Vampires are cinema’s most enduring monsters. They represent many things: lust, greed, the exploitative ruling class, outsiders, immortality. For over a century(!), filmmakers have been using vampires to explore these endlessly fascinating themes. While there’s certainly a lot of cheesy schlock in the genre (which can be fun when you’re in the mood for it), there are also numerous great vampire movies out there that examine what it means to be human through the lens of the undead.
Explore this collection of some of the best vampire movies ever made next time you’re feeling the thirst for blood:
1. Shadow of the Vampire
This mesmerizing vampire indie movie stars John Malkovich and Willem Defoe in a beautiful meditation on cinema, obsession, and the nature of evil. It’s a fictionalized account of the filming of the classic silent vampire film Nosferatu, with the added twist that Max Schreck, the actor playing the fiend, is a vampire in real life. Fantastic makeup effects transform Defoe into a creature of the night. More cerebral and darkly comic than strictly frightening, this parable about the limits of art will speak to vampire lovers and artists alike.
Watch it here.
2. Nosferatu (1922)
The first Dracula movie is also one of the all-time best. F.W. Murnau’s German Expressionist classic follows the malevolent Count Orlok across the sea as he brings his curse to England. The film is subtitled “A Symphony of Horror,” and it definitely lives up to that. Nosferatu is spellbinding, and its silent movie trappings such as title cards and exaggerated staging only make it more effective. The image of shadowy fingers inching along the screen is still nightmare fuel a century later.
Werner Herzog paid tribute to this classic film with his 1979 remake Nosferatu the Vampyr, a deeply weird film crawling with plague rats and menacing shadows. Check it out for a creative auteur’s interpretation of this horror cinema touchstone.
Watch it here.
3. Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Operatic and gleefully over-the-top, this big screen adaptation from Francis Ford Coppola frames the story of Dracula as a star-crossed romance. Gary Oldman is fantastically creepy and eerily suave by turns, and the film’s iconic costume design by Eiko Ishioka is unforgettable. While a lot of viewers razzed Keanu Reeves for his shaky British accent when the movie came out, his performance as the naive Jonathan Harker suits the tone of the film. If you’re looking to get swept up by a wave of gothic melodrama with plenty of gore, Bram Stoker’s Dracula simply must be experienced.
Watch it here.
4. Let the Right One In
This haunting Swedish film is dark yet oddly sweet. When a young boy is bullied at school, he finds solace in his new neighbor, a girl his age (or so she appears) with an aging father and a bloody secret. They share a sweet friendship, but her vampire nature brings tragic complications to their bond. Featuring stellar performances from child actors Lena Leandersson and Kåre Hedebrant, Let the Right One In is a story about the horrors of growing up.
Watch it here.
5. The Hunger
Listen, I’ve recommended The Hunger elsewhere, and I’ll probably do it again. Tony Scott’s deliriously decadent, gauzy vampire story is just too good to miss out on. This movie has everything: David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve as an impossibly glamorous vampire couple, chain-smoking Susan Sarandon, a Bauhaus cameo, monkey research gone awry, child endangerment, an attic full of mummified ex-lovers, and acres of billowing white curtains right out of an 80s music video.
This is horror romance with a BIG emphasis on the horror. It’s as goth as a clove cigarette, asking viewers to contemplate what it really means to love someone “forever and ever.”
Watch it here.
6. Salem’s Lot (1979)
The Stephen King classic comes alive in this tale of an author who returns to his sleepy hometown (in Maine, naturally) and begins to suspect it is being menaced by a vampire. The original 70s miniseries features a very creepy performance by James Mason. Directed by Tobe Hooper (of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame), it seethes with menacing atmosphere, showing the horrors that can lurk just under the surface of small town life.
Watch it here.
7. Dracula (1979)
Frank Langella stars in this lavish, spellbinding Dracula adaptation that leaves little doubt as to why anyone would be swayed by the Count’s offer of eternal life. Featuring a creepily bombastic score by John Williams, this version puts the book in a blender, and what comes out accentuates the novel’s themes of desire, repression, and madness. It’s also beautifully shot, with a very 70s louche vibe despite the Edwardian setting.
Watch it here.
8. Dracula (1931)
“I never drink…wine.”
Full of classic lines and haunting images, this might just be the definitive Dracula movie. Bela Lugosi plays the Count as an eccentric man with a dark pull and a twinkle in his eye. While the movie plays fast and loose with book canon (Jonathan Harker’s role is given to the bug-munching manservant Renfield, for example), it stands on its own as a tale of the seductive power of evil.
Bela Lugosi might be dead, but the shadow his Dracula casts over horror cinema will live forever.
Watch it here.
9. The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Dracula has been adapted to (un)death, but this unique take on the source novel focuses on a single episode that takes place largely offstage in Stoker’s text. It tells the story of what happened to the ghost ship Demeter that transported the Count to England and arrived with the crew dead of mysterious causes.
The film gives us an unusually animalistic Count Dracula, without the veneer of sophistication and polish he’s come to be associated with. Here he’s a force of nature, a beast that can’t be reasoned with. This movie is filled with terrifying sequences and unnerving images. If you’re one of those horror fans who thinks most vampire movies aren’t scary enough, this is the one for you.
Watch it here.
10. Blade
Blade was the first Marvel movie, and it brings a comic book sensibility to the tale of a lone vampire hunter driven to rid the world of evil. It’s an action movie with style to burn, a perfect encapsulation of the late 90s leather-and-latex gothic aesthetic. Come for Wesley Snipes with a sword, stay for the blood sprinkler rave.
Its sequel Blade II, helmed by Guillermo del Toro, dials up everything that worked about the first movie and adds the director’s signature dark whimsy.
Watch it here.
11. Near Dark
This windswept, desolate vision from Kathryn Bigelow follows a group of vampire drifters as they blow through small town America, leaving carnage in their wake. These no-nonsense vamps are a refreshing change of pace from the aristocratic bloodsuckers who populate much of the genre, and the roadhouse massacre scene is one of the most thrilling horror movie sequences of the 80s.
Near Dark is currently in streaming limbo, but I’ll add a link if it becomes available. You can buy it on DVD ($40), but copies are a bit pricey due to low availability.
12. The Lost Boys
This teen vampire movie stars a who’s who of 80s teenage heartthrobs, including Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Haim, Jason Patric, and Alex Winter. When teenager Sam moves to a coastal California town with his mom and younger brother, he falls in with a gang of bloodthirsty delinquents and finds himself on the road to a deadly transformation. The only way to reverse it is to kill the head vampire–and time is running out.
As it’s directed by Joel Schumacher, it should come as no surprise that the film is undeniably campy, a bit goofy, and tons of fun. Overall, The Lost Boys is pretty light on substance, but its style more than makes up for it.
Watch it here.
13. Interview with the Vampire (1994)
This popular vampire film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt has star power to burn. It tells the story of depressed 18th-century Louisiana plantation owner Louis, who is seduced into vampirism by the charismatic old world vampire Lestat. Kirsten Dunst has a star-making turn as the tragic child vampire Claudia who keeps them together as the decades pass. Louis sits down with a young reporter he meets by chance in a bar to tell his life story over the course of a night, drawing him into his engrossing tale.
If you enjoy the 90s film, it’s well worth watching the stellar 2022 Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire TV show. Featuring brilliant performances by Jacob Anderson (of Game of Thrones fame) and Sam Reid as Louis and Lestat, the show highlights the queer themes present in the source material but largely dropped from the blockbuster film adaptation.
For another Anne Rice vampire movie, the loosely adapted sequel Queen of the Damned is…honestly pretty abysmal, but it’s worth checking out for the iconic performance by Aaliyah as Akasha the vampire queen (and its oh-so-early-2000s industrial nu-metal soundtrack).
Watch it here.
14. Thirst
From Park Chan Wook, the director of Oldboy and The Handmaiden, comes this tale of a Catholic priest-turned-reluctant blood drinker. Ensnared in a web of forbidden desire, vampirism is just one of his problems. The film deftly examines the sacramental and sacrificial aspects of bloodletting, all wrapped up in a delicious film noir plot and presented with gorgeous cinematography.
Watch it here.
15. What We Do in the Shadows
This hilarious comedy from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement is a mockumentary following the adventures of three vampire roommates in present-day New Zealand as they battle a gang of werewolves, face romance woes, and deal with awkward supernatural social situations. The film pokes fun at vampire lore, drops tons of fun pop culture references, and brings out the human side of its hapless undead heroes.
If you’re a fan of the long-running FX sitcom the movie inspired, you’ll love the original’s low-key charms.
Watch it here.
16. Fright Night
Charley Brewster is a 17-year-old horror buff who discovers his next door neighbor is a secret vampire. When nobody takes him seriously, he seeks out a horror TV host to help him stop the bloodshed before it’s too late. Full of thrills and chills, this 80s horror movie doesn’t have a lot of deep thoughts about vampires on its mind, but that’s okay–it’s still tons of fun.
The 2011 Fright Night remake is notable for starring the late Anton Yelchin, who imbues Charley with a mixture of shyness and bravado. It features a memorable turn from David Tennant as a flamboyant vampire hunter in over his head, with Colin Farrell oozing oily menace as the undercover fiend.
Watch it here.
17. Dracula/Horror of Dracula (1958)
This legendary Dracula movie with Chrisopher Lee gives viewers a Count with charm and appeal. Lee purposely avoided watching any other film adaptations of the book to ensure his performance would be fresh, finding what he called the “loneliness of evil” in the character. Released as Horror of Dracula in the U.S., this timeless Hammer Horror film is brimming with dry ice and spooky atmosphere.
Watch it here.
18. Ganja & Hess
Part 80s blaxploitation movie, part arthouse horror, Ganja & Hess gives vampire movie fans a lot of material to chew on. Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones) is a renowned anthropologist studying ancient African artifacts. When his deranged assistant stabs him with one of them and then commits suicide, Hess finds himself stricken with vampirism. The assistant’s wife Ganja (Marlene Clark) comes looking for him, and the two soon strike up a whirlwind vampire romance that brings chaos in its wake.
Watch it here.
19. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
"A vampire is so many things," explains director Ana Lily Amirpour, "serial killer, a romantic, a historian, a drug addict." This stylish vampire film explores all these facets in the story of the Girl, a vampire vigilante who stalks the nighttime streets of the mythical "Bad City" in modern Iran, her black chador fluttering like a cape as she skateboards through the night. Shot in crisp black and white, this dreamlike film has an instantly iconic look and no shortage of gorgeous imagery.
Watch it here.
20. Only Lovers Left Alive
A meditation on enduring love and inevitable decay, Only Lovers Left Alive takes place in the overgrown wilds on the outskirts of Detroit, where Tom Hiddleston’s vampire musician broods and pines for his immortal companion, played by Tilda Swinton. When she agrees to join him after a long sojourn apart, another vampire follows hot on her heels and shakes up their insular world.
Like other Jim Jarmusch films, this one is filled with gorgeous images that meander across the screen, inviting the viewer to adopt a vampire’s eye for beauty and sense of infinite time. The vampire lovers and their compatriots experience a wondrous nighttime world few humans get to see–but it comes with a price.
Watch it here.
21. Byzantium
Saorise Ronan stars in this tale of a vampire teenager and her mother, who find themselves at the secluded Byzantium Hotel after they go on the run from a mysterious vampire brethren. As their tragic story is revealed in flashbacks, the duo become involved with the humans around them in dangerous ways.
Master of gothic atmosphere Neil Jordan (dir. Interview with the Vampire) gives the film his characteristic sense of opulence, and an all-around great cast brings this haunting story of an undead mother and daughter to life.
Watch it here.
22. Martin
Although he’s best known for his iconic zombies, filmmaker George A. Romero has claimed that Martin is his favorite movie he’s ever made. It tells the story of a lonely young man who may or may not be a vampire–but one thing’s for sure: he’s driven to kill and drink blood. Part horror movie, part tragic character study, this film is sure to stick with you.
Watch it here.
23. Carmilla
Based on the novel by Sheridan Le Fanu (which actually predates Dracula by about 25 years), this adaptation emphasizes the ratcheting tension and sense of unease of the source text. When a carriage crash brings a mysterious young woman named Carmilla to the lonely estate where the heroine Lara lives with her father and strict governess, the two strike up a heady romance, but strange events and deadly omens follow in Carmilla’s wake.
There’s no shortage of lesbian vampire movies out there, most of them exploitation flicks, but this atmospheric Carmilla adaptation avoids cheap thrills in its ambiguous, unsettling exploration of vampirism–and the power of belief in it.
Watch it here.
24. Cronos
Guillermo del Toro’s first feature film is sometimes forgotten, but it offers a unique take on vampirism filtered through the director’s dark clockmaker sensibility. An alchemist in the 1500s invents a device which confers immortality, but eternal life comes with a cost. An elderly antique dealer discovers it centuries later, and must decide what to do with this forbidden knowledge. This is the first of several collaborations between the director and Hellboy star Ron Perlman, a dark fantasy drama that’s rich with ideas and imagination.
Watch it here.
Whether you’re looking for gory thrills or deep philosophical thoughts about undeath, there’s a film on this list for you. Browse this curated selection of great vampire movies to find one you’ll love sinking your teeth into.