Vampire Films - An Alternative Rental List

A Roster Of Great Vampire Flicks That Are Off The Bitten Path

Oct 26, 2009

Whether for a Halloween rental night or just to escape the onslaught of Twilight-related product, these films will prove that the veins of the genre can run deeper.

It's a cold, damp night with a gibbous, jaundiced moon on the horizon - an armful of grisly vampire films are clearly in order. Yet one quick glance around the floor at the local Bloodbuster store reveals that every last DVD copy of Twilight has been snapped up by thirsty young video vamps. What to do?

Luckily, here's a recently exhumed list of some slightly more obscure undead titles. Hunt them down Van Helsing style and be prepared to fall under their spell. Coming from the farthest reaches of the globe, these artistic (and occasionally bizarre) selections should satisfy the meat tooth of any fan of immortal, bloodsucking fiends.

Hailing from the frosty suburbs of Stockholm, this inventive horror-romance from director Tomas Alfredson delivers a darker edge to the notion of lovelorn, teenage vampires. Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) plays an emotionally lost 12 year old boy - a child of divorce who is constantly picked on and bullied by his peers.

Enter Eli (Lina Leandersson), a young (or is she?) girl who regularly haunts the courtyard jungle gym at Oskar's apartment complex. They form a bond over a Rubik's Cube and begin an innocent courtship despite the fact that Eli is more than likely an undead monster. Beautiful camerawork, an emotive score and some very clever writing (which reveals just how much animals hate vampires) make this "one" a must see!

Less a film about vampirism than horrific loss of innocence, this rarely seen art-house gem from British author/director Philip Ridley is one that will stick with the viewer. Seth Dove (Jeremy Cooper) is a young boy growing up in 1950's Idaho. He and his friends blissfully wade through a world of horrors - including child abduction, pedophilia, abortion and atomic radiation.

When Seth's brother Cameron (Viggo Mortensen) returns from the military and starts a relationship with the creepy-yet-beautiful woman next door (Lindsay Duncan as the oddly named Dolphin Blue), the lad becomes obsessed with her. He eventually realizes that a recent rash of child murders (and his brother's sudden loss of vitality) could be easily explained were she in fact a vampire.

Making a nice companion to Abel Ferrara's 1995 black and white "vampirism as heroin allegory" picture The Addiction, this film from Michael Almereyda makes the list for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's one of the few films to make use of Fisher-Price's PXL-2000 toy camcorder. Secondly, it comes across as a Hal Hartley vampire film. And thirdly, Peter Fonda plays Van Helsing. How cool is that?

Elina Löwensohn plays the titular vampiress, a brooding figure who haunts the streets of Manhattan to the tune of Portishead's Roads. Martin Donovan portrays the unlucky fellow whose girl Lucy (played by Galaxy Craze - no, really) has been chosen for some undead lesbian fun. Its deadpan style and overall "too cool for school" vibe may put off some, but at least stick around for David Lynch's cameo as a morgue attendant.

Director Kathryn Bigelow's vampire junkie western may have eluded audiences twenty years ago, but it's thankfully gathered a well-earned cult following since its theatrical release. Heroes' Adrian Pasdar stars as an Oklahoma farm boy sucked into the bloodthirsty vortex surrounding hottie drifter Mae (Jenny Wright) and her twisted surrogate family.

Fans of James Cameron's Aliens will delight to find a sort of cast reunion here, as the film's vampire clan includes Lance Henrikson (as a bad-ass Civil War veteran vamp!), Jenette Goldstein and a particularly groovy Bill Paxton. One of the genre's all-time best scenes occurs when these dusty walking corpses take over a local redneck bar. Finger lickin' good!

And now for something a little less polished. With cheap video cameras creating a glut of low-grade horror product, how fun is it to discover something like this hilarious 16mm Lee DeMarbre schlockfest? And for once, the film delivers all of the promises made by the delightfully cheesy poster art. Indeed, Jesus (Phil Caracas) has returned to Ottawa to stop a plague of vampire attacks on local lesbians.

Along the way he joins forces with masked wrestler Santos (Jeff Moffet) and chaste pleather-clad vixen Mary Magnum (Maria Moulton). Together they battle the toothy villain Johnny Golgotha (Ian Drisoll) and his mad scientist partner Dr. Praetorious (Alex Lifeson lookalike Josh Grace), mixing in some musical interludes along the way.

Chock full of laugh out loud moments, insanely quotable dialogue and an impossibly catchy faux-Journey rock anthem, it's enough to forget the film's occasional ineptitude and bargain-basement budget.

The copyright of the article Vampire Films - An Alternative Rental List in Horror Films is owned by Sam Hatch. Permission to republish Vampire Films - An Alternative Rental List in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.