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Eight Evil Vampires

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Scene from Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr (1931)

Note that I didn’t say sexy vampire or funny vampire or really cool vampire. The vampire film has mutated over the years into all sorts of things that don’t interest me very much. That’s why the following list is so short and why there are only two films on it made since 1970. As with yesterday’s witch/warlock post, the entries below are in alphabetical order by title:

  1. Blood and Roses (1960). Lesbian vampires. French title: Et Mourir de Plaisir. Directed by Roger Vadim based on a great novelette by Sheridan LeFanu entitled Carmilla.
  2. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) with Gary Oldman. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
  3. Dracula (1931) with Béla Lugosi. Directed by Tod Browning.
  4. Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966) with Christopher Lee. My favorite of the Hammer Draculas, directed by Terence Fisher.
  5. Horror of Dracula (1958) with Christopher Lee. The original Hammer Dracula. Directed by Terence Fisher.
  6. Nosferatu (1922) with “Max Schreck” (real name unknown). Directed in Germany by F. W. Murnau. Truly terrifying.
  7. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979 with Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani. Almost a shot-by-shot remake of Murnau’s version. Directed in Germany by Werner Herzog.
  8. Vampyr (1932). Directed in Denmark by Carl Theodor Dreyer. A must-see classic.

Since this is Halloween, I thought I would send you to some earlier postings on the subject of horror literature and film:

  • Ten short horror stories that have impressed me. For some reason, I’ve found that short stories are particularly good at conveying a sense of terror.
  • Thirteen horror films that I love.
  • A special nod to my favorite horror filmmaker, Val Lewton.

A Physicist Disproves the Existence of Vampires

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Bela Lugosi as Dracula

Bela Lugosi as Dracula

It was bound to happen. According to University of Central Florida physics professor Costas Efthimiou, there is a simple mathematical argument against the existence of vampires. I saw it on Livescience.Com. (If you follow this link, click on slide #5 for the reference.)

According to Efthimiou, there were 536,870,911 human beings on January 1, 1600. Let us assume that the very first vampire came into existence on that day and bit one person a month so that he could sustain himself with his victim’s blood and change his victim into another vampire. By February 1, 1600, there would be two vampires; by March 1, four vampires; by April 1, eight vampires. If vampirism spread at that rate, it would take only two and a half years for the entire population of the earth to be converted into undead bloodsucking beasts. If that happened, there would be no one left to feed on.

Even if you played with the equation a bit and allowed vampires to feed less often, the constant doubling of the vampire population would have consumed the entire non-vampire population rapidly.

In the end, the proof resembles the story of the ancient king and the grains of wheat on the chessboard. If you’re interested in pursuing that tale, here is a charming re-telling of it on a Canadian website.

So when you go to bed tonight, you needn’t festoon all the entryways with wreaths of garlic. Instead, just eat the garlic. It’s good for you!