The Vampire Genre (part one)

Superhero movies have always left me somewhat unfulfilled. I don’t dislike them; it’s mainly because I used to read every comic book I could get my hands on as a child. There was a lot to imagine about their worlds. Much was left unsaid, and the imagination takes over. So when the film version comes around, it is someone else’s imagination that is left to digest. Not so with the vampire genre. Time to indulge in a few choice moments of the anti-hero.

I’ve never read a vampire comic book. I’m not sure they were around in the sixties and seventies. But I have had a certain fascination with them nonetheless. The greatest single vampire movie shot is that of Bela Lugosi with the moonlight highlighting his chiseled features as ‘Dracula’. The picture was menacing, if only to a kid growing up in the sixties. Staring at him, I was transfixed. I could also have written the screenplay from what that look inspired. It remains a classic in my book.

Dark Shadows and Jonathon Frid’s ‘Barnabas Collins’ came next in the sixties. The black and white sets were ideal for Frid’s eerie portrait of the family vampire. Indeed I can still hear him summoning his servant to be ‘Come to me, Julia’. A few other TV favorites follow.

A quick nod to a comedic marvel goes to everyone’s favorite geriatric vampire, Grandpa Munster! But in a more dramatic light, I thought ‘Forever Knight’; a Canadian series was extremely well done. The notion of a vampire cop might be a bit hard to take, but it was top notch.Again, I found myself rooting for‘Lucien LaCroix’, the master vampire who was disgusted with vampire cop (Geraint Wyn Davies) Nicholas Knight’s ‘humanity’. ‘LaCroix’ was played perfectly by veteran stage actor, Nigel Bennett.

Years later, I saw another take on the genre with ‘Lost Boys’. It was the first ‘vampire gang’ flick. I found it rather disappointing because I was rooting for the new kid to turn into a vampire and munch happily ever after. Look, if evil is the order of the day; I’m rooting for the undead. Like when the ‘Master’ took out the priest in ‘Salem’s Lot. And you know that you loved James Mason’s rendering of that scene in the kitchen. Live (or die) a little. It’s only a movie. But cut the happy ending nonsense every once in a while.

No disrespect intended, but I’m skipping ‘Buffy’, ‘Kolchak’, ‘Van Helsing’, ‘30 Days of Night', 'Near Dark', & ‘Night Watch’ because it’s 4:51 AM and I’d be here until daylight and we can’t have that. ; )=