From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn is a crime thriller that stealthily turns into a sleazy vampire lockbox midnighter. It’s got everything from Salma Hayek delivering a blistering dance number to overwhelming vampire numbers as Titty Twister strippers tear apart drunk patrons. What starts as an insidiously dark kidnapping scenario quickly becomes a guns-blazing horror brawler with Mexican influences and an exciting approach to monster mania. George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, and more turn to holy water balloons and jackhammer stake machines to exterminate vampires with extreme unholy violence — with an emphasis on practical effects by some of the best in the business.
Stake Land (2010)
The feral intensity of Stake Land can feel like a direct response to Twilight, as this film was released only about two years after the infamous young adult vampire romance. Jim Mickle and co-writer Nick Damici (who also stars) approach vampires with an apocalyptic lens, where survivors now wander infested territories trying to find safe havens like in Zombieland — except trade humor for beastly tension. Damici’s playing a vampire hunter who takes a mentee under his wing, teaching him tricks while navigating vampire hordes who thrash, gnash, and rip at throats. Dystopian wasteland vibes are paramount, and action is relentless, making Stake Land one of the more effective responses to vampires as love interests in a post-Twilight world.
Thirst (2009)
Park Chan-wook’s take on vampires, taboos, romance, and shame is a knockout. Characters all thirst for something, which Chan-wook explores through conventional and alternative vampire experiences. A Catholic priest turns vampire, and a disenchanted wife seeks forbidden everlasting romance in her own grasp of change — what happens next is artfully unhinged as chaos welcomes kidnappings, killings, and contemplations of eternal imprisonment. Chan-wook delivers thoughtful vampire riffage that gets dangerously creative. Ending shots in horror don’t get much better than Thirst, either.
Afflicted (2013)
With rankings come controversy, and placing Afflicted this high on this will certainly bring questions. Here’s the point — Derek Lee and Clif Prowse’s Afflicted is a feral evolution into found footage territories that blends the worlds of don’t-look-down parkour action and bloodsucking salvation. Lee stars as the “afflicted” friend who’s turning into a vampire while Prowse aids in his transformation, as the filmmakers use GoPro perspectives to give a ridealong experience into vampirism. Between Lee’s physical performance as he contorts in agony to the high-flying acrobatics as Lee’s monster flees from pursuers, Afflicted is one of the most innovative vampire flicks of the 2000s.
