Keeping up with everyone who’s now referring to this month as ‘Augtober’, dreaming of the impending Halloween season, I thought I’d address this burning question. (At least to me, maybe not anyone else 😉)
I’ve been enthralled with vampire stories and movies ever since I first saw the superb Christopher Lee as Dracula.
The character of Dracula, imagined by Bram Stoker from folk tales of eastern Europe, is still the classic vampire. Tormented by the loss of his wife centuries before, he curses God and is transformed into an immortal being whose lust for blood knows no bounds – until he runs into Mina, the reincarnation of his dead love. How could he not pursue her, after centuries of longing and despair that turned him into the evil he never wanted to be?
It’s truly a timeless story, seen through the eyes of the people of 1800s England who try to stop him.
What is it about vampires that’s so fascinating? There are many theories: the “bad boy/girl” archetype, merging the danger of a monster with forbidden attraction; the allure of immortality and power, both physical and psychological; vampires as the ultimate ‘outsider’, who, while marginalized by society, can control and perhaps destroy humans at their will.
Most great vampire stories centre around those affected by the creature, or creatures, in their midst. Blood Ties, a little television movie airing in 1991, was the first film I saw that brought vampires into the modern world. In the movie, the vampires are sexy as well as elegantly bloodthirsty, living in wealth and status right under the noses of humans. A clan of them reside in an unusual stone mansion in Long Beach, California. They refer to themselves as ‘Carpathians’, and behave with the privileges of wealth: lavish parties, judges bribed when the unruly teenagers among themselves get into trouble. One of the clan, their troubleshooter Harry Martin (aka Harlevon Martinescu), becomes involved with a non-Carpathian Assistant D.A. at the same time that a crazed group of vampire hunters start trying to kill off the clan.
The Lost Boys, in which a down-and-out mother moves to Santa Carla, California with her sons to live with her father, a crazy-coot kind of fella who turns out to be surprisingly resourceful as the oldest son, Michael, becomes involved with a local band of young male vampires who are eating their way through the “murder capital of the U.S.”.
The original Fright Night, wherein a guy named Jerry moves into the creepy Victorian house next door to teenager Charlie Brewster and his mom. Charlie begins to suspect that Jerry is a vampire, but no one will believe him. He tries to enlist the help of late-night horror movie host Peter Vincent, played with panache by the inimitable Roddy McDowell, but it turns out that Peter is a fearless vampire hunter in promo only. Charlie becomes increasingly desperate as Jerry threatens to hurt both him and his mother if he reveals what he knows.
Another little TV movie that I’ve been trying to find again, Cold Hearts, is about a young gal who searched down vampires to become one, then finds the life isn’t even close to the romantic vision she’d entertained. It features very young Christian Campbell (brother of Neve) and Jon Huertas, of Castle fame, as two of the nasty vampires terrorizing a small town in New Jersey. Then Rob Floyd shows up as the mysterious loner who might be able to help. The trend of devilishly attractive vampires was emerging, as enticing as they are dangerous. It reinvigorated the vampire genre, providing so much twisted material for Horror – and Romance – writers!
Clearly I have something of a passion for vampire stories. Hubby and I even visited the terrific Castle Dracula Dublin, unfortunately now closed. Bram Stoker was born in Dublin, and there are still places you can visit, but we were sorry to hear of the demise of the Castle Dracula attraction, with lots of memorabilia and a really fun illusionist show about vampires.
Years ago we also visited the town of Whitby, on the northeast shore of England, where Dracula lands when he crosses the stormy sea from Europe in Bram Stoker’s novel.
My mother was even born in Carpathia.
So why haven’t I written a vampire novel yet, when it seems like an obvious idea?
Not sure, other than that a great plot hasn’t popped into my brain yet. There is a family of vampires in my Chaos Roads trilogy, and one of these days I will expand on one of them – or, someone who’s had a run-in with them (brain working on ideas as I write this). It might require a real trip to Genoa, Italy, where the father is originally from, for background material (the great excuse I keep presenting to my amused hubby). So stay tuned – there will be blood in the future!