The 20 Best Vampire Movies For Your Bloodsucking Halloween Season
Vampire movies suck. Every single one of them. Stupid puns aside, the vampire is an almost-universal part of supernatural lore across the world, and 1922’s Nosferatu is one of the very first horror movies, telling the story of the terrifying Count Orlok. Since then, hundreds of vampire movies have hit theaters all across the world, covering not just horror but other genres, too.
Vampires are an enchanting idea for so many reasons. They live forever, often in decadent, gothic castles. They drink blood, representing the life force of human beings. They can transform into bats, wolves, and mist. They control the undead and hypnotize the living. Sometimes they have really sick sword fights. Sometimes they bring about the end of the world. They can be the oldest of the old as in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, or appear as children like in Let the Right One In. They can be hunters or the hunted. They can be cool like Blade or a bunch of dorks like the protagonists of What We Do In The Shadows.
With vampires and vampire-like beings coming from all over the world, we’ve also tried to bring in those influences, with vampire films hailing from Japan, Korea, China, Germany, Sweden, and more, alongside many of the expected American films. They also range from that 1922 movie above up to the 2020s–pretty much the entirety of the history of film.
If you’re looking for other spooky movie recommendations, check out some of our other horror lists, including the best horror movies of all time according to Metacritic, the most disturbing and disgusting horror films, the best horror movie “final girls” ever, and the best slow-burn horror movies.
1. Nosferatu (1922)
Sometimes the classics are the best. Nosferatu is one of the very first motion pictures–a silent film with title cards spread throughout. The story of this German film is based on Bram Stoker’s original novel, but has enough differences to matter and has become a landmark picture in horror cinema.
2. Dracula (1931)
Just nine years after the silent film Nosferatu, itself an iconic vampire horror film, actor Bela Lugosi and the crew of Dracula told us all conclusively what Count Dracula would look like for the next century. The widow’s peak hair, star pendant, bowtie, and collared cape all became core parts of the look of Dracula, which would be mimicked everywhere from children’s television to Japanese video games for decades to come.
3. Vampyr (1932)
While Bela Lugosi’s Dracula is the iconic vampire, Vampyr came only a year later and is doing its own thing. This movie follows an occult researcher traveling to a village under a vampire’s curse. It was panned on release, but its mix of silent-film title cards and audible sounds effects make it stand out. It’s also a pretty experimental film that has a unique look even today.
4. Martin (1977)
The trailer for this one is all I needed to sell me. In George Romero’s Martin, the titular character kills women by putting them to sleep and draining their blood. Is he a vampire, or just a serial killer? Actor John Amplas imbues Martin with the creepy earnestness of someone completely at peace with the terrible thing they’ve become. This is a legendary horror director playing with our expectations of a vampire movie in a fascinating way.
5. The Hunger (1983)
David Bowie is a vampire. If that isn’t enough for you, read on. David Bowie plays John Blaylock, a vampire who has suddenly begun to age rapidly. He seeks out the help of a doctor named Sarah (Susan Sarandon), who becomes entangled in a love triangle with Blaylock and his wife.
6. Fright Night (1985, 2011)
Dealer’s choice: There’s the 1985 original Fright Night, and the 2011 remake. The 1985 original is everything you’d ask for from a campy ’80s vampire movie and features Roddy McDowall doing a send-up of Vincent Price and Peter Cushing; 2011’s remake stars Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, and David Tennant, and is generally regarded as being a somewhat better movie. In both films, the basic plot is the same: A cool new guy moves in next door, and high-school senior Charlie is the only one who sees that something weird is going on. And so he does what any kid would do in that case: He turns to a famous vampire-hunter for help. Wait, I mean a famous actor who played a vampire hunter.
7. Mr. Vampire (1985)
Jiangshi are a supernatural creature originating from Chinese folklore. They’re not exactly vampires in the traditional sense, but they are indeed undead beings who drain the living of their life force. In this Chinese classic, an incorrectly buried town elder returns from the dead to target those responsible for digging his grave. A Taoist priest and his disciples have to stop him. This is a seminal picture in Chinese supernatural cinema.
8. Lost Boys (1987)
When Sam moves to Santa Carla, CA with his mother and older brother Michael, other kids inform him that the undead have infiltrated the town. Sam is skeptical until Michael, who has begun to hang out with a local biker gang and drink blood, begins to change. Lost Boys is a stone-cold 1980s classic horror comedy, with great action and a legendary scene featuring a sexy saxophone-playing Tim Capello.
9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
The first of two vampire movies that became incredibly successful TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer follows the same basic formula as the show, with Buffy Summers (Kristy Swanson) finding out she’s a destined vampire hunter. Buffy rescues Oliver Pike (Luke Perry) from vampires, and the two face off against vampires Lothos (Rutger Hauer) and Amilyn (Paul Reubens). Amilyn’s death scene at the end is a thing of legends.
10. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
While previous Dracula-centric films had done their own adaptations of the novel by Bram Stoker, Francis Ford Coppola’s lavish film was the first to pin the author’s name to it in hopes of faithfully capturing the story of the most legendary of vampires as a serious, terrifying character instead of a campy joke. The movie is lauded for its impressive production values and the performance of Gary Oldman as the Count, but derided for the performances of leads Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder.
11. Cronos (1992)
This was horror director Guillermo del Toro’s first feature-length motion picture, making it worth of being on anybody’s list of movies to watch. In this unique take on vampirism, an elderly antique dealer is unwittingly injected by an ancient scarab-like contraption that gives him youth and a thirst for blood–but also puts him on the radar of a ruthless, aging businessman who has been seeking out the Cronos device for years.
12. Interview with the Vampire (1994)
It’s Interview with THE vampire, not A vampire. This 1994 film is based on Anne Rice’s novel of the same name and features Tom Cruise at the height of his popularity and Brad Pitt as his star is just beginning to rise. The currently running television show of the same title is a more faithful adaptation, but this movie helped make the vampire Lestat a household name.
13. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
This movie features a laundry list of people on the cusp of being incredibly famous. From Dusk Till Dawn is written by Quentin Tarantino, directed by Robert Rodriguez, and stars George Clooney and Tarantino, and features Salma Hayek. Tarantino and Clooney play a pair of criminal brothers who take a family hostage, only to end up in a saloon packed with vampires.
14. Vampire Hunter D/Bloodlust (1985, 2000)
If you want some long-running vampire fiction, you might check out the long-running Japanese novel series Vampire Hunter D, which has 41 entries as of last year–29 of them have been released in English. The character has been translated to film twice, in 1985 as Vampire Hunter D, and in 2000 as Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Both versions have their fans, and depict the same far-future post-apocalyptic world and the titular hunter: a half-vampire with a talking left hand and a huge sword. Vampire Hunter D is mature anime at its best.
15. Blade II (2002)
Before Guillermo del Toro was a household name and the MCU was even a dream, the horror director put his weight behind Blade II, the sequel to the 1998 film. Wesley Snipes returns to reprise his fan-favorite performance, and del Toro’s knack for gory, visceral VFX gets its first big spotlight in American cinema.
16. Let the Right One In (2008)
This Swedish vampire film tells the story of a bullied young boy who befriends a strange girl. Roger Ebert called the movie one of the best modern vampire movies. There’s a remake, but this one, the original, is the one to watch.
17. Thirst (2009)
Directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), this Korean vampire follows a Catholic priest who becomes a vampire as a result of a failed medical experiment, and begins to thirst for human blood as he questions his faith and morals. The title, Thirst, isn’t just about blood, of course. This film touches on the erotic aspects of vampire lore like few others on this list.
18. What We Do In The Shadows (2014)
Before Taika Waititi directed Thor: Ragnarök, he and his Kiwi comedy friends got together to make a goofy mockumentary film about three vampires living together in Wellington, New Zealand. Written by Waititi and Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), the movie explores the everyday life of vampires patterned off of famous vampires like Dracula and Lestat. It has the trademark mumbling pacing of Clement and Waititi’s other work. It’s not required viewing before enjoying the What We Do In The Shadows television show by any means, but it’s a killer comedy on its own and enhances the show.
19. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
This Iranian-American movie was filmed in California, but is set in an Iranian ghost town called Bad City. It follows an unnamed woman vampire as she takes victims and tries to survive her lonely life. In a genre rife with cliche, a take as unique as this one stands out.
20. Vampires vs. the Bronx (2020)
You’ve heard of old money, and this is about the oldest money. A group of black teenagers find themselves having to protect themselves and their neighborhood from vampires and the gentrification those old, wealthy undead bring with them.