Vampire Movies & TV

In Kathryn Bigelow's tale of vampires in the American Southwest, the creatures of the night aren't elegant, cloaked aristocrats. They're a gun-toting gang that dresses and acts like a motorcycle gang. Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), a restless young man from a small farm town, meets an alluring drifter named Mae (Jenny Wright). She reveals herself to be a vampire, who "turns" Caleb into one of her kind rather than kill him. But the rest of her "family" is slow to accept the newcomer. The ancient leader, Jesse (Lance Henriksen), and his psychotic henchman Severen (Bill Paxton) lay down the law; Caleb has to carry his own weight or die. However, he can't bring himself to kill. He manages to win the gang's approval when he rescues them from certain death in a daytime gunfight during a spectacular motel shoot-out in which every bullet hole lets in a deadly ray of sunlight. When the vampires threaten Caleb's real family, he's forced to choose between life and death. The film avoids the complex vampire mythology of such films as Interview with the Vampire. Instead, it emphasizes the intense, seductive bond that forms between Caleb and the violent but tightly knit gang. Bigelow would later utilize this powerful dramatic device in her 1991 film Point Break. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide

Two rival cops team up to defeat the powerful vampire that is holding their loved ones hostage in this horror-themed action thriller starring Martin Kove and James Hong. Mercer is a predator who loves to toy with his human prey. Lee Gray and Boyd Parker both dream of the day they can end Mercer's reign of terror, but they'll have to find him first, and in order to do that they'll need some assistance from the FBI and a particularly intuitive Chinese master. With their help, Gray and Parker track Mercer to a gentleman's club in a sleepy small town, just off Exit 38. There, the malevolent bloodsucker is able to feed without fear of discovery. When Gray and Lee learn that their loved ones are being held captive by Mercer, the two mortal adversaries reluctantly agree that the only way to win is by working together. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This '80s teen comedy involves a youth (Robert Leonard), who is seduced by a sexy schoolgirl and then transforms into a blood-sucking vampire. Instead of fighting his affliction, he tries to cope with the change. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In Last Rites, aka Dracula's Last Rites, the infamous Count employs a tactic first used in Son of Dracula, ensuring his anonymity by spelling his name backwards. This seems to fool the citizens of the upstate New York township wherein a certain A. Lucard is employed as a mortician. Even if they were to see through this facade, they would get little help from the local sheriff since he's a vampire too. Together with the town doctor, they manage to procure fresh blood by falsifying death certificates for still-living accident victims who are then spirited off to Lucard's mortuary to become late-night snacks. The plan eventually comes undone when one of their victims manages to escape, and the town just isn't big enough for one more vampire. Even if one were to overlook the film's pitifully low production values and numerous technical flaws (including what may be a record for boom mikes plunging into frame), one would still find little entertainment value in this dreary, poorly acted mess. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The human population of planet Earth has been decimated by bloodthirsty vampires, and now the only hope for the few remaining survivors lies in the skills of one man who always lived by the sword. Tao (Steven Seagal) is a katana master who never met a vampire he didn't want to slay. When roving packs of vampires force the few uninfected survivors to seek refuge in an abandoned hospital, the only hope for the human race lies with Tao's special squad of ex-military vigilantes. The only cure for these creatures is execution, and that's Tao's specialty. As the hunt gets underway, Tao and his team make it their mission to ensure that the creatures of the night don't inherit the Earth. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

"Being a vampire sucks." This pretty much summed up the attitude of the protagonist of this heady CBS mixture of suspense and the supernatural. Alex O'Loughlin starred as LA private detective Mick St. John, who'd become an "undead" vampire way back in 1947 thanks to his fang-bearing former wife Coralyn (Shannyn Sossamon. Though obliged to drink blood and avoid sunlight to survive (luckily he was impervious to such usual vampire repellants as wooden stakes and garlic), Mick made the best of a bad situation by taking a job that allow him to work nights and to spend his days sleeping in a freezer; and, good-hearted soul that he was, Mick sidestepped the embarrassing necessity of killing people for their blood by forming a strong friendship with morgue attendant Guillermo (Jacob Vargas), who provided him with an endless supply of fresh corpses. Against his better judgment, Mick fell in love with a mortal, intrepid girl reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), who worked for the Buzzwire news service and who frequently accompanied Mick during his investigations. Rounding out the regular characters were Mick's mentor and best friend Josef (Jason Dohring), a remarkably well-preserved 400 year old vampire who supported his luxurious lifestyle as a professional fund trader, and who lacked Mick's compassion for human beings but was willing to avoid biting necks when Beth was around; and police lieutenant Carl Davis (Brian White), who by default was the only entirely normal character on the show. Curiously, the vampiric elements of the series took a back seat to the detective work, which followed the "procedural" format of such series as Law&Order and CSI. Created by Ron Koslow of Beauty and the Beast fame, Moonlight first flapped its wings on September 28, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A laid back college student who favors quiet gatherings with close friends over wild nights out on the town finds himself at the center of a centuries old war between vampires and mortals in this low-budget frightener starring Tony Todd and C. Thomas Howell. Will is an average college student whose low-key lifestyle is about to get more interesting than he could ever imagine. After being bitten by a vampire seductress whose clan secretly scours the campus for fresh blood, Will begins to make a startling transformation. Meanwhile, among the legions of the undead, powerful coven leader Julian (Todd) is looking to name a successor to the throne. In order to qualify for such an honor, however, a vampire from Julian's coven must first hunt and kill a sentry. The sentries are an elite order of vampire hunters who have been quietly keeping humanity safe from the vampire threat for millennia, carefully maintaining the delicate balance between good and evil. Suddenly, a college student who never thought he would amount to anything finds himself at the center of a supernatural war between the world he once knew, and the secret society that he never knew existed. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A beautiful vampire slayer held prisoner by a powerful, blood-drinking king prepares to do battle with a force that sends even the children of the night scurrying into the shadows in this tale of bloodlust and mayhem starring Sid Haig, Ken Foree, Jason Connery, and Victoria Pratt. Bound in the cellar of vampire king Pashek and surrounded by creatures who would drain her dry without hesitation, vampire slayer Carrie Reiger (Pratt) knows that the time of reckoning is at hand. Somewhere, far away, the dreaded vampire demon Vlad Kossel has been resurrected. Should Carrie fail to free herself in time to take on her hellish opponent one on one, it could spell the end of not just the vampire population, but the human race as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Two former video store clerks attempt to earn their pay by keeping the citizens of a small-town safe from the rampaging zombies, vampires, and werewolves attempting to take over the streets in this ghoulish horror comedy from co-directors Billy Garberina (Gimmie Skelter) and Richard Griffin (Splatter Disco). Jack and Alex go way back. . . back to the time before the monsters took over. Fired from their jobs at the local video store, these two lifelong pals sign on with the local extermination company "Zom-B-Gone" as a means of making ends meet until they can find a less treacherous line of work. But even the most ravenous bloodsucker is sure to run for cover when confronted by Jack's excruciatingly annoying girlfriend, a truth that leaves the two old friends opting to test their luck against the undead rather than facing the wrath of a shrew scorned. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Everyone loves a good, two-fanged fright flick, and from the silent screen to the 21st Century, vampire films have drawn moviegoers to theaters in droves. Much like the immortal monsters that stalk the night in search of precious blood, it seems that our fascination with these strange and seductive creatures will never die. In this ocumentary, interviews with a wide array of filmmakers, actors, special-effects artists, writers, and critics combine with a hearty collection of memorable film clips to explore the evil and eroticism that abounds in vampiric cinema. Vampires director John Carpenter, Underworld director Len Wiseman, and The Lost Boys director Joel Schumacher all weigh in on what inspired them to craft films featuring vampires, while Kristanna Loken and Stuart Townsend reveal what it was like to assume the persona of a creature that so many viewers fear, yet embrace at the same time. Additional interviews with Stan Winston and Greg Nicotero highlight how creative vampires can be tons of ghoulish fun, while writers Marv Wolfman and David Goyer discuss understanding their motivations and critics Leonard Maltin and Harry Knowls explain just why these monsters are so compelling to watch up on the big screen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Anthony Hickox (Waxwork) crafted this entertaining bit of horror-western fusion about the vampiric residents of a remote, dusty desert town who have chosen to derive their sustenance from a plasma-manufacturing plant in an attempt to put aside their monstrous nature and peacefully co-exist with humans. When the plant begins malfunctioning, the town's leaders summon the designer, David Harrison (Jim Metzler), to look into the problem. Soon after Harrison and his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) arrive, however, they find themselves in the thick of an escalating rivalry between two vampire factions -- one led by peaceful Count Mardulak (David Carradine), who ordered the blood plant as part of his plan to integrate the dying vampire race into human society; and the old-school bloodsuckers, under the sinister Jefferson (John Ireland), who consider Mardulak and his followers traitors to their predatory heritage. While the Harrisons' fates hang in the balance, the scales are jostled further by the arrival of a man named Van Helsing (Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell, in a surprisingly low-key performance), descendant of the legendary vampire hunter, whose disorganized efforts at wiping out town's undead populace are impeded by his growing attraction to a pretty young vampire (Deborah Foreman). With tongue firmly in cheek, this semi-parody plays off audiences' familiarity with the conventions of the vampire genre, but it seldom sacrifices creepiness and suspense when needed. It marked a creative step forward for Hickox (who would later stumble with Hellraiser III), who clearly tailors his projects to seasoned horror buffs. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

A documentary filmmaker exploring London's decadent Goth scene encounters a captivating beauty who claims to be a real vampire. In the trendy world of heavy make-up and fake fangs, London scenesters escape reality by dancing through the night and losing themselves in another identity. Filmmaker Holly is captivated by the lavish theatrics of the London goth scene, and when she meets the enigmatic Vicki it appears as though she's found the perfect subject for her upcoming documentary. But could Vicki be a real vampire, as she so sincerely claims? As the relationship between Holly and Vicki intensifies, the young director realizes that her new sole mate harbors some dark secrets, and that time is fast running out for Vicki to get the one thing she needs most. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide