[sum1]

I don't know, there's lots of actors who could, just as there's many who couldn't. The vampire queen was good in True Blood but she could have been improved if they'd cast Michelle Trachtenberg.

Juliet Landau is one of the best actors for playing vampires, judging by how she played Drusilla in Buffy and Angel. Once she was in a gym and a woman recognized her from Buffy and fainted with fear.

One actress who totally screwed up playing a vampire queen was Aaliyah in Queen of the Damned. She made her come off like a petty little self-satisfied twerp. Incredibly annoying.

[Melissa Ann]

I loved Aaliyah as the Queen. But we all have different tastes.

There are some actors who I would like to see in a vampire role, like for one, Johnny Depp.

As for a female vamp, I would like to see Angelina Jolie in a vamp role.

[sum1]

I think Angelina as a vampire would be annoying. Depp will be a vampire in the Dark Shadows movie, but you probably know that.

[sum1]

A while back, British magazine SFX did a screen vampires poll, coming up with a list of 50 “best” screen vampires. On my LJ I listed the results and commented on each one. Here's from the entry:

50 Dracula - Dracula 2000 (Gerard Butler)
This should be far higher up in the list, as Butler’s is arguably the best Dracula performance. The way Butler plays him, you can really believe he's the king vampire. And so bloody confident. That confidence makes his Dracula scary. Powerful performance.

49 Deacon Frost – Blade (Stephen Dorff)
Low level cliché villain. And they’re apparently going to make a whole trilogy of films about him. Don't ask me how they expect to get a whole trilogy out of such a limited character.

48 Marcus Van Sciver - Blade The Series (Neil Jackson)
If they were going to pick a character from BTS, why not Krista Starr? She was much more interesting. Arguably the most relatable of vampires, a kick-ass heroine and sexy as well. She was the highlight of the show. Excellent performance by Jill Wagner. Marcus was just a smug poser.

47 Jerry Dandridge - Fright Night (Chris Sarandon)
What’s the big deal with this film? People act like it was great. It was mediocre. Rival movie Once Bitten was much more fun. Jerry Dandridge was reasonably well acted, but he really was nothing special.

46 Kurt Barlow - Salems Lot (1979) (Reggie Nalder)
Oh for god’s sake. Let’s get it out there, the 1979 Salem’s Lot tv movie was weak. Bland stuff. James Mason was very good, but otherwise it didn’t have much going for it. And Kurt Barlow was the worst part of it. The producer felt that smooth-mannered vampires had been done, so instead we get a boss vampire who doesn’t talk, has no personality and is covered in bad makeup. How this can qualify as a great character I don’t know. Goes on the list of worst vampires ever.

45 Eric Northman - True Blood (Alex Skarsgaard)
Well, Eric is an arsehole, but as a True Blood vampire he’s still better than the majority of vampires on this list.

44 Santanico Pandemonium - From Dusk till Dawn (Salma Hayek)
Well, Salma Hayek did a good job, but it’s not like the character got much development. And the movie is annoying. (Worse is expecting us to believe Ara Celi is the same character in a weak performance in a lame direct to video sequel.)

43 Reinhardt - Blade II (Ron Perlman)
Well, Ron Perlman was good (he generally is), but Reinhardt was nothing but a big thug, so if they’re going for a Blade 2 character, it should be Nyssa, the vampire princess played by Leonor Varela. She was a more interesting character and she was the best thing in the film. Varela did an excellent job with that regal, tragic princess.

42 Richard Gecko - From Dusk till Dawn (Quentin Tarantino)
Huh? This is Quentin Tarantino’s character in the film. Everybody who knows Tarantino’s work knows that he can’t act for . This character was no exception. Crap performance, annoying character. And he wasn’t a vampire for long, anyway.

41 Henry Fitzroy - Blood Ties (Some chap. I forget who)
Haven’t seen Blood Ties. When I get around to it I’ll have an opinion on him.

40 Dracula - Dracula (1979) (Frank Langella)
Another one that belongs on the list of worst vampires. Horrible prettied-up, romanticized version of Dracula, ludicrous with his big hair and high-collared cape (1979 was too late to be pulling the high-collared Dracula cape in a realistic-style movie). Langella insisted he never appear with fangs. Stupid mistake. Had we seen fangs it might have made it a little easier to believe that this was an actual vampire. As it is, Langella’s performance failed to convince in that area. His Dracula was all charmer and zero monster. The ultimate Dracula-as-a-poser performance. Yick.

39 The Master - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show (Mark Metcalf)
Yes! Marvellous parody vampire. Hilarious AND menacing. Great villain for Buffy season 1. Belongs higher on the list, though.

38 Claudia - Interview with the Vampire (Kirsten Dunst)
Well-written. Good performance, but not a great performance.

37 Countess Bathory - Daughters of Darkness (Delphine Seyrig)
Barf. An exercise in superficiality. Seyrig gave the character personality and distinctiveness, but there was a serious lack of human depth. Even if a character has no heart and soul, the performance should and there was none here. The film was well-made, with beautiful photography, but it wasn't overflowing with humanity.

36 Dracula - Count Dracula (1977) (Louis Jourdan)
This is one of the great Draculas. Belongs higher on the list. French actor Louis Jourdan did a splendid job in this BBC tv adaption. Perfect balance of menace and charm.

35 Max Schreck - Shadow of the Vampire
Another great vampire who belongs higher up. Marvellous performance by Willem Dafoe as a vampire hired to play a vampire in a film. The cast and crew think Schreck is a method actor, always in character and in makeup, and then he starts feeding on them. The character is hilarious and has depth as well.

34 Eli - Let the Right One In (Lina Leandersson)
Overrated movie.

33 Martin Matthias – Martin (John Amplas)
Original film, but a weak performance by the actor, so not a great character.

32 Vampire Willow - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show (Alyson Hannigan)
The one time Willow was cool. Great character in a great episode. Hilarious.

31 Harmony Kendall - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (Mercedes McNab)
As a Buffyverse parody vampire, she’s better than a lot of the vampires on this list, but I wouldn’t have thought of her as a great vampire. Some good laughs, though.

30 Lilith Silver - Razor Blade Smile (Eileen Daly)
Oh barf. They got a singer to play this vampire assassin and she did it like she didn’t really mean it and projected the most incredible smugness. The film is really annoying and Lilith is the most annoying part of it. The film didn't take itself very seriously, but not in a good way. Absolute crap.

29 Carmilla Karnstein - the Vampire Lovers (Ingrid Pitt)
Not a great film, but Ingrid Pitt did an impressive job. Ingrid gives her personality and presence and you get an impression of strength off her and she really comes off convincingly like somebody up to no good.

28 Miriam - The Hunger (Catherine Deneuve)
No way. Zero human depth or depth of feeling in this performance by Catherine Deneuve. Flat. Stylish film without much soul.

27 Bill Compton - True Blood (Stephen Moyer)
Definitely a great vampire, though I’m worried his character is soon to be screwed up. Excellent performance by Stephen Moyer, giving the character depth, intensity and distinctiveness. I’d also like to see True Blood vampires Jessica (relatable teen vamp) and Eddie (sympathetic gay vamp) on this list.

26 Barnabas Collins - Dark Shadows (Jonathan Frid)
Very influential, but I don’t think the character was actually all that good.

25 Darla - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (Julie Benz)
This is the worst important Buffyverse vampire, due to bad acting. She didn’t come off like a strong dangerous vampire, she came off like a petty and weak character pretending to be tough. And she was bloody annoying.

24 Louis de Pointe du Lac - Interview with the Vampire (Brad Pitt)
Brad Pitt did a good job, but all the characters in that film were a bit off.

23 Marlow - 30 Days of Night (Danny Huston)
Crap film. Crap character. This guy just went around making animal noises, showing his teeth and gibbering in gibberish (invented language), with zero character development. Waste of screen time.

22 Count Duckula - Count Duckula
Cartoon ducks don’t count.

21 Mitchell -Being Human (Aidan Turner)
This is a good vampire. Aidan Turner does a good job and he’s that rare thing, an Irish vampire played by an Irishman. Yes, I’m still bitter over Angel’s insulting fake Irish accent and the fact that Joss decided to make the Wanker With a Soul into an Irishman (slander on Ireland!) and without casting an actor with any Irish blood.

20 Jesse - Near Dark (Lance Henriksen)
Lance Henriksen did a good job, but I wouldn’t call any of the vampires in this film great vampires. However, it’s a really good film.

19 Count von Count - Sesame Street
Puppets don’t count either.

18 Viktor - Underworld/Underworld Rise of the Lycans (Bill Nighy)
Cool character, great performance by Bill Nighy.

17 Josef Kostan – Moonlight (Jason Dohring)
He was good. Jason Dohring is a good actor and gave him personality. The role is pretty far from being Veronica Mars's boyfriend.

16 Danny Glick - Salem's Lot (1979) (Brad Savage)
This character had only two vampire scenes and while they were a bit eerie, he was nothing special.

15 Herrick - Being Human (Jason Watkins)
off. This character is exceedingly annoying and not at all convincing as the head vampire he’s supposed to be. Bad enough he was all over season 1, but after he's finally killed off (relief!), they insist on resurrecting the arsehole.

14 Edward Cullen – Twilight (Robert Pattinson)
I guess it’s inevitable that this wimp would get onto a list like this. Zero sense of danger to him, just silly brooding and bad romance. Not a convincing vampire at all.

13 Dracula - Dracula (1933)/Bud Abbott and Lou Costello meet Frankenstein (Bela Lugosi)
Bela Lugosi was good, gave personality to the character, but I wouldn’t say he’s the 13th best vampire. He was great fun in the Abbott and Costello film.

12 Severen - Near Dark (Bill Paxton)
This guy was the main fault in Near Dark. One of the annoying wild-guy performances Bill Paxton did early in his career (see Aliens for him being REALLY annoying). Clearly supposed to be oh so badass, but it isn't convincing -he's just an actor doing schtick.

11 Blade - Blade/Blade II/Blade Trinity (Wesley Snipes)
Jeez, when will people learn, Blade is NOT a vampire. He’s a Daywalker. And while Wesley Snipes made him admirably tough and badass, he didn't make him very relatable or sympathetic.

10 Drusilla - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (Juliet Landau)
Yes! Possibly the best female vampire ever. Should be higher on the list. Juliet Landau made her so much the eerie predator. As a result of Juliet’s performance being so convincing, a woman who saw Juliet in a gym and recognized her from Buffy fainted out of fear.

9 Selene - Underworld/Underworld Evolution (Kate Beckinsale)
Kate Beckinsale did a good job, but Bill Nighy’s Viktor is better.

8 Lestat de Lioncourt - Interview with the Vampire (Tom Cruise)
Overrated performance. Not without merit (plenty personality) but ultimately overdone. Stuart Townsend played the same character better in Queen of the Damned.

7 Dracula - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) (Gary Oldman)
One of the great Draculas. Impressive performance. Oldman is a very talented actor and does a very thorough-going performance.

6 Graf Orlok - Nosferatu (1922) (Max Schreck)
Good performance, but hardly deserves to be anywhere so high on the list. #35 is a character based on the actor who did this performance. In other words, Shadow of the Vampire is a film based on the idea that a real life actor was a vampire.

5 David - Lost Boys (Keifer Sutherland)
Annoying overrated character in an overrated film. David was just a thug with a big ego and not particularly interesting.

4 Mick St John – Moonlight (Alex O'Loughlin)
Mick is a likable nice guy, but not a very convincing vampire, because there’s no sense of danger to him.

3 "Angel/Angelus" (that's how it was listed) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (David Boreanaz)
Well, Angel is actually better than some of the other dorks on this list, but he’s an overrated character. Wanker with a soul. And Angel and Angelus are the SAME person.

2 Dracula - Horror of Dracula (Christopher Lee)
No way. Christopher Lee brought presence, dignity, strength and some menace to the part, but didn’t make the character much of a person. Limited performances. And it's not intelligent stuff like Jourdan or Oldman's performances. Lee's is the lowbrow Dracula (much as I hate to call things "lowbrow"), both in terms of the nature of the performances and the nature of the films they're in. His performance in Horror of Dracula was probably his worst as Dracula. Weak film. His best Dracula performance was in Count Dracula, the 1970 Jesus Franco film. Lee's Dracula performances are massively overrated.

1 Spike - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (James Marsters)
Belongs at the top of the list. Great character. Great performance by James Marsters. Personality, depth, feeling, humor. A complex character who's also very entertaining.

The SFX page:
Top 50 Vampires

[~*Nikki*~]

sum1, did you ever read Queen of the Damned? I just finished it not long ago and though Aaliyah was not physically the character, she did a pretty good job pulling off how she acted in the books. Akasha was kind of an idiot for the most part, she had been resting for thousands of years only to come up with a really stupid plan for global domination. In life, she was very much a spoiled brat and then when turned she was even more full of herself.

I don't agree with the physical description of Akasha in the film, but the actions were right on to me.

[sum1]

Whatever was in the book, that doesn't work in a film for queen of the vampires and the original vampire. A good actor would make more of the role. Aaliyah's performance was shallow, with no added value. Just because a character is limited doesn't mean the performance should be. Film is art. An actor should make the most possible of a role for maximum artistic quality.

[Melissa Ann]

I sometimes winder if the point of such articles like SFX is mention camps
that were stupid to get a reaction.

[sum1]

Camps?

[sum1]

Melika, surely you can find something to say about those vamps I listed? Other than what you said already. There's plenty vamps to comment on, so if you have any opinion on any of them, this is the time to air it.

Or anybody else other than Melika?

[Melissa Ann]

I will when I have more time to comment.



camps = vamps

[Melissa Ann]

Originally Posted by sum1 (View Post) A while back, British magazine SFX did a screen vampires poll, coming up with a list of 50 “best” screen vampires. On my LJ I listed the results and commented on each one. Here's from the entry: 50 Dracula - Dracula 2000 (Gerard Butler) This should be far higher up in the list, as Butler’s is arguably the best Dracula performance. The way Butler plays him, you can really believe he's the king vampire. And so bloody confident. That confidence makes his Dracula scary. Powerful performance.

I agree that his confidence reflects in his character. With that confidence comes intimidation, and it's like he knows that and plays off of it.

49 Deacon Frost – Blade (Stephen Dorff) Low level cliché villain. And they’re apparently going to make a whole trilogy of films about him.

I can'e believe they are going to make a trilogy of films on this flimsy character. He was forgetful and I had to stop and think to even remember him from the first film!

Whistler's character (Kris Kristofferson) was more interesting!

48 Marcus Van Sciver - Blade The Series (Neil Jackson) If they were going to pick a character from BTS, why not Krista Starr? She was much more interesting. Arguably the most relatable of vampires, a kick-ass heroine and sexy as well. She was the highlight of the show. Excellent performance by Jill Wagner. Marcus was just a smug poser.

I never had the urge to watch the Blade series, so no real comment on this portrayal.

47 Jerry Dandridge - Fright Night (Chris Sarandon) What’s the big deal with this film? People act like it was great. It was mediocre. Rival movie Once Bitten was much more fun. Jerry Dandridge was reasonably well acted, but he really was nothing special.

Forgettable and not very impressive. Again, it may just have to do with the fact that he's related to Susan Surandon. She would have been a better vamp!

46 Kurt Barlow - Salems Lot (1979) (Reggie Nalder) Oh for god’s sake. Let’s get it out there, the 1979 Salem’s Lot tv movie was weak. Bland stuff. James Mason was very good, but otherwise it didn’t have much going for it. And Kurt Barlow was the worst part of it. The producer felt that smooth-mannered vampires had been done, so instead we get a boss vampire who doesn’t talk, has no personality and is covered in bad makeup. How this can qualify as a great character I don’t know. Goes on the list of worst vampires ever.

No comment.

45 Eric Northman - True Blood (Alex Skarsgaard) Well, Eric is an arsehole, but as a True Blood vampire he’s still better than the majority of vampires on this list.

So far, he's a great choice. I find he plays the role quite well and is better than the last three mentioned!

44 Santanico Pandemonium - From Dusk till Dawn (Salma Hayek) Well, Salma Hayek did a good job, but it’s not like the character got much development. And the movie is annoying. (Worse is expecting us to believe Ara Celi is the same character in a weak performance in a lame direct to video sequel.)

Never knew of the sequel, but Salma looked the part. As for the acting, it was, like you said, not much of a development.

[quote[
43 Reinhardt - Blade II (Ron Perlman)
Well, Ron Perlman was good (he generally is), but Reinhardt was nothing but a big thug, so if they’re going for a Blade 2 character, it should be Nyssa, the vampire princess played by Leonor Varela. She was a more interesting character and she was the best thing in the film. Varela did an excellent job with that regal, tragic princess.

I agree. Ron is a favourite of mine when it comes to his roles, I find him entertaining and memorable. But I do agree that in Blade II he is more of a thug than a vampire, and role of the 'regal, tragic princess' had more promise and a better back story to work with. 42 Richard Gecko - From Dusk till Dawn (Quentin Tarantino) Huh? This is Quentin Tarantino’s character in the film. Everybody who knows Tarantino’s work knows that he can’t act for . This character was no exception. Crap performance, annoying character. And he wasn’t a vampire for long, anyway. I agree 100%. I love his movies, but he shouldn't act in them, unless it's a script-less cameo. 41 Henry Fitzroy - Blood Ties (Some chap. I forget who) Haven’t seen Blood Ties. When I get around to it I’ll have an opinion on him. Haven't seen it either. No comment. 40 Dracula - Dracula (1979) (Frank Langella) Another one that belongs on the list of worst vampires. Horrible prettied-up, romanticized version of Dracula, ludicrous with his big hair and high-collared cape (1979 was too late to be pulling the high-collared Dracula cape in a realistic-style movie). Langella insisted he never appear with fangs. Stupid mistake. Had we seen fangs it might have made it a little easier to believe that this was an actual vampire. As it is, Langella’s performance failed to convince in that area. His Dracula was all charmer and zero monster. The ultimate Dracula-as-a-poser performance. Yick. I was not a fan of Langella's vampire, but I do like Langella in other films, especially "The Ninth Gate" co-starring Johnny Depp. 39 The Master - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show (Mark Metcalf) Yes! Marvellous parody vampire. Hilarious AND menacing. Great villain for Buffy season 1. Belongs higher on the list, though. Never was a fan of the Buffy fandom, so again, no real comment. 38 Claudia - Interview with the Vampire (Kirsten Dunst) Well-written but not a great performance. I have to say that I quite enjoyed her performance in IWTV. I think the attraction to Claudia is that, I've never really known another vampire franchise to focus so much on a child vampire and the life they must follow. Being trapped in a 10 year old girls body with the mind of a 30 year old had to be infuriating for a vampire. 37 Countess Bathory - Daughters of Darkness (Delphine Seyrig) Barf. An exercise in superficiality. Seyrig gave the character personality and distinctiveness, but there was a serious lack of human depth. Even if a character has no heart and soul, the performance should and there was none here. The film was well-made, with beautiful photography, but it wasn't overflowing with humanity. Never saw this one. But I do love the story of Ezrebet Bathory. Julie Delphy wrote/directed/starred in a tale of Bathory that was released just last year. And although it is not necessarily vampiric in nature, it is intriguing. 36 Dracula - Count Dracula (1977) (Louis Jourdan) This is one of the great Draculas. Belongs higher on the list. French actor Louis Jourdan did a splendid job in this BBC tv adaption. Perfect balance of menace and charm. I have yet to see this, and have heard it is one of the best. Definitely one I want to see! 35 Max Schreck - Shadow of the Vampire Another great vampire who belongs higher up. Marvellous performance by Willem Dafoe as a vampire hired to play a vampire in a film. The cast and crew think Schreck is a method actor, always in character and in makeup, and then he starts feeding on them. The character is hilarious and has depth as well. I LOVED this movie! Especially John Malkovich and Dafoe together. They played out the movie so well! 34 Eli - Let the Right One In (Lina Leandersson) Overrated movie. Interesting movie, but not as great as it has been made out to be. 33 Martin Matthias – Martin (John Amplas) Original film, but a weak performance by the actor, so not a great character. Not familiar with this one. No comment. 32 Vampire Willow - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show (Alyson Hannigan) The one time Willow was cool. Great character in a great episode. Hilarious. Again, not a fan of the Buffy fandom. 31 Harmony Kendall - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (Mercedes McNab) As a Buffyverse parody vampire, she’s better than a lot of the vampires on this list, but I wouldn’t have thought of her as a great vampire. Some good laughs, though. Again, not a fan of the Buffy fandom. 30 Lilith Silver - Razor Blade Smile (Eileen Daly) Oh barf. They got a singer to play this vampire assassin and she did it like she didn’t really mean it and projected the most incredible smugness. The film is really annoying and Lilith is the most annoying part of it. The film didn't take itself very seriously, but not in a good way. Absolute crap. I concur. Absolute crap. 29 Carmilla Karnstein - the Vampire Lovers (Ingrid Pitt) Not a great film, but Ingrid Pitt did an impressive job. Ingrid gives her personality and presence and you get an impression of strength off her and she really comes off convincingly like somebody up to no good. A coy vampire performance. 28 Miriam - The Hunger (Catherine Deneuve) No way. Zero human depth or depth of feeling in this performance by Catherine Deneuve. Flat. Stylish film without much soul. This was on TV a few weeks back and I couldn't even watch 20 minutes of it. 27 Bill Compton - True Blood (Stephen Moyer) Definitely a great vampire, though I’m worried his character is soon to be screwed up. Excellent performance by Stephen Moyer, giving the character depth, intensity and distinctiveness. I’d also like to see True Blood vampires Jessica (relatable teen vamp) and Eddie (sympathetic gay vamp) on this list. I love Compton. The history of his character makes him intriguing and when you find out something about him, you want to know more. 26 Barnabas Collins - Dark Shadows (Jonathan Frid) Very influential character but I don’t think the character in the original show was all that good. Ben Cross’s version in the 1990/91 remake was better. I've heard of this, but have not seen it, and I know Johnny Depp is slated to play the character in a movie remake set for 2011 or 2012. 25 Darla - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (Julie Benz) This is the worst important Buffyverse vampire, due to bad acting. She didn’t come off like a strong dangerous vampire, she came off like a petty and weak character pretending to be tough. And she was bloody annoying. Again, not a fan of the Buffy fandom. 24 Louis de Pointe du Lac - Interview with the Vampire (Brad Pitt) Brad Pitt did a good job, but all the characters in that film were a bit off. Based on the movie and the fact that I cannot remember the book as well, Brad's interpretation of the character Louis was much more appealing that Cruise's attempt at Lestat, which was just annoying and overdone. 23 Marlow - 30 Days of Night (Danny Huston) Crap film. Crap character. This guy just went around making animal noises, showing his teeth and gibbering in gibberish (invented language), with zero character development. Waste of screen time. I liked the movie as a whole, the story was interesting, but I know people who have seen this film and had no clue it was a vampire movie. Waste of a good character idea. 22 Count Duckula - Count Duckula Cartoon ducks don’t count. Riiiiggghhtttttt.... 21 Mitchell -Being Human (Aidan Turner) This is a good vampire. Aidan Turner does a good job and he’s that rare thing, an Irish vampire played by an Irishman. Yes, I’m still bitter over Angel’s insulting fake Irish accent and the fact that Joss decided to make the Wanker With a Soul into an Irishman (slander on Ireland!) and without casting an actor with any Irish blood. Have not seen this, but have heard it is an interesting role to watch. 20 Jesse - Near Dark (Lance Henriksen) Lance Henriksen did a good job, but I wouldn’t call any of the vampires in this film great vampires. However, it’s a really good film. I did enjoy Lance's portrayal in the film, but I agree that it's not a great vampire. 19 Count von Count - Sesame Street Puppets don’t count either. Cartoons and Puppets might not count, but von Count is more interesting than the friggin' duck. 18 Viktor - Underworld/Underworld Rise of the Lycans (Bill Nighy) Cool character, great performance by Bill Nighy. For vampire roles of the last 15 years, Bill is in the top five on my list. He portrayed Viktor with the class needed and visceral carnage of the wolves at the right points. 17 Josef Kostan – Moonlight (Jason Dohring) He was good. Jason Dohring is a good actor and gave him personality. The role is pretty far from being Veronica Mars's boyfriend. He was good in the role, but I couldn't stand that he had the 'baby face' image, when he was such an old and knowledgable vampire. He just seemed to young to know what he did and it didn't mesh well for me. 16 Danny Glick - Salem's Lot (1979) (Brad Savage) This character had only two vampire scenes and while they were a bit eerie, he was nothing special. Forgettable. 15 Herrick - Being Human (Jason Watkins) off. This character is exceedingly annoying and not at all convincing as the head vampire he’s supposed to be. Bad enough he was all over season 1, but after he's finally killed off (relief!), they insist on resurrecting the arsehole. Have not seen this one. 14 Edward Cullen – Twilight (Robert Pattinson) I guess it’s inevitable that this wimp would get onto a list like this. Zero sense of danger to him, just silly brooding and bad romance. Not a convincing vampire at all. I agree that it was inevitable that he'd be on a list. But for a new age sort of vampire, I do like the originality in the character description of vampire's not having fangs, 'sparkling' in sun, and only feeding on animals. Although the feeding on animals is not new, it's a big part of their character representation. 13 Dracula - Dracula (1933)/Bud Abbott and Lou Costello meet Frankenstein (Bela Lugosi) Bela Lugosi was good, gave personality to the character, but I wouldn’t say he’s the 13th best vampire. He was great fun in the Abbott and Costello film. Eh. Not as good as other's mentioned, like Compton. 12 Severen - Near Dark (Bill Paxton) This guy was the main fault in Near Dark. One of the annoying wild-guy performances Bill Paxton did early in his career (see Aliens for him being REALLY annoying). Clearly supposed to be oh so badass, but it isn't convincing -he's just an actor doing schtick. I agree! I found him incredibly annoying in Titanic as well, and he was only seen in the beginning and in small moments throughout. He irritates me in most roles he's done. The only role I liked him in was "Frailty". 11 Blade - Blade/Blade II/Blade Trinity (Wesley Snipes) Jeez, when will people learn, Blade is NOT a vampire. He’s a Daywalker. And Wesley Snipes managed to make him utterly unrelatable and unsympathetic. Kirk Jones’s tv version was a bit better. I agree first and foremost that he's NOT a vamp, it's clear he's a daywalker with vampire traits. Snipes left a lot to the imagination of the character because all he did was make him a hard ass who was unfriendly, un-relatable and dense. 10 Drusilla - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (Juliet Landau) Yes! Possibly the best female vampire ever. Should be higher on the list. Juliet Landau made her so much the eerie predator. As a result of Juliet’s performance being so convincing, a woman who saw Juliet in a gym and recognized her from Buffy fainted out of fear. Not a Buffy fan. 9 Selene - Underworld/Underworld Evolution (Kate Beckinsale) Kate Beckinsale did a good job, but Bill Nighy’s Viktor is better. Based on female vampires, Selene is one of my favourites, she had depth, human memories that made her relatable and intriguing. 8 Lestat de Lioncourt - Interview with the Vampire (Tom Cruise) Overrated performance. Not without merit (plenty personality) but ultimately overdone. Stuart Townsend played the same character better in Queen of the Damned. Louis aka Brad Pitt was better than Lestat aka Cruise. I agree that Townsend was much better in the role! 7 Dracula - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) (Gary Oldman) One of the great Draculas. Impressive performance. Oldman is a very talented actor and does a very thorough-going performance. Oldman is one of my favourites. In fact this movie was on the other day and I watched it twice. Such a masterful performance. 6 Graf Orlok - Nosferatu (1922) (Max Schreck) Good performance, but hardly deserves to be anywhere so high on the list. #35 is a character based on the actor who did this performance. In other words, Shadow of the Vampire is a film based on the idea that a real life actor was a vampire. The only reason this is on the list, like a few others, is because it's one the first vampire roles to catch attention on the big screen. 5 David - Lost Boys (Keifer Sutherland) Annoying overrated character in an overrated film. David was just a thug with a big ego and not particularly interesting. I agree. I still don't get the hype over this film. 4 Mick St John – Moonlight (Alex O'Loughlin) Mick is a likable nice guy, but not a very convincing vampire, because there’s no sense of danger to him. I iiked Alex in this role, but I think it's important to note that he hated that he was a vampire and tried to act more human if at all possible. But the contradiction is that in his PI business, he used his vampiric abilities to solve cases, so.... 3 "Angel/Angelus" (that's how it was listed) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (David Boreanaz) Well, Angel is actually better than some of the other dorks on this list, but he’s an overrated character. Wanker with a soul. And Angel and Angelus are the SAME person. I did see a few episodes of Angel, and liked his portrayal, but not at a number 3 spot. 2 Dracula - Horror of Dracula (Christopher Lee) No way. Christopher Lee brought presence, dignity, strength and some menace to the part, but didn’t make the character much of a person. Limited performances. And it's not intelligent stuff like Jourdan or Oldman's performances. Lee's is the lowbrow Dracula (much as I hate to call things "lowbrow"), both in terms of the nature of the performances and the nature of the films they're in. His performance in Horror of Dracula was probably his worst as Dracula. Weak film. His best Dracula performance was in Count Dracula, the 1970 Jesus Franco film. Lee's Dracula performances are massively overrated. I agree that he is overrated in his roles, but I think one of the draws to his take on the roles is his voice. I don't know what it is, but he has a sort of signature sound when he speaks. Just like you know it's Jack Nicholson talking when you hear him. 1 Spike - Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show/Angel The Series (James Marsters) Belongs at the top of the list. Great character. Great performance by James Marsters. Personality, depth, feeling, humor. A complex character who's also very entertaining. I don't get the Buffy fandom, never really watched, but with so many of it's characters listed as top vamps, I have to wonder. The SFX page: Top 50 Vampires

[sum1]

Forgettable and not very impressive. Again, it may just have to do with the fact that he's related to Susan Surandon. She would have been a better vamp!

Susan Sarandon was a vampire in the Hunger. I wasn’t impressed. She’s an overrated actress. Chris Sarandon wasn’t bad in Fright Night, just not anything special.

I LOVED this movie! Especially John Malkovich and Dafoe together. They played out the movie so well!

Great movie.

Based on the movie and the fact that I cannot remember the book as well, Brad's interpretation of the character Louis was much more appealing that Cruise's attempt at Lestat, which was just annoying and overdone.

Yeah, Pitt’s character was better.

He was good in the role, but I couldn't stand that he had the 'baby face' image, when he was such an old and knowledgable vampire. He just seemed to young to know what he did and it didn't mesh well for me.

I think it worked quite well.

I iiked Alex in this role, but I think it's important to note that he hated that he was a vampire and tried to act more human if at all possible. But the contradiction is that in his PI business, he used his vampiric abilities to solve cases, so....

Vampires hating being vampires and trying to act human is a very old thing. Many fictional vampires have been like that and it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a sense of danger to them. When all’s said and done, they’re still vampires and they should have edge.

[AlexEvans]

Originally Posted by Melika (View Post) Are you challenging me to a duel?

I have to stick up for my Izzie's honor... if not her ability to choose scripts...

Didn't mean to disappear from FF again... busy with work mostly.

Actresses who should play a vampire... I should have a list somewhere... oh well, I'll start with just one name.

Sophia Myles is awesome as a vampire. She was awesome in that relatively recent BBC version of Dracula (unfortunately the only thing worth watching in it). And she was good but sadly underused in Underworld. And of course awesome in Moonlight, but not actually a vampire. So she should definitely get another chance at fangs.

[Melissa Ann]

Being that there are all these top lists of vampires, what is your own personal top ten list of favourite vampire movies and favourite vampires?

[sum1]

That would be hard to work out into list form. I listed some great vamps in post 113 on the last page, after Kermode's list, but I haven't made up a formal list.

Originally Posted by AlexEvans (View Post) I have to stick up for my Izzie's honor... if not her ability to choose scripts...

Izzie has honor?

Sophia Myles is awesome as a vampire. She was awesome in that relatively recent BBC version of Dracula (unfortunately the only thing worth watching in it). And she was good but sadly underused in Underworld. And of course awesome in Moonlight, but not actually a vampire. So she should definitely get another chance at fangs.

She was good in Underworld. And yes, the 2006 ITV Dracula was absolute crap. Even Suchet wasn't much use in it, so Sophia was indeed pretty much the only good thing.

I think you owe me a PM reply from a while back.