in the mood for blood: a vampire film chronology

A VAMPIRE FILM CHRONOLOGY

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures. Tales of supernatural beings consuming the blood or flesh of the living have been found in nearly every culture around the world for many centuries. The Persians were one of the first civilizations to have tales of blood-drinking demons. Ancient Babylonia and Assyria had tales of the mythical Lilitu, synonymous with and giving rise to Lilith (Hebrew לילית) and her daughters the Lilu from Hebrew demonology. Lilitu was considered a demon and was often depicted as subsisting on the blood of babies. Ancient Greek and Roman mythology described the Empusae, the Lamia and the striges.

The first recorded use of the Old Russian form Упирь (Upir’) is commonly believed to be in a document dated 6555 (1047 AD). It is a colophon in a manuscript of the Book of Psalms written by a priest who transcribed the book from Glagolitic into Cyrillic for the Novgorodian Prince Volodymyr Yaroslavovych. Another early use of the Old Russian word is in the anti-pagan treatise “Word of Saint Grigoriy”, dated variously to the 11th–13th centuries, where pagan worship of upyri is reported.

While folkloric vampires of the Balkans and Eastern Europe had a wide range of appearance ranging from nearly human to bloated rotting corpses, it was the success of John Polidori’s 1819 The Vampyre that established the charismatic and sophisticated vampire of fiction as it is arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century, inspiring such works as Varney the Vampire and eventually Dracula.

However, it is Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula that is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and which provided the basis of modern vampire fiction.

Considered one of the preeminent figures of the classic horror film, the vampire has proven to be a rich subject for the film industry. The legend of the vampire was cemented in the film industry when Dracula was reincarnated for a new generation with the celebrated Hammer Horror series of films, starring Christopher Lee as the Count.

From then on, hundreds of films about vampires have been produced.

HERE’S A CHRONOLOGICAL GROWING LIST OF EVERY VAMPIRE FILM.

As many B movies aren’t yet introduced in the catalogue I encourage you to both submit them and comment so we can make this list as complete as possible. Now, feast.

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