YOUR Best Vampire Film All-time?

[Sculpt]

What do you think is the best vampire film you've ever seen? (Disregard compulsion to select "the greatest" in notoriety; but rather the film you personally enjoyed the most, and thought was the best. Why do you think so?

If one of your favorites is not one of the poll selections, which ones are they? HDC only allows 10 options for a poll, so it's impossible to cover all the good ones. Please, if you do list a film not in 10 options, please advise if you thought it was better than all the 10 in the list. We could list 30+ films we liked, but we're interested in which one you liked the best.

------------------------------- Bonus Question -------------------------
If you were to select the "Best Vampire Film of All-time", would you tend not to select a film that completely disregards displaying the vampire origin discussion (that is, films that assume the audience already knows the origin/rules, or the films that don't follow the origin/rules)?

[knife_fight]

I voted "Fright Night" because "the Lost Boys" wasn't an option. I know The Lost Boys isn't a better film than any of these, but I've seen it the most and found it to be fun and enjoyable every single time.

[neverending]

The Horror of Dracula, the film that revived horror at the time and brought a new look to horror films, and also made horror icons of Cushing and Lee.

[ChronoGrl]

I don't think it's really fair for me to vote as honestly I haven't seen most of those. :o

When I was in middle school I was absolutely obsessed with Interview and Bram Stoker's Dracula.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I finally got to see Nosferatu; what an utter piece of genius! I was lucky enough to see it at an auditorium with live piano and drum accompaniment.

[Kandarian Demon]

For me personally, the absolutely best vampire movie ever is the original Salems Lot (NOT the remake!!!).

To me, it's a magical movie. Have you ever watched a movie that pulled you in so much that you could almost sense everything in it as if you were a part of it yourself? That's the effect Salems Lot has on me. Of course, this is just MY personal opinion - but there is absolutely NOTHING I would change about that movie, it's as close to perfect as it gets.

Also, the movie has what I consider to be one of the scariest scenes of all time. Again, just my opinion...

I'm not sure how to insert youtube videos on this site, but I will try - this should be a link to the scene I was talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1unHCE_Npw

A VERY close second would be Nosferatu, that movie is really a work of art. Of course, the two vampires from Nosferatu and Salems Lot are kind of similar looking -and probably the only two vampires that I ever found truly frightening, rather than attractive, which is how I always felt about all the other vampires.

[The Villain]

I'd say Nosferatu. It's one of my favorite movies and it still scares me today

[sfear]

Horror Of Dracula

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

I don't think it's really fair for me to vote as honestly I haven't seen most of those. :o

When I was in middle school I was absolutely obsessed with Interview and Bram Stoker's Dracula.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I finally got to see Nosferatu; what an utter piece of genius! I was lucky enough to see it at an auditorium with live piano and drum accompaniment.

You can absolutely vote. Everyone who's enjoyed a vampire film qualifies for this poll. Nobody can see every film, and probably shouldn't. I haven't seen every film on that list either, (although I plan on it).

Sounds like you enjoyed Interview the most. I liked it too. It probably has the most developed characters of the lot.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by Kandarian Demon

For me personally, the absolutely best vampire movie ever is the original Salems Lot (NOT the remake!!!).

To me, it's a magical movie. Have you ever watched a movie that pulled you in so much that you could almost sense everything in it as if you were a part of it yourself? That's the effect Salems Lot has on me. Of course, this is just MY personal opinion - but there is absolutely NOTHING I would change about that movie, it's as close to perfect as it gets.

Also, the movie has what I consider to be one of the scariest scenes of all time. Again, just my opinion...

I'm not sure how to insert youtube videos on this site, but I will try - this should be a link to the scene I was talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1unHCE_Npw

A VERY close second would be Nosferatu, that movie is really a work of art. Of course, the two vampires from Nosferatu and Salems Lot are kind of similar looking -and probably the only two vampires that I ever found truly frightening, rather than attractive, which is how I always felt about all the other vampires.

Salem's Lot was in my short list, along with Cronos, the Night Stalker and Brides of Dracula. I've only seen bits a pieces of Lot. It was a big deal when it was on TV. I look forward to seeing it.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by knife_fight

I voted "Fright Night" because "the Lost Boys" wasn't an option. I know The Lost Boys isn't a better film than any of these, but I've seen it the most and found it to be fun and enjoyable every single time.

Lot's of people loved Lost Boys. I found it mildly entertaining, although I remember a few minor things miffed me. Beautifully shoot, good start, but disappointing end half. A mentally unstable friend of mine de-friended me for a year because I explained why I didn't think it was a particularly good film. It surely evokes strong something... I hesitate to say emotion; it's more like subconscious allegiance. I'm kidding a bit with the allegiance line. But I think it certainly manages to stir the subconscious of many. I may have to analyze the subconscious triggers for fun sometime. They admittedly were not apparent to me.

Personally, if I were to sum it up in one sentence: I found it more style than substance. Like a good MTV music video that isn't trying to say anything. If I wanted that in a film, maybe I would have liked it more.

I thought the interactions of the teens didn't make a lot of common sense, without the film trying to be a dream film, where decisions don't have to make sense. Rebel Without a Cause had plenty of that too. Anyway, I think I actually agreed with Roger Ebert...

Roger Ebert- ... "The Frog Brothers try to warn him. They're a couple of bright kids who run a comic book store on the carnival boardwalk. They give him a couple of comic books about vampires and offer their services if any vampires need to be killed, but Michael doesn't believe in vampires and doesn't make the connection until it's too late.

At about this point, the movie feels like it's going somewhere. But then the plot starts getting very complicated, with the adult romance between Wiest and Herrmann, the teenage romance between Patric and Gertz, and the vampire intrigues of Sutherland.

Because everything looks so good (the movie was photographed in rich, dark colors by Michael Chapman), we almost give it the benefit of the doubt: The high quality of the photography and acting had me wondering if perhaps this wouldn't develop into a genuinely frightening and interesting vampire story. But no such luck. It is no longer a virtue in mainstream Hollywood to bring any genuine, unsettling imagination to a commercial movie.

If you really stop to think about it, a bunch of vampire teenagers would be a terrible shame, a tragedy, a heartbreaking loss of innocence for them, let alone their victims. Am I silly to take them seriously? Maybe so. The movie doesn't. It lacks the sense of dread that creeps out from the pages of a novel such as Anne Rice's Interviews with the Vampire and substitutes the same old cornball, predictable action climax with everybody chasing everybody around with lots of screams and special-effects gore. Sometimes I think modern advances in special-effects technology can be directly blamed for the collapse of original screenwriting.

There's some good stuff in the movie, including a cast that's good right down the line and a willingness to have some fun with teenage culture in the Mass Murder Capital. But when everything is all over, there's nothing to leave the theater with - no real horrors, no real dread, no real imagination - just technique at the service of formula.