One of the biggest films of next year is set to be Morbius, inspired by the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the Living Vampire. The film will star Jared Leto as a vampire antihero, and will potentially launch a new cinematic universe from Sony. Over the past few centuries, vampires have gone from being the subjects of folk stories, that people would tell sitting around a campfire, to the stars of Hollywood blockbusters.
The First Vampires
One of the most famous vampires is Count Dracula, and before Bram Stoker sat down and wrote his acclaimed classic in 1897, vampires weren’t well known in mainstream culture. It was this book that cemented everyone’s image of vampires as brooding, mysterious, and terrifying humanoids.
Dracula inspired many other works, including ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. In fact, King originally meant his novel to be a sequel to Dracula, as he explains on his website, https://www.stephenking.com/. However, it was the Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer, that redefined vampires, turning them into sparkly romantic figures that readers fell in love with.
Vampires on the Silver Screen
There have been many adaptations of Dracula over the years. One of the earliest, and most iconic films starred Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire. Other actors who’ve played the character include Gary Oldman, Christopher Lee, and Leslie Nielsen.
Although, it was the film adaptations of Twilight that brought vampires back into the mainstream. There were five films, released between 2008 and 2012, which starred Robert Pattinson as the 100-year-old vampire heartthrob Edward Cullen, and Kristen Stewart as his love interest, Bella Swan.
One of the most famous cult vampire films is Interview With the Vampire, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Based on the best-selling novel series by Anne Rice, the film starred Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst, in one of her first roles. You can find out more about the making of this iconic film at https://www.independent.co.uk/.
Gaming with Vampires
It’s not just books and films that vampires have starred in. One of the best-selling video game franchises of all time is Castlevania – there are more than 30 games in the series, and the first one was released in 1986. The franchise is an exciting action-adventure, which sees the player exploring the whimsical Dracula’s castle.
More modern games to feature vampires include Vampyr, BloodRayne, and The Witcher, which has recently been adapted into a Netflix series starring Henry Cavill. Vampiric culture and its characters have also served as inspiration to many an online game too. For example, online casinos like https://www.skycitycasino.com/ offer many exciting slot games such as, Blood Lore and Immortal Romance, which offer the excitement of slots with the added glamour of vampires and Gothis motifs.
Taking on the Small Screen
While the grand Vampire narrative may fit perfectly on the big screen, many stories have also inspired fantastic television. The classic series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer made Sarah Michelle Gellar a household name as she battled vampires and simultaneously dealt with the stresses of school life. As vampire romances became popular, thanks to Twilight, shows like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries quickly followed suit.
There’s more to come, too, and in a way, things seem to have come full circle. One of the most eagerly-anticipated TV shows at the moment is Dracula, an adaptation of the original book, with the screenplay by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat; who made Sherlock a global phenomenon. Now they’ve turned their attention to vampires, casting the Danish actor Claes Bang as the iconic count.
Vampires are arguably more popular than ever in contemporary culture and, whether you think of them as monsters or brooding romantic heroes, there’s a vampire story out there for you, which is perhaps why they’ve proven to be so enduring; because the mystery of the undead, ironically, never dies.
