The vampire is without a doubt the most popular type of monster. An undead being that sleeps at night and feeds on blood is found in cultures throughout the world, with subtle differences between each being. Something about them sparks terror, but also amazement in people and thus creates love for an otherwise vile fiend. They’re on a level higher than any were creatures, zombies, slasher killers or aliens could ever achieve. With their popularity comes their vast and numerous appearances of different vampires in literature, television, films, comics, etc. They’re so many vampires in different forms of media it would be hard to count. Even a singular vampire has multiple incarnations throughout different mediums. Vampires as monsters are somewhat flexible in their conception and because there is no central description of what a vampire is, what a vampire can be is left to the imagination. They can be fancy well dressed castle owners, aliens from space, friendly number counters, zombie hybrids of a post apocalyptic world, shiny superstar teenagers and even loving dads and moms among many other things. In no particular order, here’s my list of some of the best vampires in pop culture.
- Count Dracula (various)
One of the best known vampires to exist in pop culture. Dracula is the quintessential vampire character. He’s also the first vampire who comes to mind for most people. His first appearance was in the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Dracula would go on to star in many different movies, television shows, video games and comics. A few of his cinematic appearances include the Universal Dracula movies, the Hammer films Dracula Movies, The Monster Squad, Mad Monster Party?, Francis Ford Copolla’s film, Hotel Transylvania, Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, etc. Dracula has been played by many different actors including Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr, Gary Oldman, Leslie Neilson, Christopher Lee, Richard Roxburgh, Carlos Villar, etc. He is also the main antagonist of the Castlevania games. Count Dracula is a sauve, yet short tempered vampire with a love of women and old architecture. His powers are as abundant as his weaknesses. He has super strength, casts no shadow, super agile, defies gravity, casts no reflection in mirrors, shapeshifts, has a hypnotic stare and has a nice eastern european accent. His weaknesses include steaks to the heart, sunlight, religious objects, water, garlic, wild roses, his own thirst for blood and not being able to come into houses without being invited in.
- Count Orlok (Nosferatu)
With pale skin, long talon-like fingers, pointed ears and that unforgettable head, Count Orlok or The Bird of Death, or going by his common nickname Nosferatu is the first depiction of a vampire in cinema that still exists in print (many early vampire films are considered lost). Appearing in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu and later in the 1979 remake Nosferatu the Vampyre, Orlok was originally just supposed to be Count Dracula, but because the filmmakers couldn’t get the rights to the name, they created Orlok instead. All though the American release and the 1979 movie would later go back to naming him Dracula. This iconic blood suckers looks have also been the inspiration of different vampire designs. Two actors have performed his character including Max Schreck and Klaus Kinski. Because he was originally supposed to be Dracula many of the same traits carry over to him, the only difference is that the tall fellow has a different sort of weakness, a woman of pure heart most have her blood sucked out her by Orlok long enough for the sunrise to kill him.
- Count von Count (Sesame Street)
One, one on the list. Two, two on the list. Three, three on the list ahahah! Count von Count is a Muppet appears on the long running show Sesame Street. Since 1972, this lavender vampire had been teaching kids how to count their numbers, mainly up to twenty. The whole counting shtick seems to be sourced from both a combination of his name and the old legend that vampires are over compulsive (if you drop something like rice on the ground a vampire will have to stop what he or she is doing and count up all the rice). The muppet is voiced by Jerry Nelson up until his death in 2012 in which he was succeeded by Matt Vogel. It is well known that instead of sucking blood, Count enjoys counting numbers in his past time, with his favorite number being 34,969. If you ever find yourself on Sesame Street, you may find this Lugosi-esque vampire walking the street counting cars or birds with his good old “Ah!Ah!Ah!”
- Blacula (Blacula)
The vampire who the posters called More terrifying than Dracula Blacula or formally known as Prince Mamuwalde was the main antagonist of the films Blacula and the sequel Scream Blacula Scream. In life he was a prince of the Abani African nation who is sent to get help from none other than Count Dracula himself to supress the slave trade. Things go horribly wrong has the Count transforms him into a vampire and imprisons his wife Luva in a coffin. In the first movie, he is a woken after his coffin is brought to Los Angeles and starts killing. He falls in love with a woman named Tina who looks very similar to his dead wife. In the second movie, he is brought back to life by a man named Willis to do his evil bidding. A vampire created during the age of Blacksploitation films, he is portrayed by William Marshall. In spirit of his creator, Blacula dresses in a similar matter to Dracula, but being from the 70’s he is more cool and ruthless than his master.
- Carmilla (various)
Carmilla, or going by names such as Countess Karnstein and Mircalla, is a female vampire that originally appeared in the 1872 novel “Carmilla” by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. The novel is one of the earlier fictional vampire works and predates Bram Stokers vampire novel by 26 years. Carmilla is portayed as a lesbian vampire who expresses romantic interest in the books protagonist Laura. Carmilla is said to be very beautiful despite her evil habits. She only feeds on female victims. She can go through walls, turn into a large black cat and unlike most blood suckers can go out during the day. Though she still has a problem with steaks to the heart. The female fatale has appeared in several media works outside of the book. Many of her films tend to be foreign works. The first of which was a film called Vampyr that was loosely based on the book and deleted any sexual references. Some more faithful films include Blood and Roses and three Hammer films that starts with The Vampire Lovers. Carmilla has been performed by several different actors such as Julia Pietrucha, Ingrid Pitt, Adriana Ambesi, etc.
- Count Chocula (cereal brand)
So far, we’ve looked at vampires from movies, television, video games and books. Vampires seem to be everywhere. Even on your cereal box. Count Chocula was a cereal mascot first introduced at the 1971 launch of two seasonal halloween themed cereals. Created by General Mills Cereal, the chocolate count debuted alongside his strawberry flavored counterpart Franken Berry. Around October, this character starts to appear in grocery stores all across the country. The cereal is chocolate flavored corn cereal bits with bat and ghost shaped marshmallows. In commercial runs he was voiced by Larry Kenney and his tagline was “I want to eat your cereal”. Unlike most vampires, Chocula would rather dine on the chocolatey deliciousness of his Count Chocula cereal rather than dine or your blood.
- Blade (various Marvel comics and media)
Eric Brooks, better known as Blade, is a Dhampir or half vampire that hunts down other vampires as a vampire hunter. Debuting in the Marvel comic “Tomb of Dracula” #10, Blade has been a popular Marvel hero that has appeared in many comics, movies and television shows. While many of his counterparts have different stories attached to them, the main universes story is that he became a Dhampir at birth (born in Soho, London, England on Oct. 24 1929) when his mother was being fed on by a vampire named Deacon Frost. With that his main powers were that he inherited all of the vampires strengths but none of their weaknesses, which lead to one of his nicknames being Daywalker. Years later, Eric would be trained by a man named Jamal Afari who would make him into a vampire hunter. Adopting the name Blade, he sets out on his quest to kill the undead to avenge his mom and to protect others from them. Blade is well known for his use of weapons and his leather attire. He is also distinguished by his fangs, tattoos running down his neck and back and his signature sunglasses. Living an adventurous life he would later join the Avengers and even became two other heroes including a Spider Hero and Ronin. Blade set the stage for many of Marvel’s later movies with the Blade trilogy starring Wesley Snipes. Blade was recently announced as being apart of the MCU’s phase 5 with Mahershala Ali portraying the character.
- Ronnie Strickland (The X-Files)
Ronald “Ronnie” Lavelle Strickland, Ronnie for short was a very interesting vampire in that while he is the undead, he apparently watched to many Bela Lugosi films. Appearing in The X-Files season 5 episode Bad Blood, Ronnie was the episodes MOTW who almost got the FBI sued for $446 million dollars. Ronnie lived in Chaney, Texas, a town we soon learned was host to a small group of vampire residents worked as a pizza delivery boy. Ronnie was a vampire, but not in the sense of how vampires usually looked. They looked rather normal but did possess glowing eyes and the ability to leap quote “like a flying squirrel”. Ronnie became infatuated with vampires and thus sharpened his canines and this started sucking blood from cows. He also killed two tourists, but only because he drugged their pizza with chloral hydrate. Agent Fox Mulder almost meet his end by Ronnies fangs until he was able to distract him by dropping sunflower seeds on the floor, which Ronnie reluctantly had to pick up due to the wannabe Lugosi’s over compulsive nature. Mulder would later stake him which leads to the lawsuit, but don’t worry, he is brought back to life when his steak was removed. Agent Mulder confronts Ronnie once more before him and the others leave town. Played by Patrick Renna, Ronnie would later make a comic appearance in The X-Files/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover in which he is back up to his old tricks, working at a different pizza parlor in Northampton, New York.
Honorable Mentions:
Master (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Kurt Barlow (Salems Lot)
Bunnicula (Bunnicula)
Louis de Pointe du Lac (The Vampire Chronicles)
Max (The Lost Boys)
Kyuranos and the Tribe of Beautiful Night (Ultraman Tiga)
Count Yorga (Count Yorga, Vampire)
Dwight Renfield (The Night Flier)
I hope this was a very interesting article for you. Just remember though that even if a vampire that you know or like wasn’t on the list doesn’t mean I don’t like them. All vampires are perfect in their own way. Until they’re in your room sucking your blood or trying to fall in love with you. If you are curious as to why this is a Top 8 list instead of a Top 10, 5 or 20 is because well, vampires ate lots of blood. Aw man, that joke bites.
