Best Vampire film since Nosferatu (1922)

Rating: 7/10 (13 November 2010)

This film avoids the clichés of most vamp films: Romantic vampires, nubile débutantes who want to become vampires, debunked vampires who live in sunlight, the good vampire, who is only misunderstood and can't help himself, vampirism as a disease that can be cured, etc. I am soooooooooooooo sick of that garbage I could puke! These suckers is EVIL! To the bone! But there is not much of the supernatural aspects either: transformation, holy water, crosses, etc. So it is a truncated legend. If you're going to have a film about vampires, why not do the whole thing up right and make the most of it? Why must we always de-mythologize the legend and re-fit it with pseudo-scientific trappings or make the whole story about love or sex? A Vampire is a demon-possessed corpse that feeds on the blood of the living. It is an abomination, and an offense to God and all that is normal and good in creation. It defies scientific analysis because it is a spiritually-powered idea. That's what makes it interesting and scary. Steve King understood that when he wrote 'Salem's Lot. Bram Stoker understood that when he wrote Dracula, and made it a Christian epic about the battle between good and evil. If horror film directors want to stop making crap, they should stick to the historic legends, and leave the romance, sex, science, new age religion, diseases, and etc. to other genres. This one comes close. Good suspense, acting, and atmosphere.