31 Best Vampire Movies Of All Time Ranked
Vampire films have almost been around as long as film itself. We can't get enough of seeing bloodsuckers on the silver screen. Whether they're grotesque predators or tragic, lovelorn aristocrats, vampires have been a consistent mainstay in the horror genre's roster of things that go bump in the night.
And with a cinematic legacy stretching back nearly a century, there are tons of top-shelf vampire films to choose from that span a large swath of genres, time periods, and thematic interests. Some draw insightful parallels between vampirism and addiction, class warfare, and sexuality. Others use the well-known boundaries of the vampire mythos as ample ground for comedy, poking fun at one of history's most beloved monsters.
Below we've assembled 31 of the best vampire films cinema has to offer. This means that, should you desire, you could theoretically watch one of these films every day for an entire month. If you find yourself hiding from the sun for ... whatever reason ... it might not be a bad way to pass the time! So, without further ado, here they are — the 31 best vampire movies.
Updated on May 10, 2022: The vampire genre is still going strong, and as we get fresh takes on our favorite undead monsters, we'll be sure to keep this list updated with any instant vampire classics.
31. Salem's Lot
We're not going to pretend that "Salem's Lot" isn't 3 hours long. But see here, this is a Stephen King adaptation from the guy who directed "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" five years earlier. You are strapping in for a grand ol' time! "Salem's Lot" tells of a writer (did we mention Stephen King wrote this?) returning to his hometown to pen a book about a local haunted house. Then, all the neighbors around the aforementioned house start turning up dead. Gosh, what could be happening? Maybe it rhymes with "bampire?" Come for the "Nosferatu"-esque creature effects, stay for Harry Sukman's incredible score.
- Starring: David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin
- Director: Tobe Hooper
- Year: 1979
- Runtime: 183 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
30. From Dusk Till Dawn
Two bank-robing brothers named Seth and Richard side step the feds and make their way across the border to Mexico. A single night stands between them and the new lives that await them once they pay off the menacing mafioso who's made their lives a living hell. Hostages in tow, the brothers arrive at the rendezvous point and are thrilled to discover that they'll be holed up in a strip club. They are decidedly less thrilled when the joint turns out to be a vampire den, resulting in a campy cult film that goes from 0 to 100 in the grindhouse department. Hitting that sweet spot between ultra-violence and goofy special effects showcase, "From Dusk Till Dawn" is a wildly fun genre-swapping exercise with bite to spare.
- Starring: Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino
- Director: Robert Rodriguez
- Year: 1996
- Runtime: 107 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 61%
29. Blood for Dracula
Directed with bravado and a delightful lack of subtlety by Andy Warhol affiliate Paul Morrissey, "Blood for Dracula" is (and we cannot stress this enough) an absolutely wild ride that is not going to be everyone's cup of virgin's blood — uh, we mean tea. But speaking of virgin's blood, the film follows the titular Count, whose lack of blood has left him on the verge of death (well, re-death). Traveling to Italy in search of virgins, Dracula finds what appears to be a paradise in the form of the mansion of Marchese Di Fiore, who's clamoring to wed off his daughters to wealthy would-be husbands. Unfortunately for Dracula, these girls are absolutely not the pure, virginal saints their father believes them to be.
- Starring: Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Arno Juerging
- Director: Paul Morrissey
- Year: 1974
- Runtime: 93 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 65%
28. Blade II
While the first "Blade" film is a genre door-kick in its own right, we're even bigger fans of its more self-assured 2002 follow-up. With all that world-building and backstory out of the way, Guillermo del Toro's futuristic vampire action splatterpiece is able to enjoy being its weird, genre-hybrid self. This go-round follows the development of a new and disconcerting mutation afflicting vampirekind, one that transforms the infected into feral creatures with a taste for vampires as well as humans. Tasked by the powers that be with snuffing out the vampiric plague, Blade — a half-human/half-vampire badass — sets out to put a stop to the infection that could wipe out both sides of his lineage for good.
- Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman
- Director: Guillermo del Toro
- Year: 2002
- Runtime: 116 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 57%
27. Interview with the Vampire
While a wide-eyed writer avidly listens, a centuries-old, melancholic vampire named Louis recounts the tale of his mortal and undead lives. While Louis thinks the whole "immortality" thing is a massive bummer, his fellow vampire, Lestat, is having the time of his, uh, un-life. As their stormy relationship spans the ages, the duo "adopt" a young girl and respectively feud about what it means to live forever. A queer camp classic (and arguably one of the best performances of Tom Cruise's career), "Interview with the Vampire" is a delight of production design and scenery-chewing.
- Starring: Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas
- Director: Neil Jordan
- Year: 1994
- Runtime: 122 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 64%
26. The Lost Boys
Finally, a vampire movie for the 1980s Californian goths. In the aftermath of a messy divorce, teen brothers Michael and Sam move with their mom to a beach town. When the brothers hear whispers of a local vampire infestation, they laugh it off. That is, until one of them begins to exhibit classic signs of vampirism after hanging out with a gang of bikers. Worried for his bro and beginning to suspect that there may be some truth to the rumors about local bloodsuckers, Sam decides to lean in and ally himself with a pair of vampire hunters. More of a gore-coated comedy for teens than a menacing horror film, "The Lost Boys" is a cheese board full of '80s excess in the best way possible.
- Starring: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest
- Director: Joel Schumacher
- Year: 1987
- Runtime: 97 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%
25. The Night Stalker
Do not dismiss this 1972 gem on the grounds of it being a TV movie. A sly beat reporter named Carl Kolchak is hot on the trail of a string of grisly murders plaguing the back alleys of the Las Vegas strip. Discovering each victim drained of blood, the wily Kolchak begins to suspect that his target is a vampire ... or at least believes he's one. When the powers that be fail to take him seriously and with the body count growing higher and higher, the reporter takes matters (and a stake) into his own hands. Written by the great Richard Matheson (the mind behind the likes of "I Am Legend"), "The Night Stalker" is a grimy, procedural terror trip that oozes 1970s sleaze (that's a good thing!).
- Starring: Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland
- Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
- Year: 1972
- Runtime: 75 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
24. Trouble Every Day
Arguably French director Claire Denis' foray into New French Extremity, "Trouble Every Day" follows two American newlyweds during their honeymoon in Paris. Unbeknownst to his wife, Dr. Shane Brown has selected Paris not for the city's romantic reputation but because he hopes to seek out the beautiful wife of a notorious neuroscientist studying the human libido. What he ultimately finds is a woman plagued with hunger for human flesh. Erotic and absolutely not for the faint of heart, to date, "Trouble Every Day" marks Denis' most flagrant entry into the horror genre.
- Starring: Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice Dalle
- Director: Claire Denis
- Year: 2001
- Runtime: 102 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 51%
23. Only Lovers Left Alive
You would think after how long vampires have existed in pop culture that we would run out of fresh new spins on the hoar subject. And yet, there goes Jim Jarmusch, spinning a fresh, sumptuous yarn about two vampires, Adam and Eve, who've been lovers for centuries. When Adam (a goth rockstar of sorts) begins to feel especially adrift during a long-distance stint in their relationship, Eve rushes to his side. But when her troublesome sister, Ava, shows up on Adam's doorstep, problems arise. Moody, unironic, and properly romantic, "Only Lovers Left Alive" has style and substance to spare.
- Starring: Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Anton Yelchin
- Director: Jim Jarmusch
- Year: 2013
- Runtime: 122 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
22. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
There's something about merging vampires and the Western genre that just makes sense. Maybe it's the threatening mystique of the man with no name ... or the understanding that violence is just a hair trigger away. In any case, even in an already sparsely populated sub-genre, "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" is a beast unto itself — an Iranian, romantic, horror, coming-of-age Western. Set in the fetid, ghost-town of Bad City, Iran, where the corpses fill dried river beds like loose leaves, a melancholic vampire credited only as "The Girl" stalks the townsfolk with her skateboard in tow, hunting for love and a bite (haha) to eat.
- Starring: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh
- Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
- Year: 2014
- Runtime: 105 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
21. 30 Days of Night
If you've ever found yourself pining for the days where vampires were vicious and genuinely terrifying (with nary a hint of romance or aristocratic grace in sight), than buckle up for "30 Days of Night," an aggressively mean-spirited and savage film that sees an isolated Alaskan town plunged into month-long darkness. With the sun out of the way, a horde of bloodthirsty vampires descends upon the townsfolk with unbridled glee, ripping through the local populace whose only hope is a husband-wife sheriff team who are in way over their heads. Then again, at least they still have their heads. Not all of the townsfolk can say that. Don't let that sour Rotten Tomatoes score fool you, this visceral flick deserves a lot more love.
- Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston
- Director: David Slade
- Year: 2007
- Runtime: 113 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 51%
20. Horror of Dracula
Often simply billed as "Dracula" (though, where's the fun in that?), "Horror of Dracula" rattles the bones of Bram Stoker's text, infusing the core mythos of predatory counts, preyed-upon fiancées, and benevolent vampire hunters with a palpable sense of menace. Weaponizing all the crimson hues of technicolor, Terrence Fisher's Hammer Horror classic injects the glamor and panache of its subject matter with genuine peril brought to life by the legendary Christopher Lee. Is it a dreamscape or a nightmare? It's very hard to say.
- Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough
- Director: Terence Fisher
- Year: 1958
- Runtime: 82 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
19. Rabid
Now look, we hear you. All these vampires with toothy grins? Boring. Enter Canadian gore-king David Cronenberg, who's bold enough to ask the question: What if a vampire had a bloodsucking proboscis in their armpit? The result is "Rabid," the chaotic tale of a young woman who finds herself the unwitting recipient/victim of a revolutionary skin graft. The surgery leaves her with an ... unnatural protuberance. And a deep desire to use her new flesh straw to suck up people's insides. A striking vision of late 1970s Montreal, "Rabid" is a fleshy, erotically charged take on the vampire mythos.
- Starring: Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver
- Director: David Cronenberg
- Year: 1977
- Runtime: 91 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
18. Shadow of the Vampire
We've already recommended two films called "Nosferatu" and about a dozen other straight-up adaptations of Bram Stoker's text. So you may be a bit tired of the "obviously evil count" and "foolish real estate agent" song and dance. Well, fear not, because "Shadow of the Vampire" will make you re-think the vampiric canon in a whole new way.
The film dramatizes the making of F.W. Murnau's silent era classic "Nosferatu" with one key twist — it plays with the historical rumor that lead actor Max Schreck was an actual, honest-to-God vampire. Featuring some of the finest scenery-chewing Willem Dafoe has ever committed to the screen, an uncannily dark sense of humor, and an uncompromising meta-historical gait, if you're fan of vampire films, "Shadow of the Vampire" is a must-watch.
- Starring: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Cary Elwes
- Director: E. Elias Merhige
- Year: 2000
- Runtime: 93 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
17. Fright Night
When Charley Brewster informs the proper authorities that his suave, sweater-loving neighbor, Jerry, is a vampire, nobody believes him. This frustration becomes especially tricky when Jerry begins threatening Charley outright, emboldened by the devilish reality that Charley's cries for help have fallen on deaf ears.
With no one else to turn to, Charley seeks out aged horror host Peter Vincent, who Charley idolizes as an on-screen monster hunter. Things get dire when Jerry lays eyes on Charley's virginal girlfriend, Amy, who bears a striking resemblance to the woman he loved back when he was human. Goofy and goopy in all the right places, Tom Holland's practical effects-packed tale of "the boy who cried vampire" is a certified camp classic that fans of '80s cheese can't afford to pass up.
- Starring: Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall
- Director: Tom Holland
- Year: 1985
- Runtime: 106 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
16. Thirst
At the risk of generalizing an entire nation's film industry, Korean horror films just hit different. And the same is certainly true of their vampiric content. Case in point, "Thirst," an erotic and bloody (often at the same time) tale from Park Chan-wook, the man behind the likes of "Oldboy," "Stoker," and "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance." The 2009 vampiric effort follows a priest named Sang-hyun, who selflessly volunteers to be a test subject in a study that may yield a cure for a virus that is basically a death sentence. When the experiment kills him, a blood infusion from an unknown donor brings him back to the land of the living as a vampire, torn between his dedication to the church and his new lust for blood.
- Starring: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Shin Ha-kyun
- Director: Park Chan-wook
- Year: 2009
- Runtime: 133 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
15. Drácula
Now you may be thinking to yourself, "Ah, they messed up. They probably meant the other Dracula film that came out in 1931. You know? The way more popular and well-known film starring Béla Lugosi?" You are right to question us. But the fact of the matter is that the Spanish-language Dracula is the superior film.
Directed by Enrique Tovar Ávalos and George Melford, "Drácula" is one of the rare survivors of the old-timey Hollywood habit of producing foreign-language versions of films that recycled sets, costumes, etc. Armed with the dailies from the English-language production, the Spanish-language crew routinely corrected course to create what is effectively "Dracula" 2.0. This is the revised draft of "Dracula," only in Spanish. If you (like us) can take or leave Lugosi's performance, you'll agree that this go-round is a lot more technically proficient, visually coherent, and emotionally compelling.
- Starring: Carlos Villarias, Lupita Tovar, Pablo Alvarez Rubio
- Director: George Melford, Enrique Tovar Ávalos
- Year: 1931
- Runtime: 103 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
14. Vampyr
Caught between worlds in more than one sense, "Vampyr" is neither a silent picture nor a sound one. And this hybrid status extends to the film's hauntingly ambiguous atmosphere — an unclassifiable terror trip about a student of the occult who finds himself at the center of a wealthy family preyed upon by a predatory, blood-sucking entity. As close to a dream (or should that be nightmare?) as film can get, "Vampyr" has, somewhat fittingly, hardly aged a day.
- Starring: Julian West, Henriette Gérard, Jan Hieronimko
- Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Year: 1932
- Runtime: 66 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
13. Bram Stoker's Dracula
Stuffed to the gills with style and production design, Francis Ford Coppola's most explicit venture into the horror genre does Dracula proud. Sticking relatively close to Bram Stoker's text, the film follows an estate agent named Jonathan Harker (portrayed somewhat infamously by Keanu Reeves, doing his best English accent), who travels from London to Transylvania to inquire after the eccentric Count Dracula. During their encounter, Dracula catches a glimpse of Harker's fiancée, Mina, who's the spitting image of the woman he loved and lost a lifetime ago. A film that's aged like fine wine (or some wine-like bodily fluid), "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is one of the most visually impressive studio films to ever grace the big screen. Our (justified) critiques of Reeves' casting aside, horror fans will definitely enjoy the unmatched, off-the-rails spectacle!
- Starring: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- Year: 1992
- Runtime: 123 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%
12. Nosferatu
Arguably one of the most influential vampire films of all time, F.W. Murnau's unabashedly gothic tale is, wouldn't you know it, an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula." And while the names and specifics may be a touch different, the general predatory thrust remains the same. An innocent everyman finds himself caught in the web of a creature decidedly not of this world, a blood-sucking ghoul who sets their sights on our dumbfounded hero's love interest. Terrifying and deliciously atmospheric a century later, "Nosferatu" wields light and shadow like a weapon.
- Starring: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim
- Director: F.W. Murnau
- Year: 1922
- Runtime: 65 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
11. Hour of the Wolf
Arguably the only (or at least, the most explicit) horror film from Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman, "Hour of the Wolf" tells of a tormented artist whose grip on sanity is beginning to wane. Maybe living on a remote island was a "bad call," who's to say? While his mind swims with disturbing visions, the artist and his wife begin to suspect that said visions are in fact memories planted in his mind by the sinister cult from the opposite side of the island. Far more gestural and elusive than any other film on this list, don't go in expecting names like "Harker" and "Van Helsing," let alone pointed canine fangs or goblets full of gore. Instead, expect something far more subtle and predatory — a gothic-indebted suspicion of aristocratic leeches, feeding on those around them and driving them to madness.
- Starring: Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Erland Josephson
- Director: Ingmar Bergman
- Year: 1968
- Runtime: 90 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
10. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
At the cusp of womanhood, teenage Valerie discovers a pair of enchanted earrings that open the world up to her. While the magical (or is that cursed) jewelry makes it increasingly difficult for Valerie to tell reality apart from her fantastic visions, her sexual awakening endures. As if all that weren't enough, Valerie happens upon a sexually deviant vampire priest. Eerie, non-linear, and drenched in folk traditions, "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" makes good on its title, delivering a true blue phantasmagoria befitting the wild minds of the Czechoslovakian New Wave.
- Starring: Jaroslava Schallerová, Petr Kopriva, Jiri Prymek
- Director: Jaromil Jireš
- Year: 1970
- Runtime: 85 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
9. Cronos
When you think about director Guillermo del Toro, "vampire specialist" doesn't immediately spring to mind. And yet, with two films gracing this list, suffice to say that the man has an uncanny talent for bloodsuckers. While "Blade II" is decidedly more in the Hollywood action-horror side of things, del Toro's feature-film debut, "Cronos," has a more intimate, indie energy.
One of the core texts in the film movement known as Nuevo Cine Mexicano, "Cronos" follows a kindly antiques dealer who happens upon the Cronos device, an invention that can prolong the human lifespan at a terrible cost. Drawing compelling metaphorical connections between vampirism and addiction, "Cronos" is a heart-wrenching and thoroughly unique entry in the vampiric canon.
- Starring: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook
- Director: Guillermo del Toro
- Year: 1993
- Runtime: 92 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
8. Martin
An under-seen gem from George A. Romero's filmography, "Martin" blends vampiric tendencies with an unsettling strain of psychopathic ambiguity. Is the titular disturbed young man a genuine vampire or a deluded killer who's convinced himself he's an inhuman ghoul who must feast on flesh to survive? Dripping with mood and a palpable sense of decay, "Martin" in an engrossing 1970s terror trip that walks the line between misunderstood character study and a genuinely gory, acid-tinged horror show.
- Starring: John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest
- Director: George A. Romero
- Year: 1978
- Runtime: 95 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
7. Dracula A.D. 1972
It's not clear to us why, exactly, this masterpiece sports such an embarrassing Rotten Tomatoes score. All of those reviewers must hate hippies or something. Deepening the Hammer Horror lore and teeming with style and atmosphere, Alan Gibson's film transports Dracula to the chaotic 1970s when a gang of foolish youngins are coerced into reanimating the Count's bone-dry remains. Meanwhile, Jessica Van Helsing, the granddaughter of the famous professor who put Dracula in the ground, knows from the jump that something is afoot. And as the bodies of her friends begin to pile into the morgue, she feels compelled to fulfil her family's destiny to put Dracula back where he belongs. Namely, six feet under.
- Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham
- Director: Alan Gibson
- Year: 1972
- Runtime: 110 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 30%
6. Ganja & Hess
The second film from the unflappable stage director Bill Gunn, to call "Ganja & Hess" a unique take on the vampire genre is putting it mildly. An anthropologist named Dr. Hess Gordon turns into a blood-drinker after his assistant stabs him with an ancient ceremonial blade, infecting the good doctor with a predator's disease. After killing his assistant, Dr. Hess begins preying upon the deceased's widow, the vampy Ganja. Drawing acid-trip infused parallels between vampirism and the self-preservation that often follows addiction, "Ganja & Hess" is a cryptic, erotic, and singular entry in the vampire canon.
- Starring: Duane Jones, Marlene Clark, Bill Gunn
- Director: William Gunn
- Year: 1973
- Runtime: 110 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
5. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
Bet you didn't guess that the most faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker's text was going to be a recorded performance of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet styled to look like a silent era film, did you? Set in the late 19th century, a mysterious outsider, Count Dracula, arrives in London where an unsuspecting socialite welcomes the stranger into her home. This proves to be a fatal mistake, and the ailing young woman is entrusted to the eminent Dr. Van Helsing, who diagnoses her with vampirism. It's up to Van Helsing (with Jonathan Harker in tow) to put a stop to the carnage. Remarkably accessible when set alongside director Guy Maddin's body of work, "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary" is notable for its casting of Chinese-Canadian Zhang Wei-Qiang as the titular Count, a move that underpins the xenophobic themes explicit in Stoker's text.
- Starring: Zhang Wei-Qiang, David Moroni, Tara Birtwhistle
- Director: Guy Maddin
- Year: 2002
- Runtime: 75 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
4. Let the Right One In
A young, bullied loner named Oskar forms a strange bond with the doubly strange girl next door, Eli. Soon, Oskar learns Eli's secret: While she looks like an innocent 12-year old, she's in fact a far older and incredibly deadly creature. Less of a horror feature than a coming-of-age tale keenly interested in probing the limits of friendship, love, and community, "Let the Right One In" spatters the snowbanks of Stockholm with streaks of blood as Eli and Oskar attempt to make a go of it in a cruel and predatory world.
- Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar
- Director: Tomas Alfredson
- Year: 2008
- Runtime: 114 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
3. Near Dark
Inarguably the vampire Western benchmark to which all other vampire Westerns must aspire, "Near Dark" marks Kathryn Bigelow's only foray into the horror genre, and boy oh boy, do we wish she'd come back. When a humble country boy meets the girl of his dreams, the last thing he expects is to be recruited by a roving gang of blood-hungry vampiric drifters. When he finds himself reluctantly indoctrinated into their black hat way of life, his moral compass kicks in when the gang sets their sights on his kid sister.
- Starring: Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen
- Director: Kathryn Bigelow
- Year: 1987
- Runtime: 95 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%
2. Nosferatu the Vampyre
A brilliant team-up from Neo-German Cinema forerunner Werner Herzog and his infamous frenemy, Klaus Kinski, "Nosferatu the Vampyre" pays dues to both F.W. Murnau's striking 1922 classic and Bram Stoker's uber influential source text. While Kinski's Count now bears Max Schreck's iconic, rat-faced look, Herzog is able to translate Stoker's novel more literally to the screen. And so, once again, doomed estate agent Jonathan Harker ventures off to Transylvania to formalize the sale of a piece of property with a mysterious client with even more mysterious appetites. Naturally, after the estate agent falls prey to the Count's thrall, the vampire stalks his way straight to the doorstep of Jonathan's wife, albeit with visuals and atmosphere that only Herzog can bring to the screen.
- Starring: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz
- Director: Werner Herzog
- Year: 1979
- Runtime: 107 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
1. What We Do in the Shadows
This state-sponsored mockumentary (bless you, New Zealand government) follows the daily lives of a gaggle of vampires living together in Wellington. The film focuses on their mundane struggles, from bickering over who gets to do the dishes to more serious fare like placating suspicious police officers and feuding with the local pack of werewolves. Proof that horror comedies still have plenty of bite, "What We Do in the Shadows" is a love letter to vampire films, lore, and the hellish realities of having adult roommates.
- Starring: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh
- Director: Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
- Year: 2014
- Runtime: 86 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%