Vampire Movies That Don’t Suck

I’m so sorry

We all know at this point that I am a fan of vampire movies. That’s especially meaningful this week because Ryan Coogler’s Sinners hits cinemas this Friday. It’s one of my most anticipated films of 2025, so I am obviously pretty pumped about seeing it.

That got me thinking about other vampire films I enjoy. I spent all of last December talking about Dracula, so I felt like it would be a good time to highlight some vampire films that do not revolve around everyone’s favorite Transylvanian Count. These are some of my favorites that I’ve watched over the years.

The Last Man on Earth (1964) directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow

I finally watched this classic last year, and it immediately became one of my favorites. Based on Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, this film has more in common with modern zombie apocalypse movies than traditional vampire stories. A pandemic has wiped out the majority of the human population while mutating the survivors into undead vampiric creatures that are repelled by sunlight, garlic, and their own reflections. Seemingly the only person who is unaffected by the disease is a doctor played by Vincent Price who spends his days hunting and killing as many of these undead creatures as possible as they sleep, and then he spends his nights repelling them as they try to breech his fortified base of operations. I think it might be Price’s best ever role. There is a decided lack of camp that I’ve come to expect from Vincent Price movies, and it’s replaced with a sense of nihilism. It’s hard to overstate how influential it is on the legion of zombie apocalypse stories that have come since.

Martin (1978) directed by George A. Romero

Speaking of zombie apocalypse movies, the man responsible for popularizing the subgenre also made one of my favorite vampire films. Kinda. The titular character (played by John Amplas) is a young man who certainly believes himself to be a vampire, but it’s entirely possible that he’s just suffering from mental illness. Regardless of whether or not he’s truly an undead monster, he spends his nights stalking people (mostly women) that he injects with a sedative and then cuts open their veins with a razor so he can drink their blood. So he’s either a vampire or a serial killer. Either way, it’s a problem. One of my favorite things that Romero does is show Martin’s “memories” from his vampire escapades in the nineteenth century (filmed in black and white) intercut with his modern day attacks. Are they real memories or just delusions? That’s for the viewer to decide.

Fright Night (1985) directed by Tom Holland

I know The Lost Boys (1987) is typically held up as the standard for campy 1980s vampire flicks, but I prefer Fright Night. The premise is a fun one. A teenager named Charley (played by William Ragsdale) who has an obsession with old school horror movies just so happens to have a vampire (played by Chris Sarandon) move in next door. Unsurprisingly, no one believes him, so Charley enlists the help of his friends and a washed up actor (played by Roddy McDowall) who gained recognition playing a vampire hunter to try and take down his evil neighbor.

Near Dark (1987) directed by Kathryn Bigelow

If Fright Night is a great example of silly vampire movies from the 1980s, then Near Dark is the standard bearer for gritty vampire movies of the decade. It actually bears some plot similarities to another vampire movie that came out in 1987: The Lost Boys. A young man named Caleb (played by Adrian Pasdar) is turned into a vampire and inducted into a gang of the bloodsuckers. This gang, however, is much more violent (and tragic) than the one in The Lost Boys. This is exemplified by a scene taking place in a bar. I won’t spoil the details, but it is by far the most infamous scene from the film. Most importantly, Near Dark features my favorite performance by Bill Paxton as the vicious vampire Severen. He steals every scene he is in.

The Lair of the White Worm (1988) directed by Ken Russell

I just talked about this movie last month, so I’ll just let the trailer speak for itself.

Cronos (1992) directed by Guillermo del Toro

This underrated gem is Guillermo del Toro’s first feature film. The plot is kind of a mix of traditional vampire stories and Hellraiser. There is a strange device that is hundreds of years old that promises immortality, but there’s a catch: it essentially turns the user into a vampire. It’s a very clever concept. The film follows an elderly antiques dealer (played by Jesus Gris) who acquires the device and unlocks its powers. Meanwhile, a wealthy businessman who is dying sends his nephew (a brutish thug played by the great Ron Perlman) to find the device for him by any means necessary. It’s a very cool and original take on vampires that helped launch the career of one of the most successful filmmakers working today.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) directed by Robert Rodriguez

I almost didn’t include this one on the list, but it’s not because it isn’t one of my favorites. It’s because the movie hides the fact that it’s a vampire film. For the first third or so of the runtime, it appears to be a crime thriller as a pair of bank robber brothers (played by George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) take a family hostage as they head to Mexico. Once across the border, they enter a bar that just so happens to be infested with vampires. It goes from a very serious crime thriller to a zany horror film in an instant. If that doesn’t make you want to watch it, then I would also like to note that it features Salma Hayek being the hottest a human being has ever been.

Blade (1998) directed by Stephen Norrington

Come on. It’s Blade. Of course it’s on the list. It’s Wesley Snipes as Marvel’s human-vampire hybrid being an absolute badass as he hunts down and kills vampires. It rules. Blade II (2002) from Guillermo del Toro might be even better. Watch both of them.

30 Days of Night (2007) directed by David Slade

It’s another comic book adaptation! This one comes from the series of the same name from Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. It has an ingenious premise: vampires descend upon the town of Barrow, Alaska as it enters thirty consecutive days of darkness due to its geographic location. Yes, this is a real thing that happens. I mean the darkness part, not the vampires. Hopefully. The first half of this movie is much stronger than the second half, but that first half is so strong that it makes the whole film worth it. Josh Hartnett is great as the town sheriff trying to protect his town as best as he can, and Danny Huston is terrifying as the leader of the vampires. It also gives us one of the greatest quotes in cinematic history.

Let the Right One In (2008) directed by Tomas Alfredson

Let the Right One In is a masterpiece. It’s easily one of the best vampire films ever made. Set in Sweden, it’s the story of a young boy (played by Kare Hedebrant) who is relentlessly bullied in school who befriends a vampire (played by Lina Leandersson) who appears to be a young girl of the same age. It becomes a coming of age tale intermixed with a grim horror story. It plays with a lot of well known vampire tropes while always putting the human struggles of the main characters first. It’s a heartbreaking story that has just the right amount of gruesome horror elements to keep it feeling wholly original. It’s a must watch.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014) directed by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement

This is the only true comedy on my list. It’s a mockumentary about four vampire roommates (Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Jonny Brugh, and Ben Fransham) and their daily lives. The comedy is derived from how mundane their lives are despite their fantastic supernatural abilities. The film highlights how they navigate their romantic lives, deal with familiars, convert new vampires, and handle the occasional encounter with werewolves. It’s very silly, but the dry humor is very effective. Its success led to a television series of the same name.

Bit (2019) directed by Brad Michael Elmore

Bit is the spiritual successor to the vampire films of the 1980s that I’ve previously discussed. It’s about a trans girl named Laurel (played by Nicole Maines) who has recently graduated high school and is traveling to Los Angeles to stay with her older brother (played by James Paxton). While there, she is turned into a vampire and inducted into a group of feminist vampires led by a woman named Duke (played by Diana Hopper) whose number one rule is that no men can ever be turned. There is plenty of biting satire (sorry) mixed with a decent amount of gore and one of the best needle drops in recent memory. Hopper in particular steals every scene she’s in as one of the coolest vampires you’re ever going to see.

Abigail (2024) directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

Last but not least is a film that just released last year. Abigail sports an incredible ensemble cast that includes Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Alisha Weir, Kevin Durand, Kathryn Newton, and Giancarlo Esposito among many others. It’s about a crew of criminals who are hired to kidnap a young girl after her ballet class in order to hold her for ransom from her wealthy father. Unfortunately, she just so happens to be a vampire. And she’s pissed off and hungry. There’s plenty of comedy and one liners combined with buckets upon buckets of gore as this band of misfits tries to survive the little girl they kidnapped. The entire cast is great, but Durand is the standout as the “muscle” on the crew who is also dumb as a rock. He provides some of the funniest moments in a film full of them.

Hopefully Sinners lives up to the hype and joins this list, but we clearly have plenty of great vampire films to revisit regardless.