In my opinion, it’s never too early to start thinking about the scary movies you’re going to watch in the lead-up to Halloween.  Vampires are having a bit of a moment right now, so there’s no better time to explore the history of one of the most iconic and enduring subgenres of horror cinema.  Unfortunately, it would be pretty much impossible to cover the entire history of vampire movies in a single blog post: there are just too many great ones!  So, with the acknowledgement that any short list of vampire movies will also necessarily be an incomplete one, I’d like to use this space to talk about a few of my favorites.  Let’s get started!

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula is indisputably the grandfather of the modern vampire story, and I thought for a while about which of its’ many, many cinematic adaptations should go on this list.  Should I spotlight F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, the loose adaptation of Dracula that invented the vampire film genre as we know it today?  Or should I highlight the legendary performance of Bela Lugosi?  How about Christopher Lee?  While those are all great options, in the end I decided on this 1992 adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola.  Forget what you’ve heard about Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, because this movie also features excellent performances from Gary Oldman as Dracula, Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, Winona Rider as Mina Harker, and Tom Waits (!) as Renfield.  This take on the story departs from Stoker’s novel in that it explores the idea of a potential romantic connection between Dracula and Mina Harker. No matter how you feel about the adaptational changes to the original story, this film is undeniably stylish.  With Coppola’s directorial touch, a haunting score by Wojciech Kilar and gorgeous Oscar-nominated costumes by Eiko Ishioka, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is nothing short of an unforgettable cinematic experience .

The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys are Count Dracula’s opposite in just about every way.  Rather than stately aristocrats, they’re a pack of California teenagers who will do anything to stay young and wild forever – including drinking the blood of the living.  New kid Michael is drawn into the orbit of the Lost Boys by their charismatic leader David (played by a young Kiefer Sutherland).  When Michael’s younger brother Sam realizes that something’s wrong, he turns to teen vampire hunters Edgar and Allan Frog for help.  I watched this movie for the first time in what might be the perfect setting – as a misfit tween at a sleepover full of other misfit tweens – and it’s had a special place in my heart ever since.  If you want a fun vampire movie that exemplifies 80s’ cheese, you should definitely add this to your watch list.

The Hunger

This movie pops up on lists of influential vampire films from time to time, but now that I’ve seen it, I think it’s still highly underrated.  For one thing, it’s the definition of luxury casting: the film’s trio of leads are played by Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon.  When immortal vampire Miriam Blaylock (Deneuve) realizes that her partner John (Bowie) will soon come to the end of his supernaturally extended lifespan, she contemplates searching for a replacement.  An ailing John’s encounter with anti-aging researcher Sarah (Sarandon) draws her right into Miriam’s clutches.  Furthermore, the film is visually gorgeous, and features a memorable soundtrack that ranges from 19th-century opera to Bauhaus’ goth-rock hit “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”.  In short it has basically everything I want from a vampire film.  If you’re a true vampire aficionado who’s already seen most of the big-name vampire movies, or if you simply want to see a movie that does something unique within the genre, this absolutely deserves a place on your watchlist.

Nosferatu

As soon as the news dropped that horror auteur Robert Eggers was going to adapt the 1922 German Expressionist classic Nosferatu, horror fans started generating buzz.  In his signature style, Eggers tells the story of Thomas and Ellen Hutter, a newlywed couple haunted by the ghosts of Ellen’s past in the form of Count Orlok, who will stop at nothing to possess Ellen body and soul.  The heart of the movie is Lily-Rose Depp’s performance as Ellen, a young woman repulsed by the monster who haunts her, but dogged by the suspicion that he represents her inescapable fate.  One quick word of warning: Eggers as a director has always preferred to represent the past as close to the way it really was as possible, including the very worst parts.  That means the misogyny and xenophobia of this film’s 19th-century German setting show up here, and may not be as directly criticized by the narrative as modern viewers might like.  That said, if you’re a horror fan, you probably already know whether Eggers’ directorial style works for you or not.  If it does, Nosferatu will give you everything you want out of a vampire film from one of the biggest directorial names of contemporary horror cinema.

Sinners

And now, we come to the smash-hit vampire sensation of 2025.  The film opens with twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) setting up a juke joint upon returning to their hometown. On the way, they recruit Sammie, an extraordinarily gifted young blues musician struggling with his father’s disapproval of his art. On opening night, Sammie gives a preternaturally powerful performance – which attracts the vampire Remmick, a ruthless entity who thirsts both for blood and for access to a community not his own.  With Sinners, director Ryan Coogler has used the language of horror cinema to make a powerful statement about the Black community’s resistance against oppression, particularly the role that music has played in that struggle.  The film is also a masterful work of action-horror, full of mounting dread that calls to mind Night of the Living Dead and The Thing.  Believe all the hype about this movie: it’s highly likely that horror films of the future will be looking to Sinners for inspiration for a long time to come.