Werewolves, mummies, and cobbled-together lab freaks have been around since the earliest decades of film, but no monster was perhaps more camera-ready than the vampire. Those counts and lords who love to mug and menace for the camera, mesmerize with their fancy capes, and whose pale skin glows in the luminous flicker of old film cameras. So no surprise that some of the best vampire movies back then are some of the best vampires now, like Dracula, Nosferatu, and Vampyr, even as they approach their centennial anniversaries. That’s the bar that’s been set for our guide to the essential and best vampire movies, and still we found plenty worthy to follow in their fang-steps.

Take, for example, Christopher Lee in 1958’s Horror of Dracula, who was the first to really own the role after Bela Lugosi and Max Schreck. Lee’s other Hammer productions on this list include Prince of Darkness and Risen from the Grave, which ran into the ’70s. That decade was a compelling one overall for vampy flicks across all strata of filmmaking: arthouse (Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu), independent (Ganja & Hess, Martin), blaxploitation (Blacula), sexploitation (Vampyros Lesbos), and another straight-up Universal Monsters Dracula, starring Frank Langella.

Across legend, we know vampires for their allure and seductive properties. (Or at least, just their property — who wouldn’t be charmed by a 600-bedroom castle?) The sex appeal of the vampires has especially been played up in movies since the ’80s: As the sexy suburban neighbor (Fright Night), the upper-strata socialites (The Hunger), and a smoulderer’s row of hot guys (Interview with the Vampire) and leather jacket rebels (The Lost Boys).

That burning, pasty-chic look has carried well into the new millennium: One would only have to point to the frenzied mania that was Twilight at its peak for proof. Introducing vampires back under the harsh, bright glare of pop culture, Twilight helped create a landscape for more filmmakers to stake their claim on the vampire myth: think Let the Right One In, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Only Lovers Left Alive, Thirst, and What We Do In The Shadows.

Or if you just want some action, see From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, Daybreakers, Underworld, and 30 Days of Night.

We took all these styles of movies and ordered them for this list of the vampires you need to watch now if you’re at all a sucker for bloodsuckers, including those Rotten ones that critics didn’t necessarily love but which offer something for you to sink your teeth into. One note: Richard Matheson wrote a famous vampire novel called I Am Legend. We’re listing the first movie adaptation, The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price because it actually keeps the vampires, but not the other two: Charlton Heston’s The Omega Man, which features just nocturnal albinos, and Will Smith’s I Am Legend, which regresses them to mutants. Across all mediums, it is the vampire’s cold, eerie human side that’s essential in separating them from mere monsterism, and describes their enduring appeal.

So, looking for something to watch on your next open-coffin-and-chill night? Then go to bat with our 80 Essential Vampire Movies!

FireShot Capture 1747 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1748 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1749 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1750 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1751 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1752 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1753 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1754 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1755 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1756 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1757 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1758 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1759 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1760 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1761 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1762 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

FireShot Capture 1763 - The 80 Essential Vampire Movies To Wa_ - https___editorial.rottentomatoe.jpg

Nice stuff! Thread stuck!!

What We Do In The Shadows better be in there.

Actually, looking at this list I have seen a lot but not all. Considering going on a vampire binge.

Would be cool if there was a megatorrent with all these in.

I havent actually seen most of these. Interesting.

Only Lovers Left Alive is one of my favourite movies. The concept is as whacky as Jim Jarmusch's hairstyle. Performance-wise, it was just fine but the soundtrack adds to the uniqueness of the movie. I'm still reminded of listening to this version of "Funnel of Love"