Paste's The 100 Best Vampire Movies of All Time
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By Mark Rozeman, Jim Vorel and Paste staff | September 26, 2022 | 11:11am
Existing in some form or another for thousands of years, these blood-sucking creatures serve as one of horror’s most creatively flexible monsters. Besides ghoulish monsters, they can be charmers, warriors, sex symbols, sources of comedy, nihilistic philosophers and aliens. Though mostly confined to horror, vampires have also bleed their way into everything from slapstick comedy to award-winning dramas. Oftentimes, these seemingly villainous predators can even serve as sympathetic protagonists or badass antiheroes. Moreover, vampirism itself has stood in as a natural metaphor for a great number of motifs—drug or alcohol addiction, sex, racism, xenophobia, religion, economic disparity and mental illness, to name just a few.
Popularized in folklore and books, the vampire were a natural fit for the silver screen. Today, Paste is counting down the 100 greatest vampire films that cinema has to offer. First—a few caveats. One, unlike Paste’s previous lists numbering film noirs) or cinematic robots, there are far fewer vampire movies that one could classify as being truly “Great.” This scarcity of quality means that some of the earlier entries might be more problematic than those in the latter segment. In such cases, we have ensured that each installment has something of worth to offer viewers, whether it’s a great visual style, a clever story twist, a standout performance or production design so laughably strange and half-baked that it veers into “so bad, it’s good” territory. The Paste writers have also strived to curate a diverse selection of choices. Granted, filmmakers like Mario Bava and institutions like England’s Hammer Film Productions will be making multiple appearances, but we’ve worked to bring in variety whenever possibly.
What’s more, though erotic horror is obviously a popular vampire subgenre, it’s one that we weren’t able to fully dive into without feeling as though we needed to have our souls cleansed afterwards. So if we’ve overlooked your favorite vampire-lesbian erotica, we apologize in advance.
Finally—no, none of the Twilight or Underworld films are on this list. (A stand had to be made.)
Pssst, want to check out the Paste's The 100 Best Vampire Movies of All Time list in our new look?
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1 new
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens
1922 — a.k.a. Nosferatu, in 28 top lists Check -
2 new
Låt den rätte komma in
2008 — a.k.a. Let the Right One In, in 14 top lists Check -
3 new
Dracula
1931, in 11 top lists Check -
4 new
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein
1948 — a.k.a. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, in 6 top lists Check -
5 new
Drácula
1931, in 2 top lists Check -
6 new
La maschera del demonio
1960 — a.k.a. Black Sunday, in 8 top lists Check -
7 new
Vampyr
1932, in 18 top lists Check -
8 new
Dracula
1958 — a.k.a. Horror of Dracula, in 8 top lists Check -
9 new
Blade II
2002, in 1 top list Check -
10 new
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
2014, in 3 top lists Check -
11 new
What We Do in the Shadows
2014, in 7 top lists Check -
12 new
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
1971, in 1 top list Check -
13 new
Martin
1977, in 4 top lists Check -
14 new
Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
2002, in 2 top lists Check -
15 new
Near Dark
1987, in 9 top lists Check -
16 new
Only Lovers Left Alive
2013, in 4 top lists Check -
17 new
Kyuketsuki Gokemidoro
1968 — a.k.a. Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell, in 2 top lists Check -
18 new
Valerie a týden divu
1970 — a.k.a. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, in 8 top lists Check -
19 new
Ganja & Hess
1973 — a.k.a. Black Evil, in 3 top lists Check -
20 new
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
1979 — a.k.a. Nosferatu the Vampyre, in 5 top lists Check -
21 new
Bakjwi
2009 — a.k.a. Thirst, in 2 top lists Check -
22 new
Shadow of the Vampire
2000, in 1 top list Check -
23 new
The Hunger
1983, in 2 top lists Check -
24 new
Blade
1998, in 2 top lists Check -
25 new
I tre volti della paura
1963 — a.k.a. Black Sabbath, in 2 top lists Check -
26 new
Blacula
1972, in 2 top lists Check -
27 new
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
1968, in 1 top list Check -
28 new
Cronos
1992, in 6 top lists Check -
29 new
Nochnoy dozor
2004 — a.k.a. Night Watch, in 3 top lists Check -
30 new
Bram Stoker's Dracula
1992, in 6 top lists Check -
31 new
Trouble Every Day
2001, in 6 top lists Check -
32 new
The Lost Boys
1987, in 3 top lists Check -
33 new
Let Me In
2010, in 1 top list Check -
34 new
The Addiction
1995, in 5 top lists Check -
35 new
From Dusk Till Dawn
1996, in 2 top lists Check -
36 new
30 Days of Night
2007, in 1 top list Check -
37 new
The Monster Squad
1987, in 2 top lists Check -
38 new
Afflicted
2013, in 0 top lists Check -
39 new
Geung see sin sang
1985 — a.k.a. Mr. Vampire, in 2 top lists Check -
40 new
Dnevnoy dozor
2006 — a.k.a. Day Watch, in 0 top lists Check -
41 new
The Brides of Dracula
1960, in 1 top list Check -
42 new
The Last Man on Earth
1964 — a.k.a. Naked Terror, in 1 top list Check -
43 new
Stake Land
2010, in 1 top list Check -
44 new
Byzantium
2012, in 1 top list Check -
45 new
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
1994, in 5 top lists Check -
46 new
Fright Night
2011, in 1 top list Check -
47 new
Dracula's Daughter
1936 — a.k.a. Daughter of Dracula, in 1 top list Check -
48 new
Dracula: Prince of Darkness
1966, in 1 top list Check -
49 new
Thirst
1979, in 0 top lists Check -
50 new
Fright Night
1985, in 2 top lists Check
Last updated on Sep 28, 2022; source