Vampires (26 page)

The
Dark Shadows
series drew on many aspects of vampire mythology, including the idea that Barnabas was a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character whose moments of cruelty were occasioned by his condition as a vampire. However, there was also some suggestion that Barnabas had always been prone to aggression, and that this had made him a willing victim to vampirism. In the series, Barnabas exhibits many of the traits of the classic vampire: he has super powers, including the ability to hypnotize subjects at will; he is very strong, enabling him to overpower his victims easily in a struggle; and he is able to change into a bat at any time. In addition, he is a sorceror, and can appear and vanish in different places, or adopt strange voices and shapes so as to strike fear into onlookers.

The character of Barnabas Collins was introduced into the
Dark Shadows
series because ratings for the show were falling. The strategy certainly succeeded, and the show continued for five more years, with Collins becoming the undisputed star. In 1991, NBC revived the series, with Ben Cross in the role of Barnabas, a testament to the enduring appeal of the lovelorn vampire forever searching for his bride.

The
Dark Shadows
series also inspired a series of spin-off novels by Marilyn Ross. These were written by Canadian author Dan Ross, using his wife Marilyn’s name. Ross was a writer for the Warner Paperback Library, who were contracted to produce a series of novels based on the show. Many of the storylines in the novel were original, but Ross used the characters in the show, especially that of Barnabas. According to Ross’s widow Marilyn, he did not watch the TV shows, as he felt this would be confusing. Although Ross was the main writer, Marilyn also had a great deal of input; her particular skill was character development, while Ross’s was the ability to write complex plots.

The series of novels had many fans. There were also two more novels,
Angelique’s Descent
and
The Salem Branch
, written by Lara Parker, the actress who played Angelique in the series. To this day, there continues to be a cult following for the
Dark Shadows
series, which is regarded as something of a classic.

The character of Buffy, an apparently ordinary ‘valley girl’ teenager who leads a double life as a vampire slayer, first appeared in the film
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
, released in 1992. Buffy, played by Kristy Swanson, is a cheerleading young woman who finds out that she has an important destiny, to kill vampires with her superhuman powers. The film, directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui and written by Joss Whedon, was a light-hearted send-up of the horror genre, and was moderately successful.

However, in an unusual twist, it was the more serious TV series of the same name, also written by Whedon, that proved to be more popular than the film. In the TV series, broadcast from 1997 to 2003, and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Whedon had more scope to explore deeper themes, using elements of the supernatural to stand as metaphors for the anxieties of teenagers and young adults. The show also attracted viewers because it emphasized the idea of young women as empowered: Buffy and her friends are strong, brave, clever individuals who use a number of resources to track down and destroy the vampires. This characterization of teenage girl was in marked contrast to most depictions of this age group and gender as airheaded, vain, and silly. For all these reasons,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
quickly attracted a devoted following that appreciated its fresh, intelligent approach. And although, in many ways, it subverted the stereotypes of popular culture, it also celebrated the more positive aspects of TV drama, pairing up elements of the horror genre with a high-school narrative to provide an exciting new twist on a familiar theme.

The series follows the adventures of Buffy Summers, the newest Slayer. The mystical prophecy of the Slayer states that in each generation, only one girl in the whole world is ‘the chosen one’ and that ‘she alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers.’ It is Buffy’s destiny to be the Slayer. She is guided and advised by her Watcher, who is a member of a secret organization that seeks to prepare the Slayer to fight these evil forces. In most of the episodes, a villain is defeated or prevented from doing harm, while a longer narrative plays out, often involving Buffy and her friends’ relationships with each other. As the show progressed, the vampires they hunt are replaced by other creatures such as zombies, ghosts, and werewolves. In their quest to rid the world of evil, they use fighting skills, detective-style investigations, and research into ancient forms of folklore and mysticism.

In the first episodes of the series, Buffy moves to a new high school, Sunnydale, which happens to be built on top of a demon portal to another dimension, known as a Hellmouth. Her new school mates, Xander and Willow, help her to stop The Master, a powerful and very ancient vampire, from opening the Hellmouth and invading the school. In later episodes, other vampires appear and must be thwarted. Matters become more complicated when Buffy herself falls in love with a vampire, Angel, and sleeps with him. As a result, Angel, who has been given a human soul, loses his humanity and becomes a dangerous murderer. Buffy is forced to kill him, and although emotionally drained by this, she once again gathers her strength, and sets out on more adventures.

Buffy, the main protagonist of the series, has extraordinary powers of physical and mental strength, including the ability to heal quickly and to intuit the motivations of others. Buffy only sleeps for a few hours due to the night being her busiest vampire slaying time. However, when she finally gets to rest she receives prophetic dreams that help with her fight against evil. She is guided by Rupert Giles, her Watcher, and helped by her friends, Willow and Xander. In the various narratives of the series, the thoughts and feelings of Buffy and her high-school friends are explored perceptively and with sensitivity.

The series inspired a spin-off,
Angel
, that was first broadcast in 1999. The story concerns Angel, a vampire who has a human soul, restored to him in revenge for a murder of a gypsy that he committed. His soul taunts him with guilt and remorse for his former crimes, and as a result he vows to battle evil in all its forms, though still prey to his own vampiric tendencies. Though darker in tone than
Buffy
, this show also proved very successful.

True Blood
, the HBO drama series about vampires, has become one of the most successful shows on today’s TV screen. Intelligent, sexy, and fun, it uses the vampire myth to play with ideas about the relationship between ordinary, law-abiding members of society and those who are considered outcasts, offering the suggestion that ‘supernatural creatures’ such as vampires, telepaths, and shapeshifters, can now ‘come out of the coffin’ and ‘mainstream’ themselves into small-town human communities.

The series is based on the
Southern Vampire Mystery
novels of Charlaine Harris. The story goes that TV writer Alan Ball (who had previously worked on HBO’s
Six Feet Under
) was waiting for a dental appointment, and whiled away the time by leafing through
Dead Until Dark
, the first of the books, at Barnes and Noble. He was captivated, and when he brought the idea to the TV company, they gave him the go-ahead.

The drama is set in a conservative small Louisiana town where hatred of vampires is rife (there’s a motel sign saying ‘God Hates Fangs’ in the opening credits) and those who tolerate them are referred to as ‘fang bangers’. We follow the adventures of waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) at Merlotte’s Bar & Grill, a local hang-out for ne’er-do-wells. Unbeknown to her customers, Sookie is telepathic and can read their thoughts. However, when a handsome stranger called Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) walks in, she finds she can’t tap in to his mind. As it turns out, that’s because he’s a vampire; but even when she realizes he’s 173 years old, she can’t help falling for him.

When the sleepy town is rocked by a series of mysterious murders, Sookie begins to encounter the world of vampires, learning that they live on synthetic blood, called TruBlood, invented by Japanese scientists and sold in convenience stores. She also runs in to humans addicted to vampire blood, who are prepared to kill to get their fix. The message is, of course, a liberal, humanist one: that the distinctions between ‘normal’ individuals and misfits are never simple, and that vampires/outcasts can be victims, too.

To date, the show has attracted over 12 million viewers per week, becoming HBO’s most watched series since
The Sopranos
.

Directed by F.W. Murnau, 1922. Starring Max Schreck. This adaptation of Bram Stoker’s
Dracula
was not released at the time owing to a dispute between Murnau and Stoker’s widow over copyright. But bootleg copies of the film survived, and it has since become a classic, with a famously chilling performance by Schreck as the rat-like Count Dracula.

Directed by Tod Browning, 1931. Starring Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan. Based on the stage adaptation of the novel, this highly publicized movie introduced cinema audiences to Bela Lugosi in the title role. His menacing performance had audiences fainting in the aisles, and the film proved a massive box-office success.

Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932. Starring Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Sybille Schmitz. A slow-paced but hallucinogenic take on the vampire myth, in which vampires lure villagers to commit suicide, then becoming servants of the devil. Panned on its release, the movie is now viewed as a groundbreaking piece of film history.

Directed by Terence Fisher, 1958. Starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, John Van Eyssen. Known in the UK as
Dracula
, this film was made on a low budget but went on to break box-office records. It also spawned eight follow-ups, which were dubbed ‘Hammer Horrors’ after the studio that made them.

Directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, 1964. Starring Vincent Price. Based on the Richard Matheson novel
I Am Legend
, this picture was filmed in Rome, Italy. Although Matheson described the result as disappointing, the film has since won admirers, and currently has a sizeable cult following.

Directed by Paul Morrisey, 1974. Starring Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Maxime McKendry, Stefania Casini. Made by the Andy Warhol stable, this is essentially a spoof, but it has a love of the Hollywood horror genre at its heart, and in some ways is a requiem for it. Also features a cameo appearance by Roman Polanski.

Directed by George A. Romero, 1977. Starring John Amplas. Made by the director of the seminal
Living Dead
zombie series,
Martin
is considered to be one of the best B movie horror films of the seventies. The film was made on a low budget, in real locations, with friends and family of the director in supporting roles.

Directed by David Cronenberg, 1977. Starring Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Robert A. Silverman. This ‘body horror’ movie tells the story of a woman who grows a phallic organ under her armpit and goes on to suck blood through it, infecting others with a form of rabies and causing widespread chaos.

Directed by Werner Herzog, 1979. Starring Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor. Herzog considered Murnau’s 1922 classic the best film ever to come out of West Germany, and conceived this as a remake. It was warmly praised by the critics but did not prove so popular with cinema goers.

Directed by Tony Scott, 1983. Starring Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie. Adapted from the novel by Whitley Strieber, Scott’s debut feature was praised for its atmospherics, but criticized as slow-moving and badly plotted. However, its dark glamour and lush visuals earned it a cult following, especially among denizens of the goth subculture.