Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Immortal and alluring, vampires are hot stuff. The genre is filled with everything that film fans need to breathe – action, thrills, sexy stares, and gritty fight scenes. If this sounds like your party, then get ready for the best list of vampire movies ever compiled. We handpicked the top comedies, deep horror, dramas and even graphic novel-inspired films just for you!
1. Interview With The Vampire (1994)
Based on the Anne Rice novel by the same name, this dark and complex story follows vampires Louis (who is being interviewed in modern-day San Francisco) and Lestat, who turned Louis into a vampire in 1791.
After becoming one of the undead, Louis takes on the role of Lestat’s companion but they couldn’t be more different. Lestat is a remorseless killer while Louis suffers from remorse and empathy. When they turn a little girl into a vampire, the pair turn on each other and Louis flees to Paris in search of other vampires. But when their French counterparts learn that Lestat appeared to have been murdered by Louis, the consequences are spectacular and painful in a way that will please any fan of gothic horror films.
2. Blade II (2002)
In this sequel, Blade receives an unusual request. The vampires need his help to fight a terrible plague among themselves. When he discovers that vampires and humans alike are being turned into “Reapers,” blood-thirsty creatures with a highly-infectious bite, Blade agrees.
He joins forces with the Bloodpack, an elite vampire group that originally assembled to destroy him. The truce proves to be as dangerous as the truth about the Reapers, demanding everything Blade’s got to survive.
3. The Lost Boys (1987)
Michael and Sam Emerson move with their mother to go live with their grandfather in a small town called Santa Carla in California. They soon notice that the town has a lot of missing person flyers. Michael becomes distracted by the urge to join a local biker gang in order to get closer to Star, one of their beautiful girls.
But the brothers soon realize that the gang are vampires preying on Santa Carla’s inhabitants. Worse, they have infected Michael, prompting them to join forces with local vampire hunters to cure Michael and stage a final showdown with the bikers.
4. I Am Legend (2007)
A deadly outbreak sweeps through Earth’s population after scientists botch an attempt to genetically adapt the measles virus to become a cure for cancer. U.S. Army virologist LTC Robert Neville loses his entire family during the chaotic evacuation of Manhattan and as the years pass by, Neville lives in the seemingly empty city unsure if there are any other survivors.
The only other inhabitants are Darkseekers, infected humans who look like albinos and behave like vampires. Neville spends his time catching the deadly creatures and doing experiments on them to find a cure. His mission changes profoundly when he meets two immune survivors and the pack of Darkseekers who hunt them.
5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Buffy is a shallow high school girl when Merrick enters her life. He reveals that she is The Slayer and her destiny is to get rid of vampires. At first, she thinks he is a nut job but after a few encounters with the undead, she accepts his offer to train her as a vampire killer.
Buffy does not take her training too seriously but when tragedy strikes, she is determined to get her revenge and take down a local powerful vampire king called Lothos.
6. What We Do In The Shadows (2014)
In this movie, which is shot in a documentary style, a camera crew follows four vampires who are flatmates. Toted as one of the best comedies ever to be written in the vampire genre, the story details the daily life of the group as they argue about chores, struggle to get into nightclubs to find dates and their fights with vampire hunters and a local werewolf pack.
The hilarious movie includes interview-style moments with each vampire that brings more flavou and depth to a truly remarkable mockumentary.
7. Cronos (1993)
In 1536, an alchemist discovers the secret to eternal life after he invents a scarab-shaped object that injects a person’s hand with an immortality solution. In 1996, an antique dealer named Jesús Gris finds the scarab inside of a statue and it pierces his skin. Soon after, he notices that he is turning younger, stronger and also develops a thirst for blood. Gris knows he is turning into a vampire and that the artefact is responsible.
But when a dying rich man sends thugs after Gris to force him to reveal where the scarab is, he decides to take a stand – against them and his unwanted immortality.
8. Hotel Transylvania (2012)
A family-friendly animation, Hotel Transylvania is a place where monsters can go to enjoy a vacation without having to worry that humans might see them. Count Dracula owns the hotel and hopes that his daughter, Mavis, won’t ever leave. But when she hits the teenage age of 118, she wants to know more about the outside world. To Dracula’s horror, she also wants to make friends with humans.
After having lost his wife to an angry human mob when Mavis was little, Dracula goes to hilarious lengths to keep his daughter at home. But when a clueless human boy, Johnny, arrives at the hotel, the chaos kicks up a notch.
9. 30 Days Of Night (2014)
In Alaska, the town of Burrow is about to enter 30 days of night. A stranger disables their communication to the outside world and soon, the townsfolk are running for their lives. A pack of vampires are using the month of darkness to pick the humans off one at a time. Against all odds, a small group of survivors are desperately surviving the countdown to sunrise.
Based on a graphic novel, you can look forward to epic scenes, horrifying twists and a tight pace that will keep you white-knuckling it to the end.
9. Mom’s Got A Date With A Vampire (2000)
In this horror-comedy, the brother and sister duo, Adam and Chelsea, get grounded. They are desperate to get their mom out of the house. Adam wants to go to a concert and his sister wants to hang out with a cute boy. They set her up with Dimitri, a mysterious stranger who take their mom out to dinner. Everything goes well until their little brother tells them that he is convinced that Dimitri is a vampire.
Convinced that their brother will ruin their plans with his paranoia, Adam and Chelsea follow their mother on her date to prove to him that Dmitri is not a vampire. However, they are in for a shock when they notice he has no reflection and he kidnaps their mom.
10. Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
Years after the first movie, the sequel starts where Mavis is married to Johnny and they have a small half-vampire son. Count Dracula is over the moon with little Dennis but when the family decides to move out of the hotel and go to California, he hatches a plan to stop them. If Dennis can get his fangs, then Mavis will have to stay in the world of monsters.
The movie follows his desperate attempts to turn the infant into a monster, helped along by his bumbling but well-meaning friends. But despite trying to keep his family together, Dracula’s actions drive a wedge between him and Mavis who plans to leave after throwing Dennis a birthday party at the hotel.
11. Dark Shadows (2012)
During the 1700s, Barnabas Collins is cursed by a witch after he rejects her love. Her dark magic destroys his wealth and family. Finally, she turns him into a vampire and the town buries him alive. In the 1970s, a construction crew accidentally frees Barnabas and he comically enters a world that is as strange to him as he is to the living.
Barnabas returns to his current family and moves in, much to their dismay. But they soon become embroiled in Barnabas’s destiny with the witch – who still pursues him and threatens to destroy his family once again.
12. The Transfiguration (2017)
Milo is a 14-year-old who lives a rough life in Brooklyn, New York. To cope with his mother’s suicide and being brutally bullied by a gang, he becomes obsessed with the idea that he is a vampire. He lives by the rules for the undead and starts killing people, making himself sick by consuming their blood.
Milo’s life receives a spark of life when he meets Sophie, an equally brutalized girl from the same neighborhood. Their bond becomes a haven but after Sophie discovers his hunting journal detailing the killings, she breaks things off. Milo gives her one last gift – enough money to get out of Brooklyn, but his own destiny is to live and die on his hunting grounds.
