Your First Vampire Love?!

[Nix]

OK, For those that love Vampires.... when did you fall in love with Vampires? What was the show or book or film that sucked (haha) you in? It does not have to be the first Vampire you came across but the first one(s) you loved (for whatever reason).

For me... I know it's lame to some but my first Vampire love was David played by Kiefer Sutherland in The Lost Boys in 1987. I was 14. I had seen the old black and white movies and loved the idea of Dracula, but... I fell in love with David and The Lost Boys movie. Nothing was the same for me after this.

 

[Priceless]

I loved The Lost Boys too. But I think it must have been the Hammer horror films with Christopher Lee as Dracula that I first remember, and the silent film Nosferatu, which I only saw once as a kid but the images have remained with me forever. Lee was so suave and creepy, his early performances were mesmerising.

 

[Athena]

I think it was Gary Oldman's Dracula in 1992. He was such a screen presence, so full of sexuality and mystery, I'd never seen a vampire portrayed like that on screen before. I saw it well after it was released, so probably I was 13/14 (so going through puberty and having lots of questions) and I think the majority of those questions were regarding Gary Oldman! 😀 Luckily, I had older cousins I could ask....

I didn't see Lost Boys til after, but I felt very similarly about David. 😉

 

[Sternbeeere]

I was around 7 or 8 , read Bram Strokers Dracula for the first time and his female vampires really fascinated me. Then I wanted to have everything with and about vampires. Later, with 11 I saw interview with a Vampire and loved the movie as well, it was very deep and atmospheric.

 

[white avenger]

Bela Lugosi's "Dracula." The movie was made in 1931, so I first saw it on TV in the '50's, along with Karloff's "Frankenstein" and Chaney's "Wolf Man" on a Friday Night late movie show, "Big Movie Shocker." There was no CGI back then, and hardly anything in the way of actual special effects. Drac didn't even have real fangs. What Lugosi had was real acting talent. He could send a chill up your spike with the simple statement, "I never drink...wine," that outclassed all of the screaming victims and stage blood of all those who would come later.

 

[GwenRaiden]

It would probably have to be Louis Jourdan's portrayal of Count Dracula in the 1977 BBC adaptation.



I watched this version when I was about 11 or 12, with my dad. I'd watched all the old Hammer films with Christopher Lee previously, and even though I loved them, Jourdan's Dracula was subtle and menacing and not so in-your-face. He looked like a normal man, but something was amiss... Harker struggling and dragging his heavy luggage and the Count effortlessly picking it up and carrying it for him always stuck with me. I'd actually say this adaptation of Stoker's novel is maybe the most faithful to the book. (I personally couldn't stand Gary Oldman's Dracula, the theatrics were too over the top for me - Coppola made Dracula a Don Juan and mauled the whole story).

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Dear Draccy went down into the village one night and got the twins, I'd have liked to get their phone number, mmmmm.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I read both Dracula and Frankenstein back when I was in Grade 8. Dracula was excellent and very scary if you were Catholic (which I am not) but Frankenstein seemed to be OK until the epilogue where it seems like the author got tired of the story and ended it as quickly as she could.

Young Frankenstein (1974) was a great comedy with Madeline Khan singing "Sweet mystery of life at last I've found you".

I liked the 1979 version of Dracula starring Frank Langella - he played a very understated sexuality that worked very well. They had Laurence Olivier playing van Helsing - great acting in this movie.

 

[November]

Well my first vampire crush was Angel.


Buffy was scary to me at 12. I didn't get into the genre until after seeing Buffy.

Next would be interview with the vampire - C'mon, Brad Pitt!

 

[Fuffy]

Spike.

I thought that vampires were lame until I got into Buffy (Could be because I find both Edward and Damon lame...).

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Smile Time,
oh yea of such little faith for men who when they take off their shoes and socks at the beach on a sunny day become Mr Twinkle Toes.
As for Mr misty Damon Crow whose best thing is a private investigator brother, damn I've forgotten the short word for what Stefan is.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I think the movie that really cemented it for me was Blacula. I was probably 7 or 8 and until seeing Blacula, as best I can recall, my only experience was Lugosi's Dracula. Which was just boring. Blacula I had fun with and really bought into the whole vampire idea. Then after Blacula I saw Love At First Bite. The first 'scary' vampire I liked was Barlow from the TV show Salem's Lot. After Salem's Lot it was on. So many great vampire movies from the 70's.

 

[GwenRaiden]

The first 'scary' vampire I liked was Barlow from the TV show Salem's Lot. After Salem's Lot it was on. So many great vampire movies from the 70's.

How could I forget. Yeah. Mr. Barlow was and still is terrifying. Even when he's not on screen!

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

Seen Salem's Lot with my cousins when I was like 10. OMG! 😱 Still remember one of my cousins turning the lights out while group of us were in basement later. Everyone screamed.

 

[Sternbeeere]

Spike.

I thought that vampires were lame until I got into Buffy (Could be because I find both Edward and Damon lame...).

I liked Klaus and Kol though, but by then I had a long history of liking vampires.

 

[Taake]

Probably Louis from Interview with a Vampire. I love Louis, he'll always be a favorite of mine.


Before Louis there was some fascination but less love, because...

and the silent film Nosferatu, which I only saw once as a kid but the images have remained with me forever.

Lol, same here. I've seen it since, but even before that those images haunted me.

 

[Washburne]

Honestly I'm not sure I have one. I can't think of anyone right now at least. I guess shallow younger (not saying I'm less shallow now) didn't mind Vampirella but that had nothing to do that she was a vampire.

Please don't confuse not loving as hate. I can enjoy or like vampire characters. It's just as a whole I don't really care. The same goes for zombies and mummies. Werewolves I like more but that's surely because I like wolves.

 

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

I fell for Lestat de Lioncourt after reading Anne Rice's first three vampire novels.
And after the film "Queen of the Damned" I went completely MENTAL over Stuart Townsend's portrayal of Lestat. And the film's soundtrack was absolutely brilliant.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I remember seeing a little bit of Interview with a Vampire, Blade and Queen of the Damned and was not impressed. although I thought Blade was kinda a scary movie when I was like 12. Lol. Then I got into Buffy and so Spike was really my first vampire crush. Lol. Even though I was more into Angel the show then Buffy at the time. I just shipped Angel with Buffy and Spike with me. Lol. I'm still not really big on the vampire genre though. Some movies I like more than others. I think Buffy and Angel are the only vampire shows I watch.

 

[thrasherpix]

I saw Salem's Lot when I was 10. Interesting enough, I saw Return to Oz at about the same time and found that scarier, but when I watched both again as an adult I found Salem's Lot scarier. I didn't start having vampire nightmares (at least not common and really scary) until I was almost 12. I read Salem's Lot sometime after it and found the book very intense (more than the movie).

I saw Blade at the cinema when I was 15...being that I was a runaway at the time (as were others who saw it with me), I found it spoke to me very well so that I thoroughly enjoyed it (if in a somewhat symbolic sense), but I wouldn't see it again for years, and I don't even recall thinking about it much after (though I'm sure I must've, at least a little).

I did like the first 3 vampire books by Anne Rice when I was 16, but it was more for the story, the way the author just brought historical (and modern) scenes to life (though she quickly lost me after Queen of the Damned). I thought most of the main characters (including Louis and Lestat) were annoying, however, though fascinating storytellers (as books were told from their point of view).

It was about this time that I joined others in playing Vampire: the Masquerade, and this is what truly drew me in out of love rather than morbid fascination. (The players didn't like Buffy and I didn't watch it then, but I did see the televised version of V:TM and Buffy is so much better than that. Granted, I didn't know anyone who was a fan of the TV version of VTM, and if anyone was then they were probably unfamiliar with the game/story given how much they got really wrong.) Still, overall I prefer vampires to be demonic monsters rather than romantic interests. They can be sexy, but it should be part of what makes them scary, and I still prefer them as scary monsters.

That said, I can enjoy good guy vampires. I believe the first vampire hero I found compelling was Jander Sunstar that I first read about in Vampire of the Mists when I was 17.

I didn't start watching Buffy until I was in my 20s, after so many promoted it to me (some of them neopagans who took it more seriously than they should), and I quickly fell in love with it.