A look at how vampires have evolved over time and what is on offer to us these days.

Vampires – has the fear gone out of the fang... cause, they are everywhere these days...?


Vampires, vampires everywhere! We have vampires of all shapes and sizes coming at us, from burly hunks, to your average every day Joe in ‘Salems Lot’ We have kind vampires who don’t tear humans apart for our blood, to traditional vamps who like nothing better than to suck out all of our blood and leave us as nothing more than dry carcasses. Of course, we also have the absolute star of the show, ‘Dracula’ the god of all vamps who apparently started this whole craze. Real or not? In the words of Brad Pitt in ‘Interview with a Vampire’ “Merely the ramblings of an Irish man!”

Of course we all know that the said Irish man based his character on a well known and ‘real’ person of historic interest, ‘Vlad the Impaler’. A monster that had a taste for torture and death. There have been many variations over the years of said ‘Dracula’ and besides the terrible accents of some actors and actresses; my favourite so far has been ‘Bram Stokers Dracula’ of 1992 with Gary Oldman as the infamous killer. I like this version as it shows Dracula has a heart. His love for his lost wife is tragic and makes for a lovely twist to his sadistic side!

The first film ever made of Dracula was released in 1922 but names and details had to be changed. Dracula became ‘Count Orlok’. Since this film countless other adaptions have been made. From the well known 1931 production of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi to the latest film ‘Dracula Untold’ starring the Welsh actor Luke Evans of which I have seen the trailer and it looks as if they are showing another side to Dracula, a father will do anything to save his child. I look forward to seeing it.

Vampires were for me growing up something to fear. They were on par with werewolves, zombies and other scary monsters, but as I’ve grown I’ve watched the role of vampires become diluted. The ‘Twilight’ films were for me a mixture of wonderful and regret, I mean, come on, vegetarian vampires???? Yet, I felt compelled to watch and see where it might lead. Their pleasantries were balanced out by their fighting skills and so bloodlust of sorts is accomplished.

Yet throughout television and film vampires are on occasion ridiculed and laughed at and made to look quite ridiculous and ‘camp’ as in Van Helsing perhaps? A killer yes, but quite effeminate in his body language.

I wonder that we care about this character at all? Have our society become so dulled to the horrors of death that vampires can inflict? I watched ’30 days of night’ with a feeling of dread and rightfully so as it is quite horrific. It is the only film of late that truly captures the horror of vampires for me at least. For me ‘Dracula’ is a separate entity with so many assets to work with, yet his basic nature is and always will be, to kill and quench his thirst for blood, yours and mine. Sleep well!



P.J Roscoe – Author of award-winning novel ‘Echoes’