By Sammael Asael

Vampires have come a long way in history, despite being supposed mythical creatures. Stories depicting vampires as ruthless, bloodthirsty creatures have had numerous retellings in the form of various media, be they literature, television or the silver screen. As the world turns, so too does the vampire myth.

For centuries, the vampire myth tells of beings that drain the essence of their victims in a variety of ways, depending on the region in which the myth originates. Ancient Greece had the Lamia and the Empusa, both creatures of demonic stature whose heinous acts were feared by all and became legend amongst the ancient Greeks. India has the Vetalas, undead corpse-inhabiting ghouls that hang upside down on trees around cemeteries and cremation grounds.

As one travels further into Asia, one would learn the legends of the Penanggalan and the Pontianak, from the regions of Malaysia and Indonesia respectively (though the Pontianak has been known to “migrate” from its native Indonesia to parts of Malaysia, where it is known as the Langsuir).

For those unfamiliar with the Penanggalan, it is an undead creature that takes on the form of a strikingly beautiful woman, either young or old, and is supposedly one who had resorted to the use of black magic to obtain her extraordinary beauty. The Penanggalan is said to be able to detach her head, which then flies around in search of blood, especially that of pregnant women, after sunset.

The Pontianak, on the other hand, is the reanimated, undead corpse of a woman who had died during childbirth, and often appears as a beautiful woman with long, jet black hair. It is said that it can be driven off if a person is able to fill the hole in the back of her neck with her hair.

It is interesting to note however, that no vampire has been romanticised more than the modern day, New World vampires. Somehow along the way the horror stories and vampire superstitions that led to mass hysteria in Europe of the early 18th century gave way to the more charismatic and sophisticated vampire. Beginning with the publication of John Polidori’s “The Vampyre”, it wasn’t until Bram Stoker’s quintessential 1897 novel “Dracula” that vampires became allegories and metaphors for repressed sexuality.

It was the very success of Bram Stoker’s work that spawned an entire genre of vampire fiction, a genre that catapulted vampires into the media spotlight. Ever since Dracula was introduced to the public, audiences around the world, particularly British and American audiences, have shown an insatiable fascination for vampires.

In 1922, director F.W. Muranu made “Nosferatu”, a silent masterpiece based on Bram Stoker’s famed novel that was eventually shut down due to copyright infringement. “Nosferatu” could have been considered revolutionary, with Muranu’s use of high contrast lighting and terrifying shadows… not to mention the ghoulish star of the movie itself, the pale, hairless creature with black holes for eyes and thin fingers with menacingly long fingernails.

But the most revolutionary thing about “Nosferatu” was that it was the first time anyone could truly witness the rising of the undead from its coffin.

Then in 1931, Todd Browning created what might be the most memorable Dracula classic that most could (and would) identify with for years to come. While it might have appeared that Browning’s work was clearly inspired by Muranu’s Nosferatu, Browning put his own spin to his Dracula-based film. In Browning’s Dracula, Nosferatu wasn’t a ghoulish undead creature; the vampire featured in the film was suave, charismatic, yet as dangerous as Nosferatu. Browning’s casting of Bela Lugosi as the lead role of Dracula certainly had something to do with how memorable it’s become over the years.

It could be said that Browning provided the impetus that gave rise to films and television shows that featured the “modern day vampire”; the beautiful, charismatic undead rather than hideous monsters of horror that had been the stuff of legend.

By the 1980s, vampires had immersed themselves firmly into our culture. Movies like “The Lost Boys” made vampires “cool”, and while they remained largely vicious and dangerous creatures of the damned, they nonetheless contributed to the inspiration of an entire subculture based on the gothic lifestyle lived by the new breed of “cool vampires”. Kiefer Sutherland’s portrayal of David, a vampire who looked very much like a punk rock star of the 80s, inspired a whole new perspective on the undead.

Even the film’s tagline suggested that being a vampire was cool: “Sleep All Day. Party All Night. Never Grow Old. Never Die. It’s Fun To Be A Vampire.” In the years that followed, romantic vampires dominated both the silver screen and literature. Anne Rice had written “Interview With The Vampire” in 1976, but it wasn’t until 1994 that the novel was adapted into a feature film. Starring Tom Cruise as the vampire Lestat, “Interview” made audiences around the world fall in love with vampires all over again as they witnessed the tragic, immortal lives of Lestat and his ever morose Louis (played by the equally dashing Brad Pitt).

No longer were vampires thought of as being the terrifying, bloodthirsty undead creatures of the night; they became sorrowful creatures struggling to cope with the adversities of life as they watched the world evolve, while they remained immortal and unchanging, forever out of sync with nature and the world.

Then, as we approached the year 2000, vampires returned to their more menacing roots. Films like the “Blade” trilogy and “30 Days Of Night” once more featured vampires as creatures to be feared, not sympathized with. While not necessarily reflective of the hideous Nosferatu-like creatures, vampires in 2000 became more violent, more gory, more action-packed than their 1990s brethren. They were the modern day Dracula-Nosferatu hybrids; suave, charismatic, with feral instincts… and they kicked ass.

Audiences everywhere were appeased; they had both their fascinations with action movies and vampires fulfilled. And Hollywood made a ton of money. And now it seems we’re back to the age of the Romantic Vampires. The huge popularity of the Twilight saga, written by Stephanie Meyer and now being made into a series of feature films, has resurrected vampires of the 1980s and 1990s, except that they are now being made younger, perhaps in an attempt to have the teenage demographic relate better to their tragic stories.

Yet many who profess to be “true fans” of the vampire genre has found the Twilight saga to be the most distasteful incarnation of vampires. Some abhor the fact that Meyer’s vampires not only do not burn in sunlight, they sparkle, which many claim goes against the very essence of what vampires are. Some proponents of the argument state that the tragedy of vampires is that they are unable to walk amongst the living in daylight, and are forever shunned by mortal society because of this.

But who is to say what vampires are or aren’t supposed to be? After all, they are mythical creatures, borne of fevered imaginations and urban legends. Whatever the case, vampires are continually evolving through modern media, for better or for worse, and Hollywood is cashing in, in a huge way.

Sammael “Sam” Asael is a writer and an aspiring author of the paranormal genre. Sam is also an avid fan of various mythologies, particularly vampires and werewolves, and actively participates in the discussion and creative writing of such mythologies. Learn more about Sam’s work and join The Darkest Region today.

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