Vampire Films

In last weeks lesson, we looked at four different vampires in horror films over time. The first clip we watched was from a vampire film called 'Nosferatu' which came out in 1922. Stereotypically of a vampire, he had dark eye make-up, lived in an isolated area and was hideous to look at. When the camera was focused on the vampire, the music automatically became eerie and sinister which had connotations of the fact that the vampire is evil and stereotypically sucks human blood. Nosferatu is a foreigner, therefore he is 'out of place' and classed as the 'other'. This again links in to the stereotypical aspects of a vampire as he is not like everyone else. We also looked at a horror movie named 'Horror of Dracula' which came out in 1958. Sinister music was played just like in Nosferatu when the vampire entered connoting death and the 'other'. The vampire was shot from many low angles which conveyed power and authority in which he had. As a subversion, the vampire looked more human as he was portrayed as a 'heartthrob' having many sexual encounters with women. Again he was a foreigner which is similar to 'Nosferatu'. He also stereotypically lives in a coffin as he hates daylight as he will melt as he is a vampire. The third vampire movie we looked at was the 1992 version of 'Dracula' starring Gary Oldman. In this version he is very theatrical which is similar to both vampire films, Nosferatu and Horror of Dracula. Most scenes are shot through a red filter which implies blood and gore which is a stereotype of a vampire. In contrast we sympathise with this vampire as we see his background story of why he is the way he is. In most vampire films there is no background story, the vampires are just evil. In contrast to the three other vampire stories we watched, we looked at Twilight (2008-12). Twilight is a subversion to stereotypical vampire movies as the vampires in the film have good morals, dress all in white and live in a house well lit. Unlike Nosferatu, the vampires in Twilight are beautiful and attractive. The movie subverts from the general stereotype of a vampire, but then keeps to the stereotype as the vampires are fast, robotic and pale.