The Top 5 Greatest Vampire Movies

Ash Walker • 14 Jan 2025 Features

Films so good they’ll drive you batty.

Vampires have long been one of the most popular cinematic monsters, in all of their incarnations - from shadow-skulking fiends to sparkly teen heartthrobs.

To celebrate the latest bloodsucking hit, Robert Eggers’ reimagining of Nosferatu, now swooping into cinemas, we’re picking out the greatest, bloodiest vampire movies of all time.

5 - What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Credit: What We Do in the Shadows - Official Trailer (Madman Films, YouTube)

Sort of like Interview with the Vampire by way of The Office, this hilarious New Zealand mockumentary from director (and star) Taika Waititi takes a look at the exceptionally mundane lives of everyday vampires living in Wellington.

Viago (Waititi), Vladislav (Jermaine Clement) and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) - along with Petyr, an 8,000-year-old Nosferatu-like creature who lives in the basement and keeps mostly to himself - are centuries-old bloodsuckers who share a crumbling house and a terribly outdated fashion sense.

We follow their general trials and tribulations, from arguments over dirty dishes to hypnotising victims to altercations with rival gangs of werewolves. And all of it is brilliant.

Easily the greatest vampire comedy of all time, and it spawned an equally funny TV series too.

What We Do in the Shadows is available to watch on Shudder or ITVX.

4 - From Dusk till Dawn (1996)

Credit: From Dusk Till Dawn Official Trailer #1 - (1996) HD (Movieclips, YouTube)

From Dusk till Dawn is a weird beast. For half of its runtime it’s a grubby, tense crime thriller, following a pair of outlaw brothers who take a family hostage in order to get safely across the border into Mexico.

And then, at around the halfway point, it’s revealed that the seedy biker bar where the group has holed up for the night is actually populated by monstrous vampires. From then on, things get absolutely nuts.

The switch shouldn’t work, but somehow director Robert Rodriguez and writer Quentin Tarantino (who also stars) keep things moving so quickly that you forget to care. And soon you’re cheering as Harvey Keitel’s formerly meek preacher blasts bloodthirsty ghouls with a makeshift shotgun crucifix.

An utterly mad film, and always worth a watch.

From Dusk till Dawn is available to watch on Paramount+.

3 - Blade (1998)

Credit: Blade | 4K Trailer | Warner Bros. Entertainment (Warner Bros. Entertainment, YouTube)

Vampire slayers don’t come more iconic than Wesley Snipes’ Daywalker. With all of the strengths of a creature of the night, but none of their weaknesses (except a thirst for blood), the half-vampire hero is Van Helsing with superpowers.

And he’s just… so cool. That leather trenchcoat. Those dark black shades. The tricked-out silver katana. In the late ‘90s, a time when it was cool to be a vampire, Blade showed audiences that it was much cooler to kill them.

Based on the Marvel comics character, first introduced by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan in Tomb of Dracula back in the ‘70s, the film tells an original story about a vampire coup and ancient blood gods. But the details don’t matter too much.

Not when Wesley Snipes is on screen, slicing up bloodsuckers with malicious glee.

Blade is available to watch on Sky Cinema.

2 - Let the Right One In (2008)

Credit: Let the Right One In Official HD Trailer (Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing, YouTube)

Based on the 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist - with a screenplay by the author - Tomas Alfredson’s masterful vampire romance is as dark and stark as its ‘80s Stockholm setting. But there’s also a big, warm heart hiding beneath the snowy surface.

It’s your classic story of boy meets girl, except the girl in question is actually a centuries-old vampire with a creepily devoted older man as her familiar.

Exploring serious themes of abuse, addiction and identity, the film is, at its centre, about two lonely kids coming together. And getting bloody revenge on the people who have wronged them.

Easily one of the greatest modern vampire films. And the American remake, Let Me In, is also worth a watch.

Let the Right One In is not currently available to stream anywhere.

1 - The Lost Boys (1987)

Credit: The Lost Boys | 4K UHD Trailer (Warner Bros. Entertainment, YouTube)

The Lost Boys is, quite possibly, the most ‘80s movie ever made: the hairstyles, the outfits, the presence of Cory Haim. Not to mention that oiled-up, musclebound saxophone player on the beach.

It’s also, quite possibly, the best vampire film ever made.

Following their parents’ divorce, brothers Sam (Haim) and Michael (Jason Patric) are adjusting to life in the coastal California town of Santa Carla. But there are dark forces at work, and before long Michael has fallen in with a bad crowd - a crowd that sleeps all day and craves human blood.

This, more than any other, is the film that made vampires cool. The titular Lost Boys are leather-jacket-clad renegades, joyriding their motorcycles and revelling in eternal youth. They’re sexy, but monstrous when they need to be.

The whole thing is absolutely iconic, from Keifer Sutherland’s villainous David to the stake-wielding Frog Brothers, and it boasts one of the best closing lines of any film, perfectly delivered by Barnard Hughes’ eccentric Grandpa: “One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach. All the damn vampires.”

The Lost Boys is available to watch on Prime Video.

Honourable Mentions

There are countless vampire films out there, and not all of them are good, but there are a few undeniable gems that didn’t quite make our Top 5. Check them out if you need more bloodsucking shenanigans in your life.

• Nosferatu (1922) - An unofficial adaptation of Dracula. The OG, and still one of the best.
• Dracula (1931) - Universal horror classic, responsible for the image you get in your head when you think of Dracula, and the voice everyone does. “Cheeeeeldren of the night. What music they make!”
• Dracula (1958) - Hammer horror classic, responsible for giving Dracula fangs and making him sexy. And making Christopher Lee a star.
• Fright Night (1985) - A teenage boy becomes convinced that his charming new neighbour is a creature of the night.
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) - Francis Ford Coppola’s insane, lurid, star-studded adaptation of the classic novel.
• Interview with the Vampire (1994) - Anne Rice’s centuries-spanning vampire romance, featuring prime heartthrob-era Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Christian Slater.
• Shadow of the Vampire (2000) - Fictionalised account of the making of the original Nosferatu, where Count Orlok is played by an actual vampire.
• 30 Days of Night (2007) - A horde of vampires descend upon a tiny Alaskan town during the winter, when it’s dark for months on end.