Way back in the 1840s, the penny dreadful (rightfully named–each chapter cost a penny and most had all the literary merit of an insurance company’s internal memo) Varney The Vampyre introduced a brand new idea in vampire fiction. Given the youth of the genre, that doesn’t sound quite so impressive. On the other hand, it …
When vampires first drifted, shadow-like, into popular literature in the early 1800s, this denizen of ancient folklore became an incarnation of the Nightmare Stranger–the alien ‘other’ who presented a threat to civilization itself. It was death reaching out to infect the living. The foreigner who defiled virtuous women. A pagan invader thriving where the light …
Cliche it may be, but who can doubt the internet created a whole new venue for amateur writers to put their work out there? In other words, the world-wide web proved a godsend for fan fiction. Or maybe from the other end of metaphysical spectrum, depending upon one’s view of the topic! Contrary to popular …
Detective fiction, according to some, is dying. At least on the printed page, as readers increasingly demand only one type of such story (Police Procedural, Locked Door, etc.) and refuse to glance at any others. Maybe. But in terms of other media, the detective genre remains alive and kicking. Sometimes, undead and kicking. “Forever Knight” …
For all practical purposes, the trope Vampire Lesbian emerged with Joseph Sheridan LeFanu’s novella “Carmilla.” Eventually, with the rise of a new medium–motion pictures–an adaptation of that story appeared. “Crypt of the Vampire” became one of the still-relatively few such. The trope, however, could be seen in “Dracula’s Daughter” as well as the eerie “Vampyr.” …
Honestly, I didn’t like the movie “The Lost Boys.” Yes, the music and cinematography were both fantastic, but like too many movies then and now the lead character was boring. Since he didn’t involve me, I didn’t care what happened to him. More, the story didn’t feel like a story. More like a series of …
With the release of “Let Me In,” the American adaptation John Ajvide Lindquist’s novel, a trope that naturally comes to mind is the child vampire. Although as disturbing as it seems shocking, there’ve actually been a fair number of the breed in popular entertainment. One might think that Claudia from Anne Rice’s seminal “Interview With …
Fans of haemovores everywhere probably already know that Johnny Depp has plans to reunite with Tim Burton in a motion picture adaptation of the cult t.v. series “Dark Shadows.” The whole idea of Depp as a vampire no doubt has sent many a heart aflutter. Quite understandably! It is one of those ideas that seems …
The Dracula legend has been redone a hundred times over and in 1990 the Prince of Darkness returned to us in Dracula: The Series. Dracula: The Series is the tale of Maximilian (please, just Max)Townsend (played by Jacob Tierney) and his family and their quest to destroy the evil Count Dracula who is living… um, …
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 …