Vampires Over The Years...

Over the years, Vampires have become adjusted to adhere to social issues and relate to the target audience. In various Vampire films, "Vampires are no longer lonely creatures hiding in the underground of our cities; they live with us in the daylight in our towns and suburbs" . This is apparent in The Twilight Series, where all the Vampire characters live among the usual lifestyle of others and remain following the rules of human society, “The vampire is no longer a monster that needs to be exclusively destroyed” . Vampires are the story of many folklore and fantasy novels, dating all the way back to the famous classic 1979 Nosferatu the Vampyre. Nosferatu was a tall, cadaverous old man with no hair. His fingers, ears and teeth all formed points and his skin was pale white. This vampire, as immortalized by Bram Stoker in 1897 “is far removed from the face of vampires today” . The Horror of Dracula made in 1958 highlights the key changes made in Vampire films today. Christopher Lee’s performance shows the upmost foul villain from hell. The lighting is usually low key as Dracula cannot go out into the sunlight; this connotes his wickedness and may foreshadow bad occurrences later on in the film. His facial expressions are constantly of him in pain and death to highlight the vulnerability he has in the sunlight. His clothing consists of a long black cloak which emphasises his bad side which shows the audience that Vampires are only horrific. The film consists of many classical “conventions that are specific to itself, such as Vampire’s aversion to garlic” . This is the complete opposite of what we find in Vampire films today where they sparkle in the sunlight and have special powers such as mind reading and great physical strength. The new dark Vampire romance genre has created such a burning desire with young females which have resulted in books and films being adapted by film and television.