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 .

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