Unless you’ve been lying in a tomb the last few weeks, you would know that one of the most talked about films in theaters right now is Robert Eggers’ masterful, soul-crushing NOSFERATU. The acclaimed film (read Reel Speak’s review HERE), is an adaptation of the 1922 silent-film of the same name, which was an un-authorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s quintessential vampire novel, Dracula. Eggers’ version has delivered one of the best cinematic blood-suckers of all time, but how does it stake-up against nearly 100 years of movie vampires? The vampires we have loved, feared, and idolized? Grab your garlic and enter if you dare…Reel Speak’s Top 10 Cinematic Vampires. This is not a ranking of films, to be clear; it’s a ranking of the most iconic and memorable vampires within those films.
So, let’s rise…
10. Wesley Snipes as Blade
From BLADE (1998)
Technically, Blade was a not vampire but a Dhampir; a human with vampire strengths but not their weaknesses. But who cares when the blood starts flying. As one of the earliest films based on a Marvel character, BLADE delivered the thrills, and gave Snipes his most iconic role. How loved was the character? His recent cameo last year in the MCU drew the biggest cheers.
9. Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen
From TWILIGHT (2008)
Robert Pattinson established himself as a future leading man, showing the maturity of a centuries-old creature trapped in the body of a 17-year-old boy…played across five films. Laugh it up if you wish, but for a generation of fans who were ripe for the vampire resurgence that we had in the early 2000’s, Edward was their guy and still is.
8. Brad Pitt as Louis
From INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994)
Tom Cruise may have had the flashier role in this first attempt at bringing Anne Rice’s literary vampires to the big screen, but it was his co-star Brad Pitt’s brooding and tortured Louis who gets the bigger bite. Pitt plays his vampire as one who feels the weight of the endless amounts of time behind him and in front of him, and adds a new dimension to the vampire that would be followed for the next 30 years.
7. Kiefer Sutherland as David
From THE LOST BOYS (1987)
Joel Schumacher’s generation-defining film about a small town infested with all those damn vampires needed one hell of a villain, and he got one in Kiefer Sutherland’s David. David embraced his eternal youth and took others with him, while also loving his role as a gang leader and murderer. An iconic performance and look that would inspire the famed vampire Spike in the TV series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1997-2003).
6. Christopher Lee as Dracula
From DRACULA (1958)
Before he was Saruman the Wizard or Count Dooku the dark Jedi, Christopher Lee was Dracula for more than one generation, appearing as the character ten times for Hammer Films. Although Lee in later years would express frustration with those films, his performance brought a balance of evil and loneliness to the character, setting a standard that would inspire future movie vampires.
5. Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck
From SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (2000)
Willem Dafoe plays famed actor Max Schreck as an actual vampire in this fictionalized story of the making of the 1922 landmark film, NOSFERATU. There isn’t much depth or romance involved with this vampire; he’s just out to eat…and that makes him all the more terrifying.
4. Max Schreck as Count Orlok
From NOSFERATU (1922)
The pairing of German expressionist filmmaker F.W. Murnau and silent-film actor Max Schreck was a match made in a glorious hell. Murnau utilized lights and shadows and one of the most terrifying makeup jobs of all time to make Orlok one of the scariest characters ever seen, and Schreck responded with the face and movements that communicates dread in the silent format. It’s not an easy task for a 102-year old movie to bring the scares, but Schreck does the deed.
3. Bill Skarsgard as Count Orlok
From NOSFERATU (2024)
To show more of director Robert Eggers’ version of Count Orlok would be a sin, because this vampire is one that demands to be seen on the big screen. His look, demeanor, and a voice provided by Bill Skarsgard that can be felt in your bowels…all add up to a towering figure in horror. Time will be ultimate judge of this Orlok, but for now he belongs in the upper tier.
2. Gary Oldman as Dracula
From BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992)
Francis Ford Coppola turned this version of Dracula into a love story in a beautiful, fascinating, and hypnotic film with Gary Oldman in the title role. Oldman appears in several forms, including a walking corpse, a handsome prince, and a grotesque man-bat that is one of the most impressive visuals of all time. Oldman took on the role simply because he wanted to deliver the line, “I have crossed oceans of time to find you.”, and deliver, he did.
1. Bela Lugosi as Dracula
From DRACULA (1931)
A performance that was so iconic that not even the actor himself could escape its shadow. Bela Lugosi appears as the Count in this Universal classic that would give the horror genre the life that it still has today. As the first sound-film of the Stoker novel, casting for the lead was vital, and the Hungarian-born Lugosi, who had played the part on the stage, was perfect. He made Dracula scary and romantic, dreadful and fascinating…and set a standard that every cinematic vampire has been chasing for nearly 100 years. When we look back at all the vampires that have come after 1931...they all have a little bit of the Lugosi bloodline.
- Bela Lugosi as Dracula
- Gary Oldman as Dracula
- Bill Skarsgard as Count Orlok
- Max Schreck as Count Orlok
- Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck
- Christopher Lee as Dracula
- Kiefer Sutherland as David
- Brad Pitt as Louis
- Robert Pattinson as Edward
- Wesley Snipes as Blade
No comments:
Post a Comment
A few rules:
1. Personal attacks not tolerated.
2. Haters welcome, if you can justify it.
3. Swearing is goddamn OK.