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Column # 10: The Ultimate Vampire

Vampire, vampyr, nosferatu... call them what you will. These hell-born, blood-sucking psychopaths have played an illustrious part in cinematic history, in what seems a genre forever destined to be rehashed with all-new twists to the ‘original’ legend.

I adore good vampire films. I could watch good vampire films all day. But for me in my own humble opinion, there are only a few actors who have succeeded in portraying these lords of the undead with the wicked passion and snarling malevolence fitting to such a creature.

So, I hereby start the countdown of my favourite 5 coffin-dwellers, the films I saw them in and just why they earned my respect.

5. Reggie Nalder as Kurt Barlow (Salem’s Lot, 1979)

Now firstly, I fully understand that this may be an unpopular choice – ok, it isn’t a great movie. We all have a few films that we love for one reason or another, which we may not have given the time of day to had they not inspired us or captured our imaginations somehow.

When I was 14, a friend and I rented Salem’s Lot from the local video rental shop (it was an 18 certificate so shhhh!) and took it home, eagerly anticipating a good old-fashioned scaring.

My young friend was starting to get twitchy when Barlow was, unbeknown to the van driver, being transported to Salem. When “the elusive Mr. Barlow” did make his presence known, my yellow-bellied friend jumped off his seat and fled.

Determined to be braver than my now-half-way-back-to-the-security-of-his-own-home pal, I sat down to watch the film the whole way through on my own. I enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps more so because of the fact that this film opened the door for me to Stephen King’s fantastic array of horror books, of which I had no previous knowledge.

Kurt Barlow is very similar to, and arguably based on Count Orlok in Nosferatu – bald, hideously ugly, doesn’t say an awful lot and is very, very creepy. Indeed, the scene where Barlow breaks into the jail to drink the blood of a prisoner is particularly unnerving and god only knows how it manages to omit such blood-curdling growls and hisses.

It always amuses me when I think about how such an ungodly creature could be given a name like Kurt Barlow. I love the presence Barlow has. Unlike a lot of other vampires, this dude kicks ass and unflinchingly manages to crush a crucifix in his hand, whilst locked in a battle of “faith” with a holy man.

Nalder also gets respect from me for the simple fact he was about 72 when he played this part. Ok, you wouldn’t know it due to the camouflage of blue make-up and contact lenses, but man, he’s good!

4. Max Schrek as Count Orlok (Nosferatu, 1922)

The idea of having a vampire film with no sound would have never appealed to me until a few Christmas’ ago, when, stuffed with too much turkey and wine, I threw myself on the couch, luckily, just in time for a network premiere of Nosferatu (with all new musical score).

This monochrome masterpiece is an early film adaptation of Stoker’s book, although alternative names and locations where chosen to avoid legal wrangles with Stoker’s relatives.

Schrek plays an extremely ethereal and ghoulish vampire in Orlok (this film’s ‘Dracula’) and I was very impressed by the way he manages to be so effective in the minimal gestures and movements he purveys.

The Count’s castle has a magnetizing sense of realism about it which, combined with Orlok’s creepy looks and gestures, adds to a splendid interpretation. Would it have worked with sound? Well, I cannot honestly answer that. For me that’s all part of the charm.

3. Gary Oldman as Dracula (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 1992)

Gary Oldman will forever occupy a position of deference with me for his fantastic portrayal of Dracula in what I found overall to be an enjoyable yet uninspiring affair. I felt that the film suffered somewhat from taking too much of a love story direction and secondly, just being too Hollywood.

That said, the method acting and fine vocal-techniques employed by Oldman pay off fantastically, and much to his credit, he manages to make a number of strong performances by his A-list co-stars pale into insignificance (I must state in a sort of cathartic rant that Keanu Reeves cannot do an English accent – like, no way, Dracula dude).

The portrayal of the Count in this film is one of a sad and forlorn, hopeless creature who seems at total odds with himself (“look what your God has done to me”). Unable to cast off the emotional shackles clapped on him during his human life following the death of his beloved Elisabeth, Dracula vents his frustrations with absolute bloodlust and the snaring of the beautiful Mina.

It is great to see Dracula changing form many times throughout the film - from old, to young, to vapour, to beast, to wolf, to bat, to rats – all done splendidly, adding an extra dimension to the character’s persona.

Such is the quality of acting by the lead man, when Mina plunges a knife into the crippled Count’s body towards the close, Oldman’s brilliantly despairing performance always comes close to bringing a tear to my eye.

2. Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla/Mircalla Karnstein (Vampire Lovers, 1970)

Loosely based on Joseph Sheridan La Fanu’s mini-epic Carmilla, this flick sees the seductive Pitt as the wellspring of a number of ghastly murders.

Young girls especially are seduced by Carmilla’s charm and beauty, only then for the vampire to typically drain them of blood and keep under her spell.

Indeed like in Oldman’s performance, there is a sense of despair and inner turmoil in Pitt’s character giving an almost human side to the character in which can somewhat relate to.

Ingrid Pitt, for me, plays one of the best female vampires to have graced the silver screen. She fits fantastically into the horror genre full stop. I especially enjoyed her performance in Countess Dracula. Her look and manner are befitting of the era and her cunning and deceit typical of the archetypal vampire.

I'm going to resist using a "suck" joke here...

1. Christopher Lee as Dracula (Horror Of Dracula, 1956)

Well, here he is, Christopher Frank Carandini Lee – my number one and ultimate vampire of all time.

The first film I saw Lee in was Taste The Blood Of Dracula as an 11-year old boy back in 1989. As mentioned in my biog, it scared me silly! In fact, even to this day, if I watch Taste... it evokes the same feelings of fear that I got as back then, watching Dracula command a number of young women to exact his terrible revenge on the men who destroyed his servant.

Horror Of Dracula was to be the third Hammer Dracula epic that I would watch some 3 or 4 years later, ahead of Taste… and also, Dracula: Prince Of Darkness.

To be absolutely honest, Lee’s performance blew me away. One minute he’s the charming and debonair aristocrat, welcoming Harker to his home; the next he’s bursting into a room, eyes all a flame, blood dripping from his mouth like a wild animal; then he’s stealing off to lay low in the village as he bides his time, looking to take Mina for his own. Wow.

The ending too blew me away. Even though I had seen part of the finale in the opening sequence of Prince Of..., it was only by watching this in entirety that I could appreciate the chase and the surmountable tension leading to the climax.

It sometimes mars a great career when an actor goes on to star in a number of second-rate sequels. Not for me! I enjoyed the whole series to be perfectly honest – yes, you at the back, even Dracula A.D. 1972!

Christopher Lee can boast of a hugely successful career and I doubt anyone will ever bring as much to the character of Dracula as Lee did, and indeed, still does. You may hold great contempt for me in the fact that I have not included Bela Lugosi in my list.

Call it a generation thing, call it personal taste (you’d perhaps argue lack of), but there was only ever one person in contention for the number 1 spot here. Christopher Lee, I humbly salute you. -Stu Miller, 5/15/06