Have you noticed lately the abundance of vampire-related media? books, movies are exploding with this eternal theme. I decided to see how they came into our lives. According to the most-trusted source out there, wikipedia, the dear suckers, bloodsuckers that is, were in the public view since the 18th century - talk about immortality. The most famous piece, back in the day, was the all-known Dracula, written by Bram Stoker (later shown on the silver screen, first in 1931, then under the direction of Francis Ford Coppola in 1992, starring Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves and Gary Oldman; later on the comedy version came out, starring Leslie Nielsen and Peter McNicol - my personal favorite scene is with Madam Uospenskaya, warning Renfield about the dang-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-r of going to the count's castle, as it is said to be the home of a creature that sucks your blo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-d - you gotta see it to believe it).
One of the greatest writers to be concerned with vampires is Anne Rice. Her collection of "Vampire Chronicles" focuses on these creatures but from a more romantic-tragic point of view. The main character is Lestat, the brat-prince as they call him, who gets in all kinds of mischief, but throughout his journey, the reader meets other fabulous creatures, from the Queen of the damned - Akasha, to the twins - Mekare and Maharet, Marius, Pandora, and many more. Each book has a main character, each telling their own story. Of course in these books the vampires evolve - garlic and crucifixes do not affect them, however the sun and fire are still the mortal enemies. Naturally the books turned into movies, but they cannot express the same feeling.
Along the years many movies were vampire-centered. Some were great (Underworld - and if you take a look at the picture you'll understand why - a tough chick who looks HOT in tight black leather, Van Helsing, Buffy the vampire slayer) while some were right down awful (Embrace of the vampire, True Blood).
Nowadays it seems there are no more ideas to create good movies. The recent recipe includes : vampire tired of feeding off blood, decides he wants to turn good; meets human (most likely a hot chick) who is attracted to the dark side of the vampire and does whatever it takes to get a bite (girls love bad guys, right? - and what can be worse than a vampire? - neat package). Of course this doesn't stop people in enjoying them. Just look at the latest boom in Twilight - words cannot describe the phenomenon it unleashed (and I must admit, I enjoyed reading the books, but The host is closer to my heart).
One thing gets me wondering - what would you or I do if we meet a real-life vampire? And I must say, the chances of meeting one are in my favor since I live in Transylvania (where they're supposed to live)!
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