We all know vampires are continuing to suck on the innocent blood governed by popular culture. But with “True Blood,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and “Twilight” and its barrage of sequels, the prevailing message seems to be the same: If you’re going to get turned into a vampire, make sure you’re bitten when you’re really young and sexy. Not only will you be undead, but you’ll also never have to worry about growing old or dealing with a receding hairline, among other things. Heaven forbid this would happen to you if you’re past your prime or in middle age, right?
Whatever! The truth is we don’t need young vampires to prove how brutal and sexy they can be. The way I see it is that the older and more experienced the vampire, the more quickly they will tear apart their prey without a second thought. The younger generation of bloodsuckers may look hot, but they have nothing on their adult counterparts, as the following movies quickly prove.
“Near Dark”
Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s vampire western is just as viscerally entertaining today as it was back in 1987. Lance Henriksen gives us one of the most badass bloodsuckers ever to hit the silver screen with Jesse Hooker and Jenette Goldstein (Vasquez in “Aliens”) as Diamondback proves to be every bit his equal. That scene in the bar is more than enough to prove that.
But how far back does Hooker go? Well, he says it best: “I fought for the South… We lost!”
“John Carpenter’s Vampires”
There is nary a teenager to be found in the “Halloween” director’s 1998 film, which is really more of a western than a horror movie. James Woods as Jack Crow is as lethal and brutal a vampire hunter as Van Helsing could ever dream of being. Thomas Ian Griffith proves to be as sexy a vampire as he is an imposingly tall one. Sheryl Lee may get pushed around a lot as prostitute-turned-vampire Katrina but toward the end she shows costar Daniel Baldwin that her bite is much worse than his bark.
“Blade II”
My favorite of the “Blade” trilogy has Wesley Snipes teaming up with “Pan’s Labyrinth” director Guillermo Del Toro. Only adult vampires and their hunters could bring about this go-for-broke action extravaganza, as Blade is forced to join up with those he fights against when a new Reaper virus threatens to kill both them and humans off for good. Snipes shows off his karate and sword fighting skills to great effect and Del Toro doesn’t even try to hold back on the blood and gore, which makes this sequel even more fun than the original.
“The Addiction”
This highly unconventional vampire movie from “Bad Lieutenant” director Abel Ferrara stars the always excellent Lili Taylor as a philosophy student in college who gets bitten by a female bloodsucker. Shot in black and white, what makes this one so unique is that it’s really an allegory for drug addiction, Taylor’s quest for blood to live becoming a study in moral degradation. While it didn’t last long in theaters, it has deservedly gotten a second life on video and DVD.
See also:
Stars Drop By Screening of Kathryn Bigelow’s “Near Dark”
Lance Henriksen Drops By American Cinematheque for “Near Dark”
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