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Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 2, 2009 20:37:08 GMT 2
Vampires are awesome. There's been hundreds of different movies, TV shows, novels and comics about them, some with vastly different character traits; some hate crosses, some hate garlic, some are pretty much like the person they were before they were bitten, while some are grotesque monsters. So what's YOUR favourite type? Feel free to remind me of any character type I may have left out, but after careful consideration, the different vampire types ARE...
Type A: The Count: Royal, noble and often with a silly accent, they have all the classic trappings adopted from the Dracula book - castle, wolves, cloak.. the whole shebang. See: Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula Tom Cruise as Lestat Count Von Count Type B: Sexy: A more modern character adaptation, this taps into the underlying sexual nature of the Dracula character. Dracula has always been, to quote Colden Holfield, "a sexy bastard," but it's the female vampire that has been responsible for more "should I find that attractive" musings from horror fans. See: Maila Nurmi as Vampira  Brides of Dracula 
Yvonne de Carlo as Lily Munster Type C: The Monster: Let's face it - Vampires are undead creatures who can't stand sunlight and drink blood, so why the fuck WOULD they be sexy? They should be like Type C, horrible abominations. See: Max Schreck as Count Orlock 30 Days of Night
Morbius the Living Vampire Type D: Cool: Not as out-there sexy as Type B, these bloodsuckers still manage to hit the hotty-meter rating due to a couple of factors: dressing, acting and looking COOL. See: Angel and Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Keifer Sutherland in Lost Boys Blade's Deacon Frost Type E: Just like us.. but not quite. Quite possibly the most frightening vampire, one that looks and acts exactly the same as they did before they were bitten, and in some types don't even WANT to be vampires but they can't help it. These types LOOK like they're your friend.. See: Billy Glick from Salem's Lot Harmony Kendall from Buffy Bill Paxton, Near Dark And I think that's it pretty much covered. Of course, these examples could fit neatly into other categories (Spike and Angel are like "us", of course, but no-one's going to argue their sex appeal), and there may be one or two character types I've missed out on (hence the "other" selection). If I had to choose, I think my ideal vampire is the original and best. I'm a sucker for "old school" thinking, and my ideal vampire lives in a castle, turns into a bat, wears a cloak and crawls up walls. I mean, check THIS clip out.. uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IVPxAgy7lBA&feature=PlayList&p=940EA0E10EEA400A&playnext=1&index=6Now THAT is a vampire. But that's my opinion - what's your favourite vampire type? |
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Post by trashcanman on Feb 3, 2009 12:27:52 GMT 2
My heart is pounding from that display of vampy hotness. I love this site. That Bill Paxton shot may be the coolest thing ever. I love all vampires, but Bela Lugosi's Drac is far and away my favorite. I love the vampire as a metaphor for the rich and privileged nobility draining the common man dry, crushing the weak under it's heel, and defiling all that is innocent and good while maintaining the appearance of the perfect gentleman/lady.
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Post by Ben on Feb 5, 2009 0:55:06 GMT 2
I'm definitely a fan of the classic vampire, though I never really understood the whole "turns into a bat" thing. My ideal vampire is a mix of the old school type, and the just-like-us type. It's got to have the accent, the pale skin, it has to sleep in a coffin/grave, and the only way to kill it is by driving a wooden stake through its heart. And let's not forget the cloak.
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 5, 2009 21:38:20 GMT 2
My heart is pounding from that display of vampy hotness. I love this site. You know, it took me a fucking age to make this thread, finding good pictures and everything - but THAT made it all worthwhile. Consider me touched. I never actually even thought of vampires in that way, Trashy. I mean, the whole sexual/penetration aspect I got, but that's put the whole thing in a different light. Hmmmm. As for turning into a bat, it's the only thing that puts the vampire idea into complete fantasy. Yeah, the undead drinking blood thing is fantasy too, but... well, you could sort of believe it. It maybe, possibly, ever so slightly could happen. But when did he start turning into a wolf as well? I can't remember, did that happen in the Bela movie too? |
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Post by InvisibleWolfMan on Feb 5, 2009 22:48:17 GMT 2
To my knowledge, none of the classic Universal Monster movies ever had Dracula changing into a wolf. I will go onto say that although Bela's portrayal of Dracula remains at heart THE ORIGINAL, I will dare say that the Spanish language version of DRACULA filmed exactly at the same time as Bela's version (only during the night) is THE BEST of the two. Not facing the same censorship, they got away with real rats (rather than using possums), plenty of cleavage, and the acting was many steps above the English language version. Case in point? The scene involving Van Helsing meeting Dracula for the first time and eventually showing a mirror to Dracula. In Bela's version he merely slaps it out of Van Helsing's hand onto the floor. In the Spanish version, Dracula whips his cane from his side to smash the box containing the mirror to smithereens.  And to correct a missing image from The Curmudgeon's post, here's Maila Nurmi (a Finnish lady who was truely goth before goth was cool) as Vampira:  Thank god for Finnish women... ;D  |
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 6, 2009 3:05:45 GMT 2
I long to see the Spanish version of Dracula. When I first bought the Universal Monsters Collection boxset, I had mistaken it for the Legacy Collection boxset, which has, like, four movies of each monster. My version just had the original movie (but thankfully still had the documentaries). I read about the Spanish movie a few years back and it's been on my must see list ever since. Is it dubbed into English or are there subtitles?
I don't know why my Vampira picture disappeared, but your pic is as worthy as any. I've edited my pic to put another one in, I think you can imagine why I picked it.
It's actually a pretty bad story regarding Vampira; Elvira totally stole her gimmick, and Vampira went broke trying to sue her, and eventually failed. Very sad.
And who'd have thought we'd be all old school purists at heart? Not one vote for the cloakless, castle-less vamps. Nice.
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Post by trashcanman on Feb 6, 2009 21:46:43 GMT 2
Actually, Drac does turn into a wolf in the original, but not onscreen. The Spanish version is also much longer than the classic version. It is in Spanish with subtitles. I prefer the campy cast of the English verison by a mile. There is no replacing Lugosi and Frye. Ever.
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 6, 2009 22:15:40 GMT 2
YES! I haven't seen the original in a while, but doesn't he turn into a wolf as he runs away from the house after a confrontation with Van Helsing? We don't see it, obviously (how the hell would they have done that in those days? Dracula didn't even have fangs) but don't they look out the window and talk about it? Or is my memory playing tricks?
I agree with you about the casting, Trashy, but I think we could have all done without the comedy "he's maaaaaaaaaaad" policeman.
Oh, and speaking of Bela, there's a new addition to the Time Wasters "canon" that I think you may enjoy. I was going to put it in here, but it deserves it's own thread.
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Post by trashcanman on Feb 7, 2009 0:36:19 GMT 2
I love the comedy in "Dracula". I love every second of that film. Wouldn't change a thing. While I'm here, I'll add some vamp types you may have missed. The vagina-headed Japanese variety  The Filipino Aswang, who use their superlong tongues to drain the blood of the unborn  How could anybody forget the lesbian vampire?  "Sexadelic". I like that. or the magical girl anime variety?  Or gun-toting superbadass coolest character ever anime variety?  And last but not least, there's Vampire Hookers! "Blood is not all they suck!" I watch WAY too many vampire flicks. |
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 7, 2009 1:44:33 GMT 2
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Post by trashcanman on Feb 7, 2009 4:08:27 GMT 2
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 7, 2009 4:23:03 GMT 2
Oh man, not only have you GOT the damn book you've reviewed it too. What are the odds? I had a similar couple of books that specialised in monster movies (I loved it at the time because it had a list of every Godzilla movie - including vs Bambi) and this was the days before the internet so it was invaluable. I also had a Frankenstein book from the same people, with every conceivable reference to building human life (including cartoons). There was a vampire one to complete the set but I couldn't find it anywhere. That book looks as good a bet as any.
As for the Bram Stoker Dracula review.. Um.. nothing there. Just the site itself. But, oooh.. is that a site where you can review movies and music? Interesting..
I thought that WAS Vampire Hunter D. Who's that guy then?
I had Blacula on DVD a while back (sniped it on ebay for about £5, traded it for something ages ago). It's.. not bad. But if you pride yourself on seeing most vampire movies, damn man - it's a must.
See it before it gets remade. Oh, and there's a sequel too (which I haven't seen). Amazon are selling the original for $5. Make it happen.
I'm racking my brains now trying to think of non-obvious vampire movies. Oh, oh - have you seen Vamp? That scared the crap out of me when I was younger.. then again, it IS Grace Jones. Fangs or no fangs, she'd chill the blood of most people.
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Post by pauless on Feb 7, 2009 6:19:22 GMT 2
The 'Blacula' sequel is way cool. 'Scream Blacula Scream' Got Pam Grier in it and a load of New Orleans style voodoo. I'm voting for the sexy bitch vampires by a neck; A couple examples from our old friends at Hammer. Check out the brilliant 'Twins of Evil' theme. www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-yKl7mMoB0www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ-Vj-paDnUand a short scene from Josef Larraz' notorious 'Vampyres' which should have brought an abrupt end to hitch-hiking in the UK... www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1FPGM12lI0No clips of Gloria Grahame as 'Dracula's Daughter' I'm afraid. A 30's centre-parting modernist classic. LOVE the thread... |
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Post by trashcanman on Feb 8, 2009 1:12:46 GMT 2
Twins of Evil has no American DVD release yet. Time to head across the Atlantic, I'm tired of waiting. "Vamp" was pretty good. But the sexiest vampire movie ever is easily the lamely-named "The Vampire Lovers", which is actually the only adaptation of "Carmilla" that holds a candle to the book. Not only that, but it's my favorite Hammer film ever. I don't say this lightly. The trailer doesn't do it justice, but here it is. Oh, and I reviewed "The Werewolf Book" as well. www.amazon.com/review/R4RVFFTGTOWQR/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1578590787&nodeID=#wasThisHelpfulThat site (lunch.com) is actually still in beta-testing so that must be why you can't get in. I will send you an invite so you can check it out. Beware, however, because the bosspeople there are a bit anal retentive and if they think you're just there to piss people off, they may get offended. But the site lets you post pictures and videos in you reviews so it's way cooler than Amazon. Plus it's uncensored so long as you don't go out of your way to be disgusting and offensive. Here's the Amazon version of my Dracula review. www.amazon.com/review/RCMRQ6H6GP2X3/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B000TGJ80S&nodeID=#wasThisHelpfullast order of business (for now): That character is from the anime "Hellsing". Observe: There was a television series which was also great, but the newer Hellsing Ultimate is where it's at. 100% pure badass. |
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Feb 11, 2009 1:00:57 GMT 2
Paul - god damn, that's some surprisingly gruesome stuff there. I never thought Hammer Horror was as graphic as that (full on decapitation in the 70s? Nice). I've seen my fair share of Hammer Horror but it looks like I may have to re-investigate. Those films look great, and that Vampyre clip is all kinds of icky. Very, very cool.
Trashy - I dunno if I'll start up on Lunch or not. It does seem far more, er, "mature" than I'm into (I can't really see them buying into my "I review everything I hate" gimmick. Hell, I had one girl asking for a real photo of me after my first day).
Yeah, the trailer for Vampire Lovers obviously doesn't do it justice if its as good as you say, it does look kinda hokey and pretty much everything I imagined Hammer Horror to be like nowadays.
And since when do vampires fucking VANISH?!
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