How do you explain our collective fascination with vampires? Well, in spite of the terrible curse that they must endure, these undead bloodsuckers have some attributes to which almost anyone can relate - and sometimes envy. Vampires live forever, but are mostly hated (or at least misunderstood). They are usually sophisticated and seductive, but must prey on the living to survive. With Halloween right around the corner, we at RT thought it was high time to pay tribute to those legions of the undead that have won the critics' approval, from Dracula to Twilight.
Not all vampire movies follow the same conventions -- you don't see Twilight's Edward Cullen turning into a bat. However, we've laid down a set of ground rules for our list. Each film included here has at least 20 reviews, and they're ranked utilizing a weighted formula that takes Tomatometer ranking, number of reviews, and year of release into account. That means some films (like Carl Theodor Dreyer's classic Vampyr) seem to be ranked lower then the Tomatometer would indicate. And although some selections included here (like I Am Legend) may seem to stretch the criteria, they still maintain the classic trappings of vampire lore, from blood-drinking to a distaste for sunny days. So put away your mirrors, fix yourself a garlic-free meal, and settle in for our list of the 25 best-reviewed vampire movies of all time!
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*** twilight....blade..wtf happened to that series i have yet to hear any news on it, or wesley snipes..wtf happened to him?
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Blade Trinity wasn't very good, Wesley Snipes is getting old and the IRS decided to get those pesky taxes he wasn't paying.
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Wesley snipes is in jail for tax evasion
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Your list has some turkeys , some imposters and a number of conspicuous omissions. TURKEYS: Blade 1 & 2. The last one was the best by far. The imposters are titles that don't even belong on the list because they're really not about vampires. IMPOSTERS: The Omega Man, I Am Legend (I'm sure everyone realizes this movie is a re-tread of 'The Omega Man'). GLARING OMISSIONS: Rise: Blood Hunter (Lucy Lu is perfect); Blade Trinity (Parker Posey is so goth but with a Jersey attitude); Van Helsing (the brides of Dracula reminded me of my ex; also the Count himself was droll and funny);and how could anyone leave out the Underworld series? Oh well. Different strokes/different folks.
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I can actually find very little fault in this list and am pleasantly surprised to see Near Dark and Fright Night so well represented. If I was one of those people who HAD to nitpick, I'd like to see Coppola's Dracula and The Lost Boys a smidge higher and John Carpenters Vampires, but it's really more of a guilty pleasure.
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Twilight shouldn't be on there!Vampires don't sparkle in the sun!SPARKLE SPARKLE!
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I thought they DIED in the sun!
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@ ledawg - Lol when will you learn that no matter how many legends, books and movies have clearly established that vampires get either burnt, turned to dust or simply annihilated as soon as they get exposed to any amount of sunlight, there are always those super special vampires from Twilight that are far and above any previous vampires ever known.
A more accurate description would be that Edward is exactly like Blade but he cant fight, doesn't know how to use any weapons and his skin is apparently made up of diamonds.....
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Actually Dracula, the archetype for the modern vampire was able to walk in daylight as were to a certain extent Vampire in Anne Rice books and Blade with the assistance of Sunblock which to me is way more insulting to the intelligence than Diamond skin and as New Moon will show you Edward is quite able to take care of himself. Let's not forget in Twilight the girl vampire rips the head off another vampire with her bare hands. Just sayin.
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Yeah wtf is twilight doing on this list. The shinny vampires looking like mr. clean LMAO.
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Oh sure they do! Right before they burst into flame and die!
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Who cares if they sparkle ??? Stephine Meyer is worth 50 million dollors mostly just for the SPARKLE SPARKLE ****. so my guess is she couldnt careless about the sparkles...........Hell i'ld write about a dog that talks and drives cars if that'll make me worth 50 mill.DUH!
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Kyle H. wrote "Twilight shouldn't be on there!Vampires don't sparkle in the sun!SPARKLE SPARKLE!"
Kyle you are a Twilight hater i presume. Well my friend when i look down that list the only movie that i see that shouldn't be on it i see I AM LEGEND. I don't think that anywhere in that movie was it mentioned that they were vampires.
As for Twilight. I think that it is a really good movie putting a spin on the vampire that was much needed. If blade can walk around in the sun then why can't they sparkle?
Just to add what i think most of the people thought when they read your comment. Vampires do not exist either Kyle. And if they do and we don't know about it then how do we know if they sparkle or burn in the sun?
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I am VERY pleased with this list. VERY. Hell, I don't even mind Twilight on here. Personally, I never liked The Lost Boys, and I consider it near equivalent to Twilight in teen idiocy. So I'm sure, in time, Twilight will have near the same rating as The Lost Boys, thanks to mindless nostalgia. I haven't seen near half of these, too, and even then I don't mind. Especially if Guillermo Del Toro is in there...
Anyway, I am absolutely thrilled at number one. Nosferatu IS THE BEST vampire film. Ever. I have yet to see one that beats it. While it is not a scary film per-se, it is a haunting one. Its symbolism is so powerful, its colors and atmosphere so dreadful and creepy, and Max Shreck... (good lord! That make up is still frightening to this day), all it can do is linger... and haunt. I love it. And it shows how vampires should be. Vampires shouldn't me romantic, and if they are, only to further their own needs. They should cold blooded (no pun intended) killers. Because that's what they were in old myth, and that's what they were when Dracula was first published.
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I agree with Nosferatu being the superlative vampire film. Also Let the Right One in deserves its station: probably the greatest modern vampire film although I've yet to see Herzog's Nosferatu. This is the most impeccable list Rotten Tomatoes has ever assembly. I have no qualms. Well except for twilight. Anyone who condones that idiocy can spend eternity scorched in the lake of fire.
@Gst while I can't refute your claim about the teen idiocy of the lost boys, I can say it does what twilight can't; it's a pop culture and gothic medley executed with panache and exuberance. Highly entertaining and infinitely quotable. Also it captures a performance from the two coreys before they went insane.
"Death by stereo!"
"Garlic don't work sucker"
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Agreed, Nosferatu is up there with the original Wolfman and Phantom of the Opera as my favorite classic horror movies. I realize it's virtually sacrilege to ignore Whale's Frankenstein movies, but I love the book so much the movies never quite lived up to it for me.
Also glad to see Lee and Cushing get some acknowledgement for thier classic partnership once again proving that the best actors are able to shine and make us believe in anything. Cushing is still the definitive Van Helsing for me.
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Man, f*** this list.
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Great list! It's nice to see a grand assortment of films represented here. It would have been cool to have Dracula: Dead and Loving It, though!
"She's dead?!"
"She's Nosferatu."
"She's Italian?!"
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Good list...except for Twilight.
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I would've had Interview with a Vampire higher on the list. Crack up Kyle H. but you are definately right about Twilight. They should"ve called it Sparkle.
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twilight shouldn't be on this. That's a given. What about Count Yorgan and the Hammer films Draculas? They're a lot better than some of the garbage on this list.
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i meant count yorga
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The Horror of Dracula is a Hammer Dracula film. That's my favorite one actually, and it's kinda hard to argue with only the one since the things that make any Hammer film great are pretty much the same in all of them. Don't get me wrong, I love them but they are very similar stylistically.
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Ill be the first to admit that I guess in my excitement to criticize Twilight, I managed to completely overlook all of the points that you brought up BigBrother.
Lol I will have to make an effort to pay more attention to the Twilight series, because I really don't have a great understanding of what all the main characters are fully capable of....
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I've seen all of these, and I like Herzog's the best. It's a meditation of sorts. Definately not for those with short attention spans.
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Credit to Herzog for having the brass ones to try to re-make Nosferatu and even more credit for mostly succeeding.
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Yay, Nosferatu is in it's rightful place.
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yeah i totaly agree with that i dont think twilght is even a proper vampire movie its a cheap romance for teenaged grils
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Twillight sucks, Let the Right One In is overrated and Fright Night is the bomb! My favorite anyway.
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Twilight? Sure, it's a phenomenon since there's so much babysitting money going around these days. But seriously, vampires don't sparkle. You can play with the mythos some, but that was just too much.
Technically, neither "Omega Man" (which I like despite its cheesiness) and "I Am Legend" (which strayed way too far from the source material) should not be on this list - they are not about vampires. I don't recall any reference to "vampires" in either movie. Sure, the Richard Matheson story is about vampires, but since neither movie really is, I think those two should be disqualified. Put "The Last Man On Earth" (a more literal adaptation of "I Am Legend") in there someplace. I guess the '70s "Salem's Lot" is more TV show than movie, but I liked that one.
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A movie like 'I Am Legend' should definitely be on this list especially considering the source material, which really was a great book. The movie itself had all of the potential to be a really great movie if the writers had only chosen to stick with some of the original aspects of the source material. I cannot fault Will Smith for his role in the movie either, his performance was really good.
There is certainly lots of potential in the possible prequel to 'I Am Legend'. I am definitely looking forward to it, I just hope it gets done well.
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I have heard quite a few people who have said that they don't really consider "I Am Legend' as a vampire movie and I am not only talking about some of you who have brought it up here. In many ways it came across as just a 'Monster' movie of sorts and that is what really sucks.
In many ways, the film adaptations of 'I Am Legend' is almost exactly like the 'Watchmen' film. Both movies were based off of great, well written and detailed source material and yet ended up being conveyed in a way that meant their respective ideas were perceived completely differently by people who didn't know what they were supposed to be actually be about....
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I have to agree. Source material notwithstanding, this list is of the top 25 best VAMPIRE MOVIES, not movies made from sources that may or may not have contained vampires. I am legend had NOTHING to do with vampires. Would have made more sense to include tv shows than stretch back to source material, as HBO's True Blood is one of the best vampire shows I've seen since Nosferatu.
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2nd best vampire movie of all time ?!? Come on ! "Let the right one in" is way overrated. Near Dark & Fright Night are right where they are supposed to be though; at the top ! I'm gonna check out "Martin".
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I was basing my judgment on this list solely on the #1 spot, and there it is. Nosferatu is by far the best vampire movie ever made... Also Near Dark is far too often overlooked, and many people I know have never heard of it let alone seen it.
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This was an excellent list (minus Twilight). So glad to see Martin on there, the best vampire movie of all time in my opinion. I've always wanted to see Kronos and can never find it, does anyone else know how to get it? It's not on netflix
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Amazon.com my friend, you can get the collectors edition for 18 bucks.
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This list shows one thing, all but about 8 vampire movies have been mediocre to downright horrible.
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I The bet the 8 vampire movies were probably made before the 60s right ? Because every movie from back then is a tremendous classic right ? Right.
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I also thought 30 DAYS OF NIGHT was ridiculous, except for Ben Foster's awesome performance.
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No worries man, I got no issues with someone not liking Twilight. I just don't care for the backlash for the sake of Backlash. I'm the first to admit that the first movie isn't up to snuff, but the books do have some interesting elements. How the vampire war against each other and the tactics they use. How some of the Cullens fight. Alice being able to see into the future being pretty much invulnerable because she knows what punch the person is going to throw before they do it. Edward same deal because he can read minds. Hate if you must, but don't hate just because other people are excited about it. At least hate it on its own merits. Not saying you specifically, but I guarantee you a ton of the people complaining about it have never seen it or read the books.
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