Vampires. They’re somewhat overrated, but a lot of good vampire plots feel underrated. Maybe it’s because I grew up watching these few movies and I am attached to them. Though, when you break down the plot, they’re pretty unique and stand out more than the typical vampire stereotype. Here are five of my favorite vampire movies to binge:
- Blade (1998)
- Underworld (2006)
- Ultraviolet (2006)
- 30 Days of Night (2007)
- Daybreakers (2009)
And as an honorable mention, Priest (2011).
Blade
Blade is iconic and will always be one of my favorites. Fun fact, if it wasn’t for the making of Blade, Marvel Studios would not have gotten its big start. It was a major success and it came as a surprise to me since nowadays Marvel focuses on Heroes like Spider-Man, Captain America, and so on. Moreover, Blade is a vampire-human hybrid who was born when his mother was bitten prior to going into labor. The first movie focuses on him hunting down the vampire who bit his mother and eventually they have a showdown. Whistler is a vampire hunter who taught Blade all he knows. He is like a father figure to Blade, and as Whistler says, “You’re like a son to me. I see you alone surrounded by enemies. It breaks my heart.” (Blade Trinity), since he is the one who took Blade off the streets when he was a young teen. I will leave the next two movies in the franchise up to you if you want to pursue watching them, but I can say that while sequels are not usually good or as good as the first, the Blade franchise is an exception to me. And if you are already a Blade fan, are you prepared for the new Blade reboot? Wesley Snipes will always be iconic as Blade for me, but I have some good expectations for Mahershala Ali’s Blade.
Underworld
Don’t take this the wrong way, but think Twilight but less annoying, in leather. It’s not much to go on, but the Underworld franchise is simply sexier, darker, and bloodier. The wolves, referred to as lycans in this universe, are on two legs, and very buff. The first movie features Selene, a vampire and trained killer, as the main character. The vampires and lycans are undergoing war, and Selene follows a man named Michael, that the lycans are interested in because of a trait in his genes that they want to experiment with. In short, Michael ended up being bitten by both Lucian and Selene and he turns into a hybrid which is because of his gene. Selene had gone against her coven’s rules to protect him from Lucian and the rest of the lycans, so she basically became rebellious all throughout and is on the run with Michael. From here on until the third movie, the plot is focused with Selene and Michael’s dilemma, and of course their love which thickens the plot similar to Twilight. Selene and Michael have a hybrid child, which is shown in the fifth and final movie. To not get confused, the third movie, however, goes into the history of the beginning when the war began between vampires and lycans.
Ultraviolet
I simply cannot let go of this movie. I have watched it so many times. In this movie, Violet (Milla Jovovich) is a character with a vampiric disease giving her unique superhuman abilities. Humans and the enhanced population are at a war with one another. Humans are afraid of their evolution and want them extinct. Violet unwillingly, ends up being the protector of a young boy who is apparently a threat to humanity. I really like the plot of vampirism in this movie since it’s in the perspective of a disease and there are clips of people shown wearing face masks, which gives it a more realistic spin to me. It may not sound like much, but simple unique plots such as these are sometimes some of the best.
30 Days of Night
Speaking of simple plots, the setting of 30 Days of Night takes place in a small town in Alaska where it is dark for an entire month. While some of the townspeople travel to another town during this time, some stay and are unfortunate enough when vampires decide to invade. That’s the general synopsis of the plot, but the vampires don’t have the stereotypical fangs. All of their teeth are pointy, so there will be plenty of bloody deaths. I won’t spoil anything, but the ending was very sad and it was enough to make me cry.
Daybreakers
I actually discovered this movie this year and I instantly really liked the story as well as the aesthetic of the film itself. This plot took me by surprise as it was different than what I was used to watching. You can kind of think it is similar to Ultraviolet, except everyone is vampires and they use humans as blood supply to feast on.
It’s unsurprising that the rich and powerful are still at the top even in this vampire society, which I found to be a really important communication aspect of society in general connecting to the real world. There are even vampires in the low class of this vampire society who you would immediately observe represent the homeless.
Another cool thing about this movie, is that they adapted so much to a vampire society that their cars are completely shaded and they drive seeing through virtual technology. Instead of sleeping at night, of course they sleep during the day and go through a normal day of work and the like at night.
In short, while people who became vampires from a disease that swept across Earth, human blood supply is running low, so decisions are being made where the supply that can be sold to citizens is limited. They even specify blood types, so apparently certain blood types taste better than others, but this is also important to the whole limitation thing set in place. You could probably compare this to any other product in the real-world that is also in the midst of low supply, so prices are higher or you can only buy a limited amount or both. Such as, due to the coronavirus, Clorox wipes.
Moreover, there was one man who was a vampire and had accidentally turned himself back to human when he was attempting suicide. The main character, Edward (original, I know) a hematologist who was working on making a blood substitute, meets him. The company Edward works for basically finds out about him being suspicious because of his brother who plays by the rules and ratted him out, and they end up going after him and the humans he is working with.
Priest
The reason I am adding this as an honorable mention is because it’s kind of a strange plot, but I really like this movie as well. It’s basically about vampire hunters, but they are called Priests. And yes, they are the kind of priest as you know in our world, but are also vampire hunters. In this world, we get the glimpse of religion being the higher up as government in the society, so the message in this movie is really neat as well. The vampires in this movie are more creature-like and they’re blind, so they hunt by sound. In this movie, it features Paul Bettany and Maggie Q as the main characters, which by cast are referred to as Priest and Priestess. The main antagonist turns out to be the first ever human-turned-vampire breed who is referred to as Black Hat played by Karl Urban, who was once a priest but was thought to have been dead the entire time after a mission gone awry when cleaning out a vampire cave. In short, Priest and Priestess are set out to rescue Priest’s niece, who was kidnapped by vampires, and the ending was a shocker to me. I live for plot twists.
Overall, if any of these titles were unfamiliar to you I hope you may look forward to checking them out! While my tastes may rely solely on childhood nostalgia, I hope these broaden your movie watch count nonetheless.
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