TOP TEN VAMPIRE FILM COUNTDOWN

This post began as a conversation over dinner one night with my son, Luke. We were discussing movies and the topic of vampire films came up. We started mentioning our favorites and least favorites, making a list of them. I quickly texted myself with the results, and held onto it. Flash forward several months and I'm thinking about what I want to do for Halloween here on the blog when I suddenly remembered that bloodsucking countdown Luke and I had developed... perfect! Thus this year's Halloween treat, my top 10 Vampire film countdown.

I'm beginning the list with a film that holds the distinction of being one of the few that scared me as a kid. I have distinct, and fond, memories of watching this one alone in my bedroom on a little television, with all the lights off. I would watch it until I got too scared and then would change the channel, flip to something else for a bit, then switch back to this movie and do it all over again, watching until I got too scared to take it any more. I had nightmares about this one. Coming in at #10...





#10 - SALEM'S LOT, 1979, Dir. Tobe Hooper, Starring David Soul and James Mason. It tells the story of an ancient vampire named Barlow who comes to the town of Salem's Lot and begins feeding on the population, turning each of his victims into vampires too. This was a made-for-TV mini-series based on the book Salem's Lot by Stephen King - don't be misled into watching the 2004 adaptation of this book starring Rutger Hauer and Rob Lowe, the 1979 version is much better. It originally aired in 2 parts, on November 17th and 24th, 1979. I was 13 years old at the time...

Barlow is a truly frightening vampire. Based look-wise on the vampire from the classic film Nosferatu, Barlow is not the romantic, suave vampire of Hollywood films but an evil, rat-like creature infesting the town and spreading his disease of vampirism. It features some truly scary moments and is one I revisit from time to time, although now I don't need to change the channel any longer. Usually.