I’ve always been perplexed by the way vampires are portrayed in movies – and now on tv. I’m something of a purist when it comes to horror and it always strikes me as simply wrong when vampires are put across as the good guys.
The vampire began as the pure, unadulterated embodiment of evil. A terrifying creature that sleeps through the day, only to prey on humans through the night. Lurking in the shadows. No guilt, no remorse, only insatiable hunger for human blood.
Since these simple beginnings, the world of movies has introduced some tweaks here and there … Amongst others, an aversion to garlic and crosses. I don’t have an issue with this. But in addition to these embellishments, movies have brought us this concept of “good” vampires. Vampires with consciences. In fact it seems that now, you would be hard pressed to find any vampire movie or tv show that doesn’t put them over as whiney, oppressed, repressed idiots!
I find this situation pretty intolerable! OK, there’s some advantage, storyline-wise, to having the addition of one or two reluctant vampires here and there. I thought this was done very well in “Interview With The Vampire”, for example. But this is no longer the exception to the rule. I have to keep reminding myself exactly why I love REAL vampire stories by watching ones that actually depict REAL vampires! And finding such a thing made within the last 30 years is close to impossible.
Twilight may be good for a load of angst ridden teenage girls but all of these wimpy, watered-down vampires that drink only animal blood and claim to be “vegetarian” are doing nothing but killing the whole original concept.
The Twilight saga is not about vampires. It is about abstinence and inner strength. Meyer has made this pretty clear in many interviews. She just happens to have chosen the vampire as part of her metaphor. Unfortunately, very few fans of the books and films seem to grasp that. But even worse, those in the industry have created a slew of vampire themed rubbish based upon the same terrible premise. It is with great annoyance that I observe wave upon wave of these movies and tv shows that continue to exploit this weak and flimsy version of what was once a wonderful horror movie monster.
We have reached the point where a movie about vampires is not even automatically classed as horror any more. They’re all simply drama or teen-angst rom-com with a smattering of action and the occasional fight scene. I hate to labour the point, but vampires should be scary!
The horror genre is crying out for a return to form for the vampire. I wonder who will be brave enough to step out of the current trend and address this situation.
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