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Vampires: Girls vs. Boys

annimi — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:09:23 +0000

What most of the unofficial Feminists Against Vampire Romance Novels organization, –bent on the mass destruction of a fictional theme, –seems to miss in the world of vampires right now, is that normally, chicks are over-represented in vampire literature and cinema. How many badass vampire guys can you think of? Blade, Dracula, Kurt Barlow, Count Orlock, etc., etc., –but lately, doesn’t it seem like we’ve had our share of vampire chicks? Let’s see, who was the most badass, top vampire in From Dusk Till Dawn? That sexy she-bitch with the snake, Santanico Pandemonium, played by Salma Hayek. How about Queen of the Damned? Bloodrayne? Underworld? –all of them? In what world is it that vampires are suddenly the embodiment of all things sexist?

One of the first vampire novels the world ever saw, coming even before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, was Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. What was it about? Those of you currently Google’ing are automatically disqualified. The novel was about a female vampire preying on, –not a man, –but a woman. Now the truly dedicated feminist will search her inner database of man hate to come up with a reason as to why this novel was anti-female, but let’s just roll with this theme we’re building here. Why is it that men seem to make such crappy vampires? Whose love destroyed Dracula? Why, it was Mina, –and she was a vampire at the time. I won’t even go into the whole Akasha thing in Queen of the Damned, because we’re past that.

The point is, independent women in vampire novels are not a scarcity; the literary strong female vampire archetype is older than the literary strong male vampire archetype by twenty-five years. It’s actually rare to see a popular vampire role filled by a male, because Hollywood loves to cash in on the snotty vampire bitch trend: hot female vampire warriors are gold. At the end of the Twilight saga, Bella ends up being one of the most gifted vampires in their clan for her amazing presence of mind. How can that leave a bitter taste in the mouth of popular feminism? Vampire and horror cinema in general have moved with the times, not against them. Women as vampires have become a stronger force than men as vampires, both literally and metaphorically.

Five Vriggin’ Vild Vampire Comics

annimi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:00:37 +0000

Vampirella, 1969 – So, you’re a hot alien vampire chick from planet Draculon, why not wear a red thong suit that fits like a surgical glove, thigh high boots, and go hunt the evil kind of vampires? Forrest J. Ackerman thought this was a great idea, and then created Vampirella, who started out as a horror host, but went on to become hero of her own story. And on, and on, and on, –her first appearance was in 1969, in Warren Publishing, till 1983. Then she was snapped up by Harris Publishing in 1991, where she lives on today. She also inspired the spin-off manga character Vampi, who thank god, appears to be much more short-lived.

Tomb of Dracula, 1972 – Tomb existed in the Marvel universe from ‘72, to ‘79, and featured probably the most notorious big bad of the known world, –Dracula! The vampire hunting team constantly battles Dracula, who in turn, fights other occasional guest stars, like Jack Russel from Werewolf by Night, Blade, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and even Solomon Kane (who doesn’t really even count as a Marvel character!). Once in a while, Dracula and the vampire hunters team up to fight a common threat, but mostly of the time, he prefers to maintain his supervillain status.

I…Vampire, 1981 – I… Vampire was part of the horror comic anthology House of Mystery, which is one of those comic books that just won’t die! It was recently revitalized in May ‘08, and is still being published today. I… Vampire appeared in 24 issues, from ‘81 to ‘83, and revolved around the depressed, flamboyantly depicted blood-aholic vampire Lord Andrew Bennett, just under 400 years old. Bennett turned his lover, Mary Seward into a vampire, and Mary created a group of vampires, then they all ran off to take over the world. Bennett refuses to kill for blood and instead drinks it from bottles. He’s also suicidal; charming guy, no? The story follows him through bouts of depression, suicide attempts, and battles with his ex, now supervillain.

Cassidy in Preacher, 1995 – Cassidy is the best friend, sometimes foe, of Jesse Custer, the hero and the Preacher. Jesse has the power of the ‘Word of God’, a command that forces other to obey, as a results of being possessed by an angel/demon named Genesis. Cassidy gets involved in a love triangle with Tulip; Tulip in love with the oblivious Custer, Cassidy in love with Tulip. Cassidy has various substance abuse issues, though he doesn’t kill for blood, –he doesn’t even have to have human blood, and instead, prefers booze. I wouldn’t recommend the comic to anyone unless you’re in the mood for some seriously depressing stuff.

30 Days of Night, 2002 – Wanna hear something funny? Before 30 Days of Night was a movie, it was a comic book miniseries, that was actually inspired by a failed attempt at a 30 Days of Night movie. Apparently, your comic book has to succeed before your movie can; Hollywood is truly a bloodthirsty little city, no? The original series was only three issues long, however, there are a ton of sequels, and returns to the original series. Dark Days is the sequel in which Stella strikes a deal with some vampires from L.A. in order to bring her husband back, –the sheriff who saved the town by infecting himself with the vampire “disease.”

What is a Dhampir?

Moonlight — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:00:58 +0000

Well, it’s a half vampire, half human hybrid of course, Blade taught us that. But this idea didn’t come from the entertainment world. The idea of a vampire/human mix comes straight from age-old vampire lore, Gypsy lore to be exact.

Dhampir is the name the Slavonic Gypsies came up with to call the child of a vampire. This child has some of the powers that its vampire parent has, what these powers are depend on the vampire and myth. How a dhampir is made is also a something that Gypsies debated on. The most commonly believed method is that a newly made male vampire is super horny and feels the need to go back to his human widow to sex her up, if he didn‘t have a wife during life, then he‘ll go after any young woman he can find. It was then possible for his wife or whoever to become pregnant with his vampire baby. That baby was then known as a dhampir but some other Gypsies didn’t use this word, sometimes they would call the child a vampir (if male), vampuiera (if female), vampijerovic, or lampijerovic. Some believed that this child was always male, then you had others saying that it died shortly after birth because its body was made of something like jelly and another rumor was that it in fact wasn’t special at all – that it was a normal human. But for the most part it was believed that it was a child with a vampire parent and a human parent and that because of its vampire blood it had special powers. And when it came to inheriting the lust for blood, well that’s another thing that changes from myth to myth. In some cases a dhampir craves blood, but other times it has no desire for it.

These dhampirs born were usually turned into vampire hunters because of their powers to detect and destroy the undead. Yup, that didn’t come from Blade or BloodRayne, dhampirs in the past were said to hunt vampires. In Serbia it is believed that vampires are invisible and that only dhampirs are able to see them, therefore dhampirs were paid to hunt down and kill these vamps. How this played out is a dhampir would go out to kill the vampire, if you were watching you would see a person flailing around, apparently wrestling with an invisible foe. After some time the dhampir would declare to the watching villagers that the vampire was dead and then he or she would collect a large payment from the town. The last time this happened was in 1959 in the Yugoslavian province of Kosovo.

- Moonlight

Famous Vampire Hunters

Moonlight — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:00:39 +0000

Vampire hunters are the focus of today’s post. Well, famous vampire hunters to be exact. Vampire Hunters have the tough task of killing the creatures that stalk the night. They don’t see them as romantic or lovable like most of us, but rather a menace to society that needs to be wiped out. This list covers some of the big names in the slaying game, not every hunter in the history of forever, but some popular ones.

Abraham Van Helsing: A name we all know of, that of Professor Abraham Van Helsing, the fictional character and a protagonist from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula. A known vampire hunter and enemy of Dracula.

Anita Blake: The fictional necromancer from the novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. When Anita isn’t raising the dead for work, she is killing the undead for the government.

Buffy Summers: The high school hottie from the super popular show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Not only is she badass but she is hilarious as well.

Blade: The half vampire, half human vampire hunter from the movies and comic books. He teams up with Whistler, a retired vampire hunter and weapons expert, to get revenge on the beasts that killed his mother.

Bloodrayne: Another dhampir seeking revenge on the monsters that destroyed her family. This time a super sexy, leather covered video game character.

Dark Hunters: I am just going to bunch this awesome group of men and women together. They are vampire hunting army of Artemis, from the sexy book series by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Michael Colefield: Detective Sergeant Michael Colefield, the vampire hunter from the Ultraviolet mini series on tv.

Carlisle Cullen: Do I even need to explain this one? The father-like vampire from Twilight. His human father hunted vampires and eventually so did Carlisle, until he was turned into one himself.

D: Vampire Hunter D, a character in Japanese novels, is yet another dhampir (they make excellent vampire hunters). He is renowned for his amazing skill and unearthly grace, but feared and despised for his mixed lineage: born of both races but belonging to neither.

Edgar and Alan Frog: The young brothers from the movie The Lost Boys. When they aren’t running the comic shop they are out hunting vamps.

Gabriel Van Helsing: The vampire hunting hero in the movie Van Helsing, played by Hugh Jackman, along side with Kate Beckinsale.

Harry Keogh: The anti-hero of the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley. Harry has an assortment of awesome powers, like – talking to the dead, teleportation, telepathy and a bunch more.

Magiere and Leesil: Magiere is a dhampir and Leesil is half-elven, they hunt vampires with a fey-dog, Chap. From “Dhampir” by Barb and J.C. Hendee.

Sean Manchester: A real life vampire hunter who founded the Vampire Research Society and also took part in the Highgate Vampire in London.

Javier Mendoza: The vampire hunter in the tv show Blood Ties.

Robert Neville: The main character in the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Robert is the sole survivor of a viral pandemic, the symptoms of which resemble vampirism. He tries to find a cure to it so it’s sorta like vampire hunting.

Zero Kiryu: He is one of the main characters of Vampire Knight manga. Zero is Yuki’s close friend and the only other Cross Academy Guardian. Zero carries an anti-vampire gun named “Bloody Rose.”

There’s your list of well known vampire hunters, if you know of more please feel free to share.

- Moonlight

Vampire Shows

Moonlight — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

With vampires being so popular lately new vampire shows are popping up like crazy. Yay! So why not make a list of vampire shows – old and new. Below is a list of shows that have vampires as part of their main storyline. Meaning my list doesn’t have shows that had maybe one or two vampire themed episodes. Anyway, the list features very well known and awesome shows and some shows many haven’t heard of…

(In no particular order)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003): Come on, we all know Buffy! “In every generation there is a chosen one… she alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer.” The show ran for seven seasons and features some of the best pop culture referencing ever (I know I have quoted Buffy lines a million times). The super hilarious show, about the sexy vampire slayer Buffy, was and still is a huge hit with many. The boys were dreaming about Buffy and the girls were drooling over Spike and/or Angel.

Angel (1999-2004): Angel was the Buffy spin off show about Buffy’s first love, the vampire with a soul – Angel. The show was about Angel seeking forgiveness and redemption. He leaves Sunnydale (and Buffy) to go to Los Angeles, where he and his crew fight evil. Like Buffy this show is full of great lines and is funny as hell, the show rocked.

True Blood (2008 – current): This ongoing, racy and sexy show quickly became a huge hit. About Sookie Stackhouse, a psychic waitress that falls in love with a vampire in a world where vampires are known. Cue the chaos… and fun.

The Vampire Diaries (2009 – current): A new vampire drama aimed at teenagers that is gaining new fans every week. The plot revolves around Elena Gilbert, the beautiful teen that is the object of passion for two vampire brothers, one good, and one evil. Stefan and Daman battle over Elena in a plot full of mystery and revenge.

Moonlight (2007-2008): This show is about a vampire detective that falls in love with a mortal woman. Unfortunately for its fans this vamp show only lasted one season.

Kindred: The Embraced (1996): A series that only lasted 8 episodes and was loosely based on the Vampire the Masquerade RPG by White Wolf games. I loved this show and all the vampire races it had. The show followed the vampire Julian Luna, Julian is the “prince” of the city, ruler of five groups of vampires in the city called The Kindred. The vampires survive through the masquerade, disguising themselves as humans, and Julian strictly enforces the laws that govern them to protect their anonymity.

The Munsters (1964-1966): This is a classic, you may not have seen it but you’ve heard of it. It’s a 1960s show about a family of monsters. You had vampires, Frankenstein’s monster, werewolves and more. The perfect show to watch if you are in an old school kinda mood.

Forever Knight (1992–1996): This show followed 800-year-old vampire Nick Knight, a detective working in Toronto on a quest for redemption. The show lasted three seasons and ended on a huge cliffhanger.

Blood Ties (2006-2007): Yet another vampire detective show based loosely on the Blood Books by Tanya Huff. The show follows the super sexy ex-cop Vicki Nelson. Vicki along with the vampire Henry Fitzroy solves an assortment of supernatural cases. I was really sad that this show only lasted 2 seasons.

Blade: The Series (2006): A show based on the Blade comic and hit movies. It followed our favorite ass kicking half vampire half human vampire hunter. In spite of the movies success, the show did poorly and only lasted one season.

Vampire High (2001-2002): This was an almost painfully cheesy show about a vampire school (I still watched every episode in spite of the bad acting and camp-factor). To quote the opening title sequence…”When The Great Eclipse plunged the world into darkness, the vampire race erupted in a civil war. The bloodthirsty ‘Fury’ battled the enlightened Elders for domination of the undead. In desperation, the Elders gathered up those young vampires that could be saved and entrusted them to me. To humanize them, to tame their instincts and teach them how to live among mortals.” The result is a show with vampires more angsty and emo than any you’ve ever seen or read about.

Dark Shadows (1966-1971): Another old vampire show, this time a gothic soap opera that follows the strange happenings to the Collins family and their friends. The show features everything from vampires, to witches, werewolves – you name it.

Ultraviolet (1998): A mini series that followed Michael Colefield. Ultraviolet revolves around a government-funded paramilitary police unit, which may have connections to the Roman Catholic Church fighting a secret war against a worldwide vampire conspiracy. Even though about modern vampires, the word “vampire” is never used in the show.

Being Human (2008-current): A British supernatural drama-comedy series about three people living together, just trying to live normal lives. With the three people being a vampire, ghost and werewolf that is a little hard to do.

Of course, if there is a show we missed that you feel needs some lovin’ please leave comment and let us know.

- Moonlight

Vampire Films

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:30:36 +0000

There are more than likely thousands of vampire movies out there, but most notably, the movie Blade, about the comic book hero, half vampire, half human, the definitive Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Interview With The Vampire, the debut novel of the Vampire Chronicles authored by Anne Rice made into a film, with it’s sequel, Queen of the Damned. Also as equally definitive as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is Nosferatu, eine Symphonie Des Grauens, one of the very first vampire films, released in 1922; the unauthorized adaptation of the novel by Bram Stoker.

Vampire films were inspired almost as soon as the ability to actually make, record, and exhibit films had been created; one of the first of many films was titled simply “The Vampire,” in 1913, and followed by “A Fool There Was” in 1915. Both of these silent films were about “vamps” or, femme-fatales; the inspiration for both the films and the terms came from the 1897 poem The Vampire, by Rudyard Kipling. The poem by Rudyard Kipling, was inspired by the famous painting ‘The Vampire’ by Sir Philip Burne-Jones, featuring a female vampire straddling a wounded, or sleeping man. The first really supernatural vampire film to emerge was Nosferatu; it was so closely related to Bram Stoker’s novel, that his widow sued, won, and all copies were destroyed, except for five. It was finally restored in 1994 in Europe.

Bela Lugosi later starred in the 1931 classic Dracula, and then in two more vampire films following that; one of them Abbot And Costello Meet Frankenstein, in 1948 which was the last time he would play Dracula. Then another in which he played a vampire character that was everything Dracula was, except his name; the film was Return of the Vampire. Bela Lugosi was in a number of early horror films throughout the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. In 1957 the movie ‘El Vampiro’ was produced, and was one of the first vampire films in which the fangs of the vampire were actually revealed. In 1958, the renowned Hammer Horror series debuted with the film Dracula, starring Christopher Lee, who acted in five of the following seven sequels. Later, Francis Ford Coppola’s groundbreaking classic ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ emerged in 1992.

However, Dracula was not the only vampire novel to inspire directors and screenwriters. Although more distant from the novel by Bram Stoker, Carmilla, the short story by Sheridan Le Fanu inspired many classic vampires films. Carmilla put the sexual spin of lesbian vampirism on several popular vampire films in the 70’s, such as the Karnstein trilogy from Hammer Studios, as well as Blood and Roses, in 1960, Vampyres, in 1974, and The Vampire Lovers, in 1970, to name a few. The 1948 film with Abbot and Costello transformed many Dracula or vampire theme films into comedies. Sexuality has been drawn into the vampire genre of films from all orientations, and in both male and female roles. There are a few but still a strong flow of vampire films left that stick true to Max Shreck’s first portrayal of the disturbing, and monstrous Count Orlok in Nosferatu.

Vampires » blade

Vampires: Girls vs. Boys

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Five Vriggin’ Vild Vampire Comics

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What is a Dhampir?

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Famous Vampire Hunters

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Vampire Shows

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Vampire Films

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