Sir Francis Varney—the verbose, brooding, and strangely sympathetic vampire at the heart of the Victorian penny dreadful Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood (1845–1847)—was there before Dracula or Barnabas Collins. Published in serialized form and attributed to James Malcolm Rymer (and possibly Thomas Peckett Prest), the story spans hundreds of chapters and over […]
When Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) first stepped out of his coffin on Dark Shadows in 1967, viewers were introduced to a different kind of vampire. More than a predator, Barnabas was a tragic figure, forever haunted by the memory of Josette Du Pres, the 18th-century woman he once loved and inadvertently doomed. His longing for […]
What if the brooding vampire villain from your favorite book series walked into your life—literally? That’s the tantalizing premise of Fang Fiction, the latest novel by Kate Stayman-London, which is now being adapted into a television series with the creative force of Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) at the helm Fang Fiction introduces us to Tess […]
Before Dracula, before Carmilla, there was Lord Ruthven—the smooth-talking, soul-sucking aristocrat at the heart of The Vampyre, a short story written in 1819 by John Polidori. It’s often considered the first English-language vampire tale, and Ruthven set the mold for nearly every dark, brooding bloodsucker who followed. The story begins in high society London, where […]
In the summer of 1985, amid a sea of slashers, wisecracking teen comedies and action juggernauts like Rambo: First Blood Part II and Back to the Future, a quirky little horror movie snuck into theaters and bit back hard. It was called Fright Night, and if you were lucky enough to catch it in a […]
The vampire genre is having a moment again—sharp teeth, gothic romance and all. With the critical and box office success of Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu remake and the breakout indie hit Sinners, the undead are surging back into pop culture with fresh blood and bold storytelling. Into this atmospheric resurgence comes Love Kills, a Brazilian vampire […]
Carmilla, or Countess Mircalla Karnstein, is one of the most influential and enduring sympathetic vampires in all of fiction. First published in serialized form in The Dark Blue magazine in 1871–72, J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella precedes Bram Stoker’s Dracula by more than two decades. Yet its legacy continues to echo through literature, film, television […]
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners didn’t just give us a fresh take on the vampire myth—it recharged the genre with a jolt of soulful atmosphere, historical weight and social undercurrents rarely seen in bloodsucker cinema. Set in 1930s Mississippi and pulsing with blues, sweat and secrets, Sinners is as much about identity, community and survival as it […]
Losing cast members from Dark Shadows is, unfortunately, something that oldtime fans of the show have gotten used to, yet it’s always a sad moment and that’s particularly true with the loss of Lara Parker, who made such an impact in her role as Angelique Bouchard. I had the opportunity to interview Lara a number of times […]
If you were Jerry Lewis in 1956, he odds are pretty strong you’d still be trying to wrap your head around the fact that your 10-year partnership with Dean Martin had come to an end. But to deal with whatever he was feeling, he forced himself back into work and his first film as a […]
There’s one inescapable conclusion: vampires — those bloodsuckers that go bite in the night, whether in movies or on TV — aren’t going anywhere, which is perfectly fine with us. To celebrate, we’re presenting mini-interviews with the stars of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Moonlight, Angel, Midnight Texas, Dark Shadows and more. David Boreanaz as Angel […]