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Though the marketing was a bit cagey, it’s clear by this point that Ryan Coogler’s latest, the critical and box office powerhouse Sinners, throws vampires into its genre-busting mix unashamedly. Set largely in 1932, the movie follows a couple of twin brothers (both played by Michael B. Jordan) returning to their backwater hometown of to Clarksdale, Mississippi to set up what they hope will be a lucrative juke joint—but not before navigating old relationships and the Klan leader who owns the sawmill that the two are looking to buy. By the midway point, all the movie’s more grounded elements feed into a larger narrative blending magical realism, action, and horror. It’s a thoroughly distinctive vision, a movie that’s made a great deal of money, and an early Oscar favorite—so look for studios to learn the wrong lessons and give us a stream of generic vampire movies.
Not here, though! None of these movies is particularly like Sinners, other than the vampire angle—but just as Ryan Coogler’s movie uses vampires as a starting point, these movies all use undead lore in wildly different ways to tell wildly different, but consistently good, stories.
Ganja & Hess (1973)
A meditative, sultry, and entirely experimental horror film, writer/director Bill Gunn’s Ganja stars Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead) as Dr. Hess Green, who is attacked by his assistant with a knife belonging to a fictional ancient African tribe. He’s subsequently compelled to drink the blood of his assailant, an act that completes his vampiric transformation. Shortly thereafter, the assistant’s wife shows up looking for her husband and, even once she realizes what happened, begins a love affair with the doctor. Stylish and deliberately paced (a lot of vibes; a little plot), the movie has some smart, and very barbed, points to make about assimilation and religious hypocrisy. Spike Lee remade it in 2014 as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus but, with respect to Lee, you’re much better off with the original. You can stream Ganja & Hess on Tubi and Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
Iranian-American writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night would make a list of cool vampire movies on its gorgeous black-and-white style alone: Gliding down the streets of an Iranian town in her chador, The Girl (Sheila Vand) cuts an iconic figure, even when we learn that her eerie way of movement has to do with a concealed skateboard. But Amirpour has a lot of fun with the idea that a girl traveling a deserted street in the dark might be a threat far more than a potential victim, and that a chador might be less a symbol of oppression than a means of staying concealed until the moment comes to strike. You can stream A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night on Kanopy or rent it from Apple TV+.
Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
Like father, like daughter in this direct sequel to the Bela Lugosi film, with Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden, in full Garbo mode) running afoul of Edward Van Sloan’s Van Helsing from the original. The two vampires share in common not just an archnemesis, but an eye for the ladies, as well, with Countess Zaleska seducing first despondent Lili and then kidnapping Janet. What it lacks in style (not being nearly a match for Todd Browning’s film in that regard) it makes up for in sheer horniness. Producers and censors were nervous about the lesbian of it all in the lead-up to the film’s release, but also chose to hype it up in the marketing, especially with the very on-the-nose tagline: “Save the women of London from Dracula’s Daughter!” You can rent Dracula’s Daughter from Prime Video.
Bit (2019)
Nicole Maines (Supergirl) stars here as Laurel, a trans teenage girl who’s off to sunny LA following her transition. She’s looking for a fresh start, and it’s all going great until a club afterparty leads to lots of making out—and then some blood drinking. It’s not long before Laurel is offered the chance to join an all-female group of vampires dedicated to taking care of the many predatory men walking the city’s streets. You can stream Bit on Prime Video.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Starring, written, and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, Shadows precedes the equally great show of the same name with a similar premise: A houseful of old-world vampires (with old-school vampire trappings) looks desperately uncool when faced with the modern world. Many vampire narratives derive pathos from the idea of people trapped in a state of dull, unchanging immortality. Shadows takes that notion and mines it for solid laughs. You can rent What We Do in the Shadows from Prime Video.
Daughters of Darkness (1971)
Erotic bisexual vampire movies, believe it or not, had a moment in the 1970s; few (if any) were more successful, and more genuinely sexy, than Daughters of Darkness. The movie has a look and feel that borders on arthouse, with a grand and elegant style, as well as a willingness to go deeper with themes (western decadence, gendered power dynamics, etc.) that have been discussed in many an academic context in the decades since. If all that makes it sound like a bore, I’ll repeat that it’s still very much an erotic bisexual vampire movie. Delphine Seyrig plays Countess Elizabeth Báthory, who happens upon a newlywed couple honeymooning in a remote region, and immediately sets about seducing the wife away from human sexual and moral conformity. You can stream Daughters of Darkness on Tubi and Shudder or rent it from Prime Video.
The Lost Boys (1987)
It might not be the gayest vampire movie (there’s a lot of competition), but it may well be the sweatiest. Directed by out gay director Joel Schumacher (several years before he made the gayest superhero movie, Batman & Robin), The Lost Boys finds brothers Sam (Corey Haim) and Michael (Jason Patric) Emerson moving with their family to sunny, schvitzy Santa Carla, California—just in time for Michael to be seduced into joining a sexy vampire gang by its blonde leader David, played by Kiefer Sutherland. The vamps bait Michael with Star (Jamie Gertz), but his desire for the girl gives way to a fascination with David that leads him down a very bloody path. You can rent The Lost Boys from Prime Video.
Cronos (1992)
Guillermo del Toro begins in this deeply unconventional vampire movie, the writer/director’s debut. In the 16th century, an alchemist invents the titular device: a steampunk-ish scarab that conceals a creature inside. When it’s rediscovered in the present by Jesús Gris (played by del Toro favorite Federico Luppi), it injects the man with an elixir that makes him (a bit) younger, and gives him a vampire’s thirst for blood. Complicating matters, a dying oligarch who’d been on the trail of the Cronos isn’t very happy that someone else gets the use of its powers, so he sends his relentless thug of a nephew (Ron Perlman) to hunt it down. The imagery is weird and endlessly inventive and, what’s more, del Toro injects enough dark comedy around the edges so that the proceedings never bog down in self-seriousness. You can stream Cronos on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Blade II (2002)
A decade on from Cronos, Guillermo del Toro directed this rather brilliant action spectacle—a blood-soaked good time that blends its disparate elements into a propulsive thrill ride that knows exactly what kind of movie it is. Wesley Snipes is at his sassy best as the title’s vampire/vampire hunter, while every set piece is bright and colorful, and the vampires are thoroughly monstrous. Practical effects and an artist’s eye turn a comic-book action movie into an essential. You can rent Blade II on Prime Video.
Nadja (1994)
A fascinating novelty from director Michael Almereyda, Nadja is based (roughly) on André Breton’s French surrealist manifesto of the same name; when financing for such an adaptation fell through (a near-instantaneous process), David Lynch (who also appears) stepped in and paid for the whole thing. To save money and achieve a particular look, Almereyda filmed vampire point-of-view shots on a Fisher-Price camera. All of which is to say that this is unlike other vampire movie. Two plot points kick off the film: First, the death of Count Dracula at the hands of his old nemesis, Van Helsing (Peter Fonda)—traumatizing his daughter (Elina Löwensohn); then, that same Nadja seeking out the daughter of Van Helsing to have sex with so that she can make her a thrall and carry out her goal of getting revenge on the Van Helsing family. It’s an arty take on blood, gore, and horny lesbian vampires. You can stream Nadja on Prime Video.
Thirst (2009)
“What if we took Emile Zola’s non-supernatural 1868 novel Thérèse Raquin and made it into a vampire horror film?” said writer/director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy), apparently. The novel is about an orphan forced into a miserable marriage with a droopy hypochondriac who begins a torrid, ill-fated affair. Here, the orphan is Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), and the dashing man with whom she’s having an affair is Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), a one-time Catholic priest who developed vampiric hungers following an experiment gone wrong. Wildly stylish, and fascinating in being surprisingly faithful to a book that has nothing at all to do with vampires. You can rent Thirst from Prime Video.
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Is Only Lovers Left Alive a horror movie? A Gothic romance? A stoner-ish comedy? Um…yes? Indie writer/director Jim Jarmusch, who’d already put his distinctive stamp on other genres (like the idiosyncratic western Dead Man), turned his camera to horror. The movie follows a vampire couple, both alive for centuries but now living a world apart: Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is a sullen and moody musician living in a trashy Detroit apartment, while Eve (Tilda Swinton) lives a cheerier life in Tangier. She brings Adam along with her to give him a change of scenery and get him out of his gloomy rut, where she encourages him to get out to live a little, or whatever the undead equivalent is. You can rent Only Lovers Left Alive from Prime Video.
Interview With the Vampire (1994)
It’s great that the modern TV-series adaptation dispenses with the subtext and gets real as to the relationship between Lestat and Louis, but this 1994 adaptation walks impressively close to that edge. Vampires Lestat (Tom Cruise) and Louis (Brad Pitt) set up housekeeping in moody New Orleans, “adopting” daughter Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) and generally making a glorious mockery of the all-American family unit. You can rent Interview with the Vampire from Prime Video.
Martin (1977)
George Romero manages to pack an extensive exploration of vampire lore into a film that may or may not even involve a vampire—it’s not much a spoiler to offer that we’re never entirely clear whether the vampirism of Martin (John Amplas) should be taken literally. From a family steeped in Eastern European folklore and myth, Martin develops a driving need to drink blood, a need that leads him to drug his victims and then slice into their veins with a razor. As usual, Romero has a lot to say, but here he’s expertly playing on notions of vampires as sexual stand-ins (the impotent Martin role-plays the highly sexualized vampire attacks of earlier movies), and Romero also invites us to question our fascination with Martin even as he’s engaged in repulsive acts. You can stream Martin on Tubi.
Let the Right One In (2008)
One of the finest vampire movies, certainly of this century, is unexpectedly poignant, even as it doesn’t skimp on the brutality. Bullied Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) meets and befriends Eli (Lina Leandersson), a girl who appears to be about his age, but who is (you won’t be surprised to learn) a vampire. Though very different, the two bond over their shared status as outsiders in the gloomy Swedish suburb of Blackeberg. You can stream Let the Right One In on Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video.
Stake Land (2010)
Stake Land‘s vampires are neither sexy nor subtle. They’re fully animal creatures that stalk an apocalyptic wasteland—cutting to the chase as to what a world with vampires might quickly come to look like. As a thriller, it’s gory and effective, but a movie just about humans on the run from scary vampires would be less interesting than what we get here: As is so often the case, it’s the humans who remain the scariest threats. Religious fanatics calling themselves The Brotherhood are convinced that vampire are God’s will, a punishment for sins and, as a result, they’re perfectly happy to help the hungry beasts feed. You can stream Stake Land on Tubi, Kanopy, Peacock, and Prime Video.
Blood Relatives (2022)
We’re talking about cool vampires here, but this comedy from director Noah Segan is about a terminally uncool vampire (played by Segan), who discovers that he’s the father of a grown young woman (played by a great Victoria Moroles) who inherited his vampirism, in part, and wants to connect with her dad following the death of her mom. Mostly, she just has nowhere else to go. In and among the snappy dialogue and sharp characterizations, Segan has fun puncturing vampire lore in the story of a guy who initially has no interest in connecting with his daughter, but then has a change of heart. You can stream Blood Relatives on Shudder or rent it from Prime Video.
Dracula (1931)
If it’s hard to imagine a time when horror wasn’t a powerhouse movie genre, that’s because it’s been that way since 1931, the year that Béla Lugosi’s Count Dracula sashayed onto the screen. Tod Browning’s film was a prestige adaptation of a classic novel, before it occurred to anyone to treat horror as B-level entertainment, so there’s no corner-cutting in Dracula’s impeccable style. Though it gets a bit stagey in its second half, the movie gives us some of horror’s most indelible imagery—scenes and shots we’re still referencing nearly a century later. Béla Lugosi’s Dracula has been endlessly parodied and imitated, but all of that’s only possible because he made one hell of an impression. You can rent Dracula from Prime Video.
