In keeping with the Halloween theme I decided to do a list of my favorite vampire characters from film and TV. Then, once I compiled a master list, thought about running into traffic instead of trying to whittle it down to 10. Traffic was pretty light that day so instead I decided to split the two lists into Movie Vampires and TV Vampires which proved much more manageable and let in some characters that I didn’t want to leave behind but couldn’t rightly justify against some others. There are still some characters left out that I really enjoy but there is only so much you can do when you have slavishly confined yourself to the top ten list format for not other reason that rules of convention. The criteria I used, as ever, is based on my own personal preference and how cool I think they are. I am not really looking at iconography nor overall popularity. These are just the ones I dig the most. And I am going to say up front that no Twilight characters are included here because I hate Twilight with the passion of a million vampire killing suns. So here is my list, sound off in the comments if you want to agree, disagree or talk about cake recipes. Here we go:

10. Quinn

Part of it comes from a deep and abiding love for Donal Logue in pretty much every thing he does (seriously check out Terriers), but I always thought that Quinn was one of the most fun parts of Blade. Now that I think about it, Quinn might be why I love Donal Logue. With his regenerative abilities, Quinn was tough to kill and had more personality  than just some henchman of the movie’s big bad. Quinn was a threat and could operate on his own just fine. That Blade consistently beat him had less to do with Quinn being bad at what he did and more to do with Blade being really good at what he did. Even still, Quinn just kept coming back for more.

 

 

9. Danny Glick

As far as haunting imagery goes, you can’t get much better than Danny Glick from Salem’s Lot. Child abductions are no joke and the disappearance of Glick was freaky to begin with but when he showed up outside of his buddy Mark’s window, which is on the second floor, that freakiness was turned up to 11. Child vampires have become a go to for disturbing imagery in recent years but in 1979 it was not nearly so common place. I don’t need to write an essay on the symbolism of robbed innocence and corruption found in the Danny Glick scene because it is pretty much all right there on screen. This scene has stuck with me since I was a kid and continues to be one of the most striking images from horror cinema to this day. Also, yes, I know this was a TV movie and not theatrically released but I am putting it on this side because of the ‘movie’ part. I don’t want to hear any shit.

 

 

8. Lestat

Lestat’s inclusion here is completely due to Tom Cruise’s Interview With the Vampire portrayal and despite Stuart Townsend’s portrayal in Queen of the Dammed. I don’t really blame Townsend at all but holy god that was a bad movie. Author Anne Rice’s displeasure with the casting of Cruise was well publicized as was her subsequent turn around on it once she saw the performance and that is as it should be as Cruise brought Lestat to life in a way that was likeable, terrifying, sad and relatable. I didn’t care much for the character in the book but his screen incarnation made him feel real and provided depth. I have always preferred Louis but given that Louis is largely a reaction to Lestat you can’t really have the former without the latter.

 

 

7. Eli

As mentioned with Danny Glick, children vampires are disturbing on their face and have a real capacity to be terrifying because as predators they play off a person’s natural instincts to nurture and care for children. Further it is the ultimate corruption and failure of parents and adults to care for a child for it to become this evil thing that sucks the life out of others. Although really when you distill it down I am now thinking that all children are vampires in their fashion. Anyway, what separates Eli from Danny (or Interview With a Vampire’s Claudia for that matter)  is that she is not new and has been a vampire for 200 years as a 12 year old and has learned to play the game. She is a child but she isn’t. To say she is wise beyond her years is an understatement but she still cannot succeed in her existence without the help of others. The friendship that grows between herself and her neighbor Oskar is symbiotic and that is her greatest strength. She doesn’t need powers of hypnosis to secure her thralls, she just needs to find their emotional hole and fill it.  Eli is complex and tragic and serves as a much more serious and complete examination of what a pre-teen/teen vampire would be like than what Young Adult novels are offering.

 

 

6. Louis

My favorite  from Interview With the Vampire, Louis is a classic tragic character who finds himself turned into something he does not care for and struggles to find his place in the world. His sensibilities are not particularly well suited for the life of a vampire and his struggle is not helped by having a batshit crazy mentor in Lestat who tells him very little of value about how to succeed in this new life. Despite his emo disposition, however, Louis is a fighter and manages to survive however possible even in the face of poor choices and Lestat’s constant tormenting. For me, Louis is easy to identify with as someone who is sad and often unhappy but is unwilling to give up anyway. In that way he rises above a mopey whiner and becomes a survivor and he does it mostly on his own steam.

 

 

 

5. Deacon Frost

The big bad in the first Blade movie, Deacon Frost was an upstart ‘turned’ vampire fighting a class war with the ‘pure bloods.’ He had his own motivations that didn’t focus on killing Blade. Blade was just a nuisance to him that he needed to deal with while trying to sort out his up-jumping goals. I really dig this because Frost’s arrogance is well earned and his sense of self is defined what he wants and not just what the show down with the movie’s hero dictates. Stephen Dorff absolutely shines as Frost and gives him a sense of humor, swagger and real menace. When you have a hero like Blade, you need an equally strong and capable villain and Frost definitely delivers that in a character so fun that when the original ending called for him to turn into a swirling vortex of blood, test audience complained that they wanted him back. So the ending was changed back for more time with the character which was a really great move because he is awesome and also a swirling blood vortex is pretty deeply stupid.

 

 

4. David

The primary antagonist in the Lost Boys, David is a vampire with no illusions about what he is and has fully embraced vampirism. He is also a pretty big dick. Ultimately beholden to his own master, David leads his group of 80’s punk vampires in an unlife of debauchery and partying that looks pretty awesome if you take away the drinking human blood part. That he does what he is told and tries to bring Michael into the fold shows his obedience but also allows him to rebel through his playfully sadistic torture of Michael in a weird sort of pre-vampire hazing that betrays his true feelings. Kiefer Sutherland is excellent in the role and manages to show his playfulness and menace without going over the top or ever really appearing human. David is at once seductive and repulsive and that is a difficult balancing act to pull off.

 

 

3. Blade

A half-human half-vampire hybrid, Blade has all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses aside from the thirst for human blood. Born after his mother was infected by vampirism while pregnant, Blade has never known any other kind of life and hates vampires for what they did to both him and his mother. The bottom line is that Blade is a fucking badass and Wesley Snipes was awesome in the role with all of the physicality and attitude that the character needed. From great one-liners to exciting martial arts, Blade has everything that you want in a hero and it is a crime that the third movie failed so hard and the TV show was cancelled after season one. I really want more Blade.

 

 

2.Jerry Dandrige

The antagonist of both the original Fright Night and its remake, Jerry Dandrige is a prototypical suave, seductive vampire who charms his way out of trouble. In both cases, that charm hits a wall with the neighbor kid Charley Brewster and his true colors show. The two versions, played by Chris Sarandon in the original and Colin Farrell in the remake, are similar but ultimately different with Sarandon really emphasizing the tragic aspects of the character and his lack of choice and Farrell zeroing in on his predatory and sadistic nature and are both effective in their respective films. It is testament to the baseline strength of the character archetype that it can withstand these two different takes while retaining the same feel and impact. There are a lot of vampire characters out there and a lot cut from the same cloth as Jerry but he remains one of my favorites.

 

 

1. Dracula

Alright so this is a little sticky because a lot of the portrayals of Dracula over the years have really…er…sucked. I am very sorry. But even still, even with bad turns here and there, Dracula has endured as the most iconic and prototypical vampire in history. This resilience as a character mirrors the character’s own ability to keep coming back again and again and it is against his character that all others are measured. I don’t really have a favorite portrayal of Dracula per se but his continued relevance and resilience keeps him on the top of the vampire heap for me. If I really had to choose I would probably default to Gary Oldman’s portrayal despite the fact that I am not a fan of Francis Ford Coppola’s film. Really, though, the character transcends all that, which is kind of the point here anyway.

 

 

Alright so that is my list. I understand that people’s preferences run deep so if you want to discuss my picks and yours, hit the comments below. Obviously there were vampires that didn’t make the cut that I still like. Particular runners up are Jesse from Near Dark, Michael from Lost Boys, Count Orlock from Nosferatu, Max Schreck from Shadow of the Vampire, Santanico Pandemonium from From Dusk Till Dawn and Nicholas Cage. Not Nicholas Cage from Kiss of the Vampire, just Nicholas Cage in general.