Fangs, bats, teeth, and bloody necks are all associated with vampires, and people love to take incontent of all sorts about them. Whether it’s genuine horror or a comedy that plays with the idea of vampires,adaptations and interpretations of these mythical creatures will never get old. But can they get scarier?
The scariest vampire movies of all time come from various decades and don’t just rely on scaring viewers for the sake of it. A lot of the time, vampires are the antagonists of a story becausethere’s something inherently frightening about their existence alone; someone who can’t die, only lives at night, and only feeds on human blood definitely sounds like a weirdo, at least. The vampires in these movies are no weirdos at all—they represent the most terrifying of their kind.
10’Fright Night' (2011)
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Though many people prefer the originalFright Nightfrom 1985, the 2011 remake packs a similar punch.It’s pretty intense and gets quite scary at times, so it shouldn’t be dismissed until seenalong with the original. The reason the remake is here instead of the original is the nuance we’re used to in modern horror: the jumpscares that are there for both effect and entertainment.Fright Nightwas received with generally positive reviews for its campiness, style, and storytelling, including great lead performances byColin Farrell,Anton Yelchin, andDavid Tennant.
Fright Nightfollows teenager Charley Brewster (Yelchin), who lives in a quiet Vegas suburb with his mother, Jane (Toni Collette). One day, a new neighbor moves in next door, a good-lookingstranger named Jerry (Farrell).When Charley starts suspecting Jerry’s involvement in recent disappearances, the tension risesas Jerry’s watching Charley, too; it’squite a thrilling remake, full of suspense and original scares. 2011’sFright Nightis also worth revisiting for Yelchin, who tragically died in 2016, when he was only 27. He had a pretty fruitful career and was an excellent performer, and this movie belongs among the highlights of his career.
Fright Night
In Fright Night (2011), teenager Charley Brewster discovers that his new neighbor, Jerry, is a vampire preying on their suburban community. As Charley struggles to convince those around him of the danger, he enlists the help of a self-proclaimed vampire expert to confront the growing threat.
9’Vampyr' (1932)
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
Alongside the originalNosferatu,Carl Theodor Dreyer’sVampyris one of the most influential movies of the 20th century, particularly those belonging to the fantasy and horror genres.Vampyris a mix of a silent film and a talkie, asDreyer decided to tell the story of a woman being influenced by a vampire through imagesand actions mostly. The movie is full of fear and tension, and it makes the viewer feel uneasy, especially through the performance ofSybille Schmitz, who plays the swayed woman. Her movements and changes in facial expressions are the eeriest part of the film and turn it into quite a scary ordeal. The beautiful and haunting musical score contributes to the overall eerie atmosphere.
Vampyr is set in a French village, where a student of the occult, Allan Gray (Julian West), finds a mysterious book left by an older man.Opening the book, he starts reading about demonic presences called vampires, and Gray realizes that the book was left to him by the Lord of the Manor. His daughters, Léone (Schmitz) and Giséle (Rena Mandel), are in danger, and Gray was given the book so he could save them. The movie’s also full of hallucinatory imagery, especially when Gray hallucinates himself in a grave; there are some scary moments here, andVampyr, despite its age, still frightens.
8’The Last Voyage of the Demeter' (2023)
Directed by André Øvredal
It might seem strange to name a 2020s movie one of the scariest of all time, butThe Last Voyage of the Demeteris as chilling as it is beautiful, making the list as a newer and more hopeful addition to the genre. DirectorAndré Øvredalis a known name in the horror genre, having directedThe Autopsy of Jane Doe,one of the most acclaimed horror movies by the genre’s audiences.The Last Voyage of the Demeteris an adaptation of the chapter titled “The Captain’s Log” fromBram Stoker’s acclaimed novelDracula.It’s a fun and intense feature, full of creepy and unsettling momentsthat make viewers' skins crawl while watching.
The Last Voyage of the Demeteris set on a merchant ship called The Demeter, andit follows the crew trying to survive the tyranny of one stowaway, Count Dracula. The movie starsCorey Hawkins,David Dastmalchian, andLiam Cunningham, and it’s a claustrophobic tale set on a turbulent sea. Many have praised its atmosphere and tension, calling it a worthy addition to the Dracula lore; a lot goes into creating an eerie and ominous movie, and this one feels like that, plus a fun seabound adventure for all fans of creepy scaries and vampire lore.
The Last Voyage of The Demeter
7’The She-Butterfly' (1973)
Directed by Đorđe Kadijević
The movie that many people in former Yugoslavia watched on TV and remained permanently terrified of wasThe She-Butterfly, akaLeptirica, in its original title. Influential directorĐorđe Kadijevićcreated aone-hour feature that remains one of the most terrifying vampire movies of all time. It’s a slow burn, and its culmination is intensely scary.Robert Eggersnamed it one of the inspirations for his 2024Nosferatu, which is also pretty scary; the influence ofThe She-Butterflyis huge in it, though, so maybe mentioning the original will get more people into it. In fact, the way Eggers describesThe She-Butterflyis probably the best description of the film: “visually naïve and yet terrifying.”
The She-Butterflyis a folk horror film based on a short story titledAfter Ninety Yearsby Serbian writerMilovan Glišić. It follows the residents of a small mountain village and the young villager, Strahinja (Petar Božović), who wishes to marry Radojka (Mirjana Nikolić), the mill owner’s daughter. Whenher father challenges Strahinja to spend the night in the mill, he realizes it’s being hauntedby an ancient vampire called Sava Savanović. Kadijević was on the list of controversial Yugoslav directors, participating in the Black Wave of cinema. When he was forced to make TV movies, he found himself inspired byThe She-Butterfly, though he didn’t envision it as a horror feature, but rather a depiction of fear and the metaphysical evil present in human consciousness. That, in itself, makes the movie all the more terrifying.
6’Bram Stoker’s Dracula' (1992)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Bram Stoker’s Draculais one ofFrancis Ford Coppola’s most famous movies, and it’s a timeless classic that people love to revisit to this day. If not for the scares, the movie ispopular for its incredible visual beauty, which was contributed to by Coppola, his director of photographyMichael Ballhaus, and costume designerEiko Ishioka, who won the Oscar for her stunning and elaborate work onDracula. The movie’s eerie atmosphere is vastly amplified, not to say improved, by the haunting musical score byWojciech Kilar. Indeed,Draculais a collective feat, and one that will haunt many viewers forever; how much effort it took to make this stunning movie terrifying too was only known to Coppola and his crew.
Draculawas loosely based on Bram Stoker’s classic, quintessential novelDracula, and it follows Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) and his fiancée, Mina (Winona Ryder). Jonathan is a solicitor who is tasked with helping Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) purchase real estate in London. When Dracula sees Mina,he sees his former wife Elizabeth in her, and makes it his mission to make Mina his new bride. Oldman’s performance as Dracula remains one of his most memorable and makes the movie spookier and scarier than it might be at times. He elevates it to a whole new height of terror, making it seem almost beautiful and making Dracula actually feel like a really romantic, albeit evil, guy.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
5’Let the Right One In' (2008)
Directed by Tomas Alfredson
Let the Right One Inis labeled as a romantic horror, which should be enough for fans of both, really. Directed byTomas Alfredsonand written byJohn Ajvide Lindqvist,both in book form and script,the movie is often listed among the scariest and eeriest vampire tales of all time. Its gritty and cold atmosphere is set in opposition to a warm andendearing relationship brewing between the leads, and while you get terrified, you’ll also feel the wholesomeness of such an unusual tale.Critically praised and highly acclaimed,Let the Right One In’s title alludes to vampires having to be invited into a home, but here, we don’t know who “the right one” really is—is it just the vampire?
Let the Right One Inexplores the lives of two 12-year-olds: Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), a bullied and lonely boy, and Eli (Lina Leandersson), a mysterious girl who lives with her caretaker Hakan (Per Ragnar). Oskar and Eli meet and bond when Eli confesses thatshe’s been 12 for a long time; Oskar, abandoned and desperate for love, remains with Eli in spite of her immortality.The horrors of this movie are also reflected in the neglect these two kids obviously display, making the entire movie somehow loving and deprived of love at the same time. It’s dark, beautiful, and captivating, effectively combining scares with intelligent storytelling.
Let the Right One In
Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s 2004 novel, Let the Right One In is a romance horror/drama that follows Oskar, a kindly young boy who is bullied relentlessly upon moving to a new Swedish neighborhood with his mother. Oskar’s fortunes begin to change when he befriends the dour but enchanting Eli, despite her dark and deadly supernatural secret.
4’The Lost Boys' (1987)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
The Venn Diagram of one ofJoel Schumacher’s best moviesoverlaps with one ofKiefer Sutherland’s greatest roles and one of the scariest vampire movies; their intersection?The Lost Boys. This is a very elaborate way of sayingThe Lost Boysis a cult classic with several factors that made it iconic and memorable.This is one of those vampire features where the vampires are dark, scary, and ugly, though Sutherland still pulls off the look well; it’s also a bloody fun and creepy tale of asmall town with a terrible secret, the best formula for a good time.
The Lost Boysfollows two teenagers moving with their mother to a small coastal town in California. The older boy, Michael (Jason Patric), befriends Star (Jami Gertz) and starts falling for her, while his younger brother, Sam (Corey Haim), befriends the Frog brothers, two eccentric kids who are self-proclaimed vampire hunters.Michael and Sam both get involved with their own crowds—Michael is found threatening byDavid (Sutherland), a biker gang leader, and Sam helps the Frog brothers in their mythical quest. It’s quite bloody, thrilling, and scary, but despite that,The Lost Boysis also incredibly fun, if you’re able to get through its gorier parts.
The Lost Boys
3'30 Days of Night' (2007)
Directed by David Slade
30 Days of Nightis one of the vampire movies that was unfairly underrated by critics when it first came out, passing by next to a thousand other films about vampires and other nocturnal creatures; it was a box office hit, nevertheless, and remained ingrained in people’s memories because of several factors. As one of the most terrifying vampire movies out there,it works well because of its setting, premise, and the incredible practical effects and makeupthat went into it. Plot holes exist here and there, but many viewers rememberDanny Hustonas the eerie vampire group leader, often being unable to get his face out of their minds.
30 Days of Nightis set in Barrow, Alaska, where a month-long polar night occurs every winter. As the residents are preparing for this,Sheriff Eben Oleson(Josh Hartnett) is investigating an accident that followed the arrival of a non-local to the town. When night falls, a horde of killer vampires comes out to hunt, and the residents are forced to defend themselves with everything they have.30 Days of Nightwas based on a graphic novel of the same name, and the designs for the vampires' looks are quite similar to it; the rest of the movie, too, follows a graphic novel appearance, with bleak and gritty colors and an atmosphere that will chill your bones.
30 Days of Night
2’Nosferatu the Vampyre' (1979)
Directed by Werner Herzog
One could argue that just knowingKlaus Kinskiis behind the Nosferatu makeup inNosferatu the Vampyreis terrifying enough, but that’s not all. Kinski and his longtime frenemy and collaboratorWerner Herzogworked on several movies together,creating harmony on-screen while unharmoniously co-existing on each set; their scariest feature wasNosferatu the Vampyre, and it stands as one of the most frightening vampire movies ever made. It enjoyed great praise from critics and stands the test of time as a scary ordeal that serves as both a remake of the originalNosferatuand an adaptation of Stoker’sDracula.
Nosferatu the Vampyre,like allNosferatufilmsandDracula, follows solicitor Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) heading to Count Dracula’s castle to help him acquire property in Wismar, Germany. He traverses a vast landscape to reach the castle, where he’s welcomed by the Count (Kinski), who sees a picture of Jonathan’s fiancée and becomes smitten with her.Kinski is terrifying as the Count, which is a lot more obvious in small details, from how he never looks away from Ganz’s Jonathan while serving him dinner to how he creeps and talks. The movie is a masterclass in atmospheric tension, creeping up on the viewers and staying with them for a long time.
Nosferatu The Vampyre
1’Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror' (1922)
Directed by F. W. Murnau
The gothic horrorNosferatubyF. W. Murnauis the prototype for vampire lore and supernatural horror. What this silent film achieves more than anyNosferatuor other vampire movie is making its antagonist look and feel terrifying just by insinuating his presence.When we finally see Max Schreck as Count Orlok, we fear both to look and look away; he’s still one of themost unsettling movie vampires, 100-something years later. This is why, without a doubt,Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrorremains the scariest vampire movie of all time. How interesting it is, then, that we almost never had the chance to see this movie, since it was an unauthorized adaptation of Stoker’s novel, and each copy was required to be destroyed after a lawsuit filed by Stoker’s widow.
Nosferatuwas, because of its unauthorized reliance onDracula, adapted to fit German sentiment, meaningthe setting was changed to Germany and the characters were renamed to local versions. Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) is an estate broker, and he travels to Count Orlok’s (Schreck) castle to deliver a property contract. Orlok develops an obsession with Hutter’s wife, Ellen (Greta Schröder), and travels to her to charm and steal her. Schreck’s chilling performance makesNosferatubrilliant and everlasting; he will always be the greatest version of the deadly Count; there’s no doubt about it.
Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter’s wife.
