Vampires

by Charlotte Montague

  Despite the fact that during the legal battle, Mrs Stoker demanded the destruction of all prints of the film, some copies survived. Murnau’s Dracula has since become a milestone in the history of horror cinema, also attracting attention to the classic novel on which it was based.

  Modern Vampire Fiction

  Throughout the twentieth century, the vampire myth continued to endure, largely because of the many horror films about the subject that were released from the 1920s on. These proved immensely popular with the public, relying as they did on the exciting visual elements of gothic horror, including various new technologies in the cinema, such as dramatic special effects. However, despite these innovations, the literary vampire was not forgotten. Science fiction, horror, and romance novels featuring vampires continued to sell, sometimes inspiring screen versions, at other times inspired by the film themselves; and today, the genre has become more popular than ever, with the tremendous success of Stephenie Meyer’s teenage horror/romance vampire series, Twilight.

  I Am Legend

  One of the most influential science fiction novels of the 1950s was I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. This imaginative novel told the story of the sole survivor of a terrible plague that had killed off most of humankind. The plague, as the protagonist finds out, was caused by a little-known type of bacteria that fed off live bodies as well as dead ones, and caused affected people to show symptoms of vampirism. What we find out as the book progresses is that only the dead corpses reanimated by the bacteria are true vampires; the others are ordinary human beings afflicted by a terrible disease that, like rabies, changes their personalities and behaviour.

  In the story, the hero, Robert Neville, recovers from a serious illness to find that all other human beings in the vicinity have vanished. Instead, a vampire horde, some of whom are former friends, besiege his house each night, terrifying him with their aggressive behaviour. He does his best to repel them, and manages to kill several of the vampires. In his efforts to keep them at bay, he boards up his windows and hangs up garlic. During the daylight hours, he spends much of his time disposing of dead vampire bodies. Not surprisingly, given the fact that his life has become a living hell, he begins to suffer from depression. He also starts to drink heavily. However, little by little, through patient research using books from the local library, he learns the truth about the disease and realizes he has escaped a terrible fate. The twist in the tale of the novel is that, since he is the only person on earth who has survived uncontaminated, ultimately it is he, not the mass of humanity, who has become the ‘odd one out’, and who will have to pay the price, becoming a ‘legend’ from the past, like the vampire itself.

  Neville meets a woman, Ruth, who appears to have escaped the plague, but he soon begins to suspect that she, too, has been infected. He tries to give her a blood test, but they struggle, and she knocks him out. He awakes to find a note from Ruth explaining that the now-infected members of the human race are struggling to rebuild their civilization. Neville has failed to distinguish between the dead who have been reactivated by the disease (the true ‘vampires’) and infected humans, and has killed some members of their community; thus, he has become hated and feared by the infected humans, who now form the majority of the human race. The infected humans are struggling to adapt to their condition, and are beginning to find ways of keeping the true vampires at bay. Ruth warns him in the note that he must leave his home, as the infected horde will come to capture him there.

  Biological freak

  Weary and defeated, Neville decides to stay put, and gives himself up to his captors. In prison, while awaiting execution, he is visited by Ruth, who slips him some suicide pills. He goes to the window and sees the crowd outside, waiting for him with fear and horror in their eyes. At this moment, he realizes that he has become a monster to them, just as they were to him; the infected are now the mainstream of society, and it is he, not them, who is deviant. He decides to swallow the pills, in the knowledge that for them, he has now become a throwback, a frightening creature from the past, who has no place in this new world. As he dies, he laughs bitterly, realizing that he will now become a legend, a horror story, a biological freak, that will terrify this new human race.

  I Am Legend expressed, as did much science fiction of the period, aspects of social anxiety caused by the repressive mores of the Cold War years: in particular the treatment of those seen as outside the social norm, and the fear of unorthodoxy as a kind of ‘disease’ that might infiltrate the mainstream. Horror writer Stephen King has spoken of the influence that the book had on him. But the book’s most lasting legacy has been in the world of film: in 1964, it was adapted under the title, The Last Man on Earth; in 1971 it appeared on screen as The Omega Man; and in 2007, it was remade under its original name, I Am Legend.

  The Vampire Chronicles

  Although there were various vampire novels throughout the sixties, such as the Marilyn Ross series featuring Barnabas Collins, these were mostly spin-offs from films or TV series. However, in 1976, Anne Rice established the vampire horror novel as a new genre with her landmark debut, Interview with the Vampire.

  Rice was born Howard Allen O’Brien and grew up in New Orleans in an Irish-American Catholic family. She was named after her father, but re-named herself Anne on her first day at school. She attended university in Texas and then moved to San Francisco, where she worked as an insurance claims investigator before marrying her childhood sweetheart, Stan Rice. The couple had two children, Michelle and Christopher. Michelle died of leukaemia at the age of four. An avid writer, Rice completed her first novel, Interview with the Vampire in 1973. Three years later it was published, becoming the first in a long and extremely successful series known as The Vampire Chronicles, continuing until 2003.

  Burned by sunlight

  The central character in the novel is a 200-year-old vampire, Louis, who relates the story in the first person, giving it a unique perspective. Louis tells how, in 1791, a vampire called Lestat de Lioncourt turned him into a vampire, and the pair became friends for eternity. Louis, for moral reasons, cannot feed off humans, and only drinks the blood of animals; little by little he becomes more critical of his friend Lestat’s vampire ways, and considers going it alone, only to find that Lestat has procured a vampire ‘daughter’ for them, a child he calls Claudia.

  Because of her status as a vampire, Claudia must remain a child for the rest of her life. Louis grows to hate Lestat, and kills him, leaving him for dead, but Lestat returns to attack him. Louis and Claudia manage to escape, travelling to Europe, where Louis turns a Parisian dollmaker, Madeleine, into a vampire mother for Claudia. Eventually, Lestat catches up with them, and Madeleine and Claudia die, burned to death by daylight. Louis manages to travel on, but ends his days as a lonely man.

  In telling the story, Rice introduced several variations on the classic vampire myth, which were elaborated on further in Chronicles. Her vampires were not destroyed or deterred by crucifixes, garlic, wooden stakes, and so on. They were sensitive, gifted individuals with magical powers, such as the ability to read thoughts and move objects by mind control. The most powerful of them were a thousand years old, and had supernatural features such as the ability to influence a person’s will, and superhuman sight, hearing, and strength. In some cases, the vampires could fly. They could also set an object or person on fire, or cause a person to have a fatal heart attack. Most significantly, all had the potential of eternal life, and were subject only to death by fire, sunlight, or a more powerful vampire’s attack. If they were wounded, they healed rapidly, and could regenerate themselves. The oldest vampires were extremely powerful, and as they aged, their skin whitened to a marble-like appearance.

  The torture of eternal life

  However, Rice makes it clear that, for her vampires, this gift of immortality is in some ways a curse. After a 100 or 200 years, vampires become tired and unhappy, and may exhibit signs of mental instability. They may try to take their own lives, or go into hibernation
to avoid the sheer tedium of living. Rice emphasizes that eternal life is a kind of torture for most of them, provoking a kind of existential despair that cannot even be extinguished by death.

  The tone of Interview with the Vampire is sombre, and Rice has said that the mood of it was influenced by her daughter’s death from leukaemia. It continues to be regarded by many critics as her best book, and in 1994, was made into a major film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst. Later books, The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned, were filmed under the latter title in 2002. These films, especially Interview with the Vampire, brought renewed interest in Rice’s work, so much so that to date, her books have sold nearly one hundred million copies. Today, despite the fact that some critics have argued that the later novels in the series lack the originality of Interview, she continues to be one of the most widely read authors in the world.

  Vampire Novels

  The Vampyre

  By John Polidori (1819). Polidori was Lord Byron’s friend and physician, and his story was inspired by a fragment written by the famous romantic poet . Polidori’s great innovation was to change the vampire from a medieval monster dripping with gore to a refined aristocrat : the pale, seductive Lord Ruthven.

  Carmilla

  By Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1872). Le Fanu was the greatest ghost story writer of the Victorian era. In Carmilla, a Gothic novella, he turned his attention to the vampire myth, with a sensational tale of love between a young woman and a female vampire that shocked his readers.

  Dracula

  By Bram Stoker (1897). This is the novel that started the vampire craze. Stoker was an Irish writer who drew on real historical figures, such as Vlad the Impaler, and European mythology, to create the tale of Count Dracula, who lures his victims to their doom in his Transylvanian castle.

  I Am Legend

  By Richard Matheson (1954). This highly influential novel mixed horror with science fiction, telling the story of how one man fights a plague of disease-ridden vampires who threaten to destroy human life on earth. The theme of apocalypse proved to be very popular in cold-war America.

  Salem’s Lot

  By Stephen King (1975). The second of King’s novels, Salem’s Lot tells the story of a writer who comes back to his hometown in Maine, only to find it threatened by vampires. It’s a classic King tale about evil flourishing in the very midst of suburban normality.

  The Vampire Chronicles

  By Anne Rice (1976-2003). Interview with the Vampire was the first in a series chronicling the life of Lestat de Liancourt, an eighteenth-century French nobleman, and his many subsequent incarnations. The Chronicles is one of the most successful vampire series of all time, with sales of over 80 million.

  The Hunger

  By Whitley Streiber (1981). Miriam Blaylock is a beautiful female vampire who takes human lovers and transforms them into hybrid vampire/humans, disposing of them when she is tired of them. Streiber describes vampires as a species akin to humans, with a set of practical problems such as how to acquire and dispose of bodies.

  They Thirst

  By Robert McCammon (1981). This novel imagines a horror scenario in which Los Angeles is taken over by vampires, transforming it into a city of the dead. The novel is currently out of print, and McCammon regards it as inferior to his later works, and has refused to let it be reprinted.

  Fevre Dream

  By George R.R. Martin (1982). This highly regarded historical novel is set in Mississippi in the mid nineteenth century. A tale of steamboats, vampire hunters, and the darker side of New Orleans, it has been described as ‘Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain’, and continues to attract awards.

  The Stress of Her Regard

  By Tim Powers (1989). Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, John Keats, and John Polidori feature in this novel, which imagines that these real historical figures were members of a vampire-like clan of succubi, lamia, fairies and other mythological creatures – some of them evil, but others good.

  Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter

  By Laurell Kaye Hamilton (1993- 2008). This bestselling series, about a female necromancer turned magical investigator, began with the first novel, Guilty Pleasures, and in the sixteen novels thereafter has continued to attract readers with its focus on the erotic side of the vampire myth.

  The Last Vampire

  By Christopher Pike (1994-1996). This series chronicles the life of a 5,000-year-old vampire, Sita, drawing from ancient history and world mythology as well from the science fiction and horror genres. Christopher Pike is a bestselling author of young adult and children’s fiction, whose real name is Kevin McFadden.

  Southern Vampire

  Series by Charlaine Harris (2001-2009). Dead Until Dark, the first novel in the series, introduces Sookie Stakhouse, a telepathic waitress in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, who falls in love with a handsome vampire and embarks on solving a series of murders in the town. The basis for the True Blood TV series.

  Vampire Kisses

  By Ellen Schreiber (2003-2009). The series begins by introducing us to Raven Madison, a sixteen-year-old who complains that her life is boring. However, when a stranger comes to town, vampire Alexander Sterling, she falls in love and embarks on a series of adventures in the world of the supernatural.

  Twilight

  By Stephenie Meyer (2005- 2008). The latest vampire series sensation, the novels chart the adventures of teenager Bella Swan, who falls in love with a classmate, vampire Edward Cullen, thus endangering her life. Hailed as a thoughtful reflection on teenage sexuality, the books have sold millions of copies worldwide.

  The ‘Twilight’ Series

  One of the most extraordinary developments in modern vampire fiction has taken place in the new millennium, with the publication of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series of novels for the teen market. The first of these, the eponymous Twilight, appeared in 2005, and there have since been three more in the series: New Moon, published in 2006, Eclipse, in 2007, and Breaking Dawn, in 2008. A film adaptation of Twilight, released in 2008, has increased the already astronomical sales of the original novel, and the second film, New Moon, released in November 2009, is continuing to build on the series’ success.

  Teenage sexuality

  The author, Stephenie Meyer, tells of how the idea for the story of Twilight, that of a vampire who falls in love with a teenage girl but thirsts for her blood, came to her in a dream one night. Evidently, in terms of human psychology, this is a very strong scenario, since it touches on the intense sexuality of the teenager, expressing on the one hand, the anxiety young men of this age may feel about harming a girl that they are emotionally attached to, and on the other, the mixture of fear and excitement that a young woman may feel about losing her virginity. Although the story was ostensibly about a mythical world – that of the vampire – it appealed to young adults because it described so vividly the real sexual and emotional anxieties of the teenage years, including feelings of alienation from society; of being ‘different’; of one’s burgeoning sexuality being harmful, even fatal, to others; of struggling to come to terms with the adult world of responsibility; of being doomed to failure; and so on.

  The story of Twilight introduces the central character, Isabella Swan, known as Bella. As a teenager, Bella moves from her home in Phoenix, Arizona, to live with her father, Charlie, in Forks, Washington, while her mother and stepfather go travelling. Thus, she leaves behind the sunshine of her childhood years, and begins to make her way in a confusing, and complex, adult world.

  Forbidden fruit

  On her first day at her new school, she meets a handsome young man, Edward Cullen. Later, when she is almost run over in the parking lot at school, Cullen manages to save her, showing superhuman strength by stopping the van with his bare hands. Bella is intrigued, and tries to find out more about him, eventually learning that he and his family are vampires. Instead of human blood, they drink animal blood.

  The plot thickens when other vampires come to town,
including a vampire called James, who wants to attack Bella. Bella tries to escape from James, but eventually he catches up with her, and bites her. Edward comes to the rescue, destroying James, and sucking out the venom from James’ bite before it can infect Bella and turn her into a vampire. Bella is grateful to Edward, but at the school prom, she tells him that she wants to become a vampire. Although Edward loves her, he refuses, knowing the difficulties that such a life will bring her.