun ensues. This one has pretty cool vampire lore explored a bit in the story. The vampires are quite mystical, changing to wolves to frolic in the nighttime. It's a fun flick, and yet another vampire movie that has stayed with me for decades. Finally got a nice Blu-ray release last year, too, thanks to Vestron!
Near Dark. This film is so bloody violent that I'm curious as to why it didn't become my favorite vampire film ahead of The Lost Boys all those years ago. This movie is dark. But damn if it isn't as cool as The Lost Boys, just not as cheerful and bright. The gang here are every bit as murderous as David and his gang, but these cowboy drifter vampires know how to kill and have fun doing it. The bar scene is one of the most memorable scenes in movie history for me personally. You can see the fear in the mortal's eyes in the bar when they begin to understand what these people are and lose all conviction and courage as the blood recedes from their faces. It's terrifying and wonderful. As Bill Paxton slices some dude's neck with his spur, it's like a mic drop for vampire movies. Nothing will come close after this.
The Lost Boys. I look at this movie as the one that really started it all for me. This is the movie that made me a vampire fanatic. This movie had it all, cool bikes, even cooler vampires, vampires that fly!, a great soundtrack and incredible cinematography. The actors and their characters were all just perfect. Santa Clara stands in for Santa Carla, and the town is just a cool southern California town that was mythical in 1980s films. This is the most rock n' roll vampire movie ever. It also had the greatest movie tagline ever:
Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire.
Vamp. This is the weirdest of the 1980s vampire flicks that I watched every single time it was on television. I even rented a few of these from Erol's Video when I just needed to watch it, from time to time. And Vamp is the red-headed stepchild of the bunch. That's not to say that I don't like it, not a chance. But it hits differently. It has this dirty, dark underground world to it filled with ghouls who do the vampire's daytime bidding. This film is like a fever dream with these neon colors of pink and green that light up many scenes. And it has uglier vampires than even Fright Night could produce. Plus, Robert Rusler is in this film, and I was a fan of his since he was in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge and Weird Science.
Dracula (1931). I have to include this movie; it's the king of all vampire movies and stars the king of all vampires! This is the vampire that really started it all. It is wonderfully gothic and beautifully shot and quite an eerie watch. I didn't respect or love this movie as much as a kid, though I donned a Dracula costume for Halloween for several holidays in a row. While not the first, Bela Lugosi was the vampire of the 20th century! His visage became the vampire in Halloween for decades. I respect and adore this film so much more than I ever could have as a kid. And this goes for all of the Universal horror monsters.
All of these vampire flicks are a part of me now, having spent countless hours consuming every minute of each film. I've watched every one of them dozens of times, and I will watch many more times. They are the best of the genre, perfect for Halloweentober viewing, or any time of the year, really, but they really bite in October. These movies have gotten me through some dark days and sad times and loneliness and illness.
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