Paste's The 100 Best Vampire Movies of All Time

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By Mark Rozeman, Jim Vorel and Paste staff | September 26, 2022 | 11:11am

Existing in some form or another for thousands of years, these blood-sucking creatures serve as one of horror’s most creatively flexible monsters. Besides ghoulish monsters, they can be charmers, warriors, sex symbols, sources of comedy, nihilistic philosophers and aliens. Though mostly confined to horror, vampires have also bleed their way into everything from slapstick comedy to award-winning dramas. Oftentimes, these seemingly villainous predators can even serve as sympathetic protagonists or badass antiheroes. Moreover, vampirism itself has stood in as a natural metaphor for a great number of motifs—drug or alcohol addiction, sex, racism, xenophobia, religion, economic disparity and mental illness, to name just a few.
Popularized in folklore and books, the vampire were a natural fit for the silver screen. Today, Paste is counting down the 100 greatest vampire films that cinema has to offer. First—a few caveats. One, unlike Paste’s previous lists numbering film noirs) or cinematic robots, there are far fewer vampire movies that one could classify as being truly “Great.” This scarcity of quality means that some of the earlier entries might be more problematic than those in the latter segment. In such cases, we have ensured that each installment has something of worth to offer viewers, whether it’s a great visual style, a clever story twist, a standout performance or production design so laughably strange and half-baked that it veers into “so bad, it’s good” territory. The Paste writers have also strived to curate a diverse selection of choices. Granted, filmmakers like Mario Bava and institutions like England’s Hammer Film Productions will be making multiple appearances, but we’ve worked to bring in variety whenever possibly.

What’s more, though erotic horror is obviously a popular vampire subgenre, it’s one that we weren’t able to fully dive into without feeling as though we needed to have our souls cleansed afterwards. So if we’ve overlooked your favorite vampire-lesbian erotica, we apologize in advance.
Finally—no, none of the Twilight or Underworld films are on this list. (A stand had to be made.)

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  1. 100 new

    The Satanic Rites of Dracula

    1973 — a.k.a. Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride, in 0 top lists Check
  2. 99 new

    Dracula A.D. 1972

    1972 — a.k.a. Dracula Today, in 0 top lists Check
  3. 98 new

    Taste the Blood of Dracula

    1970, in 1 top list Check
  4. 97 new

    Et mourir de plaisir

    1960 — a.k.a. Blood and Roses, in 2 top lists Check
  5. 96 new

    Subspecies

    1991, in 0 top lists Check
  6. 95 new

    Kiss of the Damned

    2012, in 0 top lists Check
  7. 94 new

    Da Sweet Blood of Jesus

    2014, in 0 top lists Check
  8. 93 new

    House of Dark Shadows

    1970, in 1 top list Check
  9. 92 new

    The Little Vampire

    2000, in 0 top lists Check
  10. 91 new

    Dance of the Vampires

    1967 — a.k.a. The Fearless Vampire Killers, in 4 top lists Check
  11. 90 new

    The Wisdom of Crocodiles

    1998, in 0 top lists Check
  12. 89 new

    The Vampire Lovers

    1970, in 1 top list Check
  13. 88 new

    The Night Stalker

    1972, in 1 top list Check
  14. 87 new

    Countess Dracula

    1971, in 1 top list Check
  15. 86 new

    Midnight Son

    2011, in 0 top lists Check
  16. 85 new

    Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat

    1989, in 0 top lists Check
  17. 84 new

    The Lair of the White Worm

    1988, in 2 top lists Check
  18. 83 new

    Habit

    1982, in 0 top lists Check
  19. 82 new

    Daybreakers

    2009, in 1 top list Check
  20. 81 new

    Hotel Transylvania 2

    2015, in 2 top lists Check
  21. 80 new

    Love at First Bite

    1979, in 0 top lists Check
  22. 79 new

    I vampiri

    1957 — a.k.a. Lust of the Vampire, in 3 top lists Check
  23. 78 new

    The Night Flier

    1997, in 1 top list Check
  24. 77 new

    Scars of Dracula

    1970, in 0 top lists Check
  25. 76 new

    Vampires

    1998, in 1 top list Check
  26. 75 new

    Son of Dracula

    1943, in 1 top list Check
  27. 74 new

    Vamps

    2012, in 0 top lists Check
  28. 73 new

    The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires

    1974 — a.k.a. The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula, in 3 top lists Check
  29. 72 new

    Bloodsucking Bastards

    2015, in 0 top lists Check
  30. 71 new

    Dracula

    1979, in 1 top list Check
  31. 70 new

    Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter

    1974, in 1 top list Check
  32. 69 new

    Vampire Circus

    1972, in 1 top list Check
  33. 68 new

    Deafula

    1975, in 0 top lists Check
  34. 67 new

    Innocent Blood

    1992, in 2 top lists Check
  35. 66 new

    Hotel Transylvania

    2012, in 2 top lists Check
  36. 65 new

    Gokudô daisenso

    2015 — a.k.a. Yakuza Apocalypse, in 0 top lists Check
  37. 64 new

    Jakob's Wife

    2021, in 0 top lists
    Check
  38. 63 new

    I Am Legend

    2007, in 5 top lists Check
  39. 62 new

    Nadja

    1994, in 0 top lists Check
  40. 61 new

    Summer of Blood

    2014, in 0 top lists Check
  41. 60 new

    Terrore nello spazio

    1965 — a.k.a. Planet of the Vampires, in 0 top lists Check
  42. 59 new

    Buffy the Vampire Slayer

    1992, in 1 top list Check
  43. 58 new

    Waxwork

    1988, in 1 top list Check
  44. 57 new

    Lifeforce

    1985, in 1 top list Check
  45. 56 new

    Salem's Lot

    2004, in 0 top lists Check
  46. 55 new

    Vampire's Kiss

    1988, in 3 top lists Check
  47. 54 new

    The Omega Man

    1971, in 2 top lists Check
  48. 53 new

    Sangue per Dracula

    1974 — a.k.a. Blood for Dracula, in 2 top lists Check
  49. 52 new

    Salem's Lot

    1979, in 1 top list Check
  50. 51 new

    Rabid

    1977, in 1 top list Check
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Last updated on Sep 28, 2022; source