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Kip Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 March 2011
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | 1
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Over the last couple of decades, we have been seeing more and more
sympathetic, and even downright good, vampires. The first one I can
remember is from Marvel Comics, in 74, I believe; Hannibal King, the
vampire detective who refused to bite and drink from people. But is
he the first?
Vampires used to be at best vermin and at worst, pure evil. Then they
became suave and sexy. When did the idea that vampires could be
good guys start? (Or at least sympathic?)
Edited by Kip Lewis on 15 January 2013 at 7:54pm
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John Byrne
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | 2
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Vampires used to be at best vermin and at worst, pure evil. Then they became suave and sexy. When did the idea that vampires could be good guys start? (Or at least sympathic?)•• Lugosi as Dracula, on the stage and later in films, gave us the suave, tuxedo'd Count who was a goodly distance from Stoker's original. The notion of vampire's being "sexy" begins there, so far as I have ever been able to determine. From suave and sexy to sympathetic isn't a very long haul.
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Stephen Churay
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 8:26pm | IP Logged | 3
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Lugosi as Dracula, on the stage and later in films, gave us the suave,
tuxedo'd Count who was a goodly distance from Stoker's original. The
notion of vampire's being "sexy" begins there, so far as I have ever
been able to determine.
From suave and sexy to sympathetic isn't a very long haul.
======
I always saw the suave and sexy as a way to ensnare his victims. Out
side of a few comedies, I don't think we really started to see the
sympathetic vampire actually become a big deal until INTERVIEW
WITH A VAMPIRE is published in 1976. For me, that's the beginning
of the end. Once the movie from that book came out in the nineties,
the vampire as a villain was done. Still, it took a special kind of weird
to make them sparkly in sunlight.
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Stephen Robinson
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 8:54pm | IP Logged | 4
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STEPHEN: I always saw the suave and sexy as a way to ensnare his victims. Out
side of a few comedies, I don't think we really started to see the
sympathetic vampire actually become a big deal until INTERVIEW
WITH A VAMPIRE is published in 1976. For me, that's the beginning
of the end. Once the movie from that book came out in the nineties,
the vampire as a villain was done. Still, it took a special kind of weird
to make them sparkly in sunlight.
***
SER: I agree. As JB pointed out, Lugosi was the start of the "suave" vampire... though even with Christopher Lee and later Frank Langella, the character is decidedly a villain.
Rice gave us vampires as "rock stars" and took it further by making the perceived antagonist of her first book the clear anti-hero of later novels.
BUFFY was interesting in that the vampires were intended to be grotesque (the inhuman "vamp" face) and the first season villain The Master was more Nosferatu than Dracula.
Angel was the supposed "exception" and himself similar to the vampire from FOREVER KNIGHT. But I think Spike might have shifted things in a very bad direction by being "too cool."
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Neil Lindholm
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 8:56pm | IP Logged | 5
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I found the movie "Thirty Days of Night" refreshing. Nasty, brutal, ugly vampires. Not one of them was a vegetarian or sparkled in the sunshine.
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Kip Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 9:03pm | IP Logged | 6
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So, so far Hannibal King is the first, in '74.
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Glen Keith
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | 7
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The "sexy" vampire probably first showed up in the character of Lord Ruthven in John Polidori's "The Vampyre", published in 1819. Ruthven is also usually credited as the first aristocratic vampire. The first sexy female vampire is probably Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmillia, from the short story of the same name, published in 1872.
Baring a few B-movies and the like, the first sympathetic portrayal of a vampire that I'm aware of might be Barnabas Collins from "Dark Shadows".
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Ronald Joseph
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | 8
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Lugosi as Dracula, on the stage and later in films, gave us the suave, tuxedo'd Count who was a goodly distance from Stoker's original. The notion of vampire's being "sexy" begins there, so far as I have ever been able to determine. From suave and sexy to sympathetic isn't a very long haul. ***
BUFFY was interesting in that the vampires were intended to be grotesque (the inhuman "vamp" face) and the first season villain The Master was more Nosferatu than Dracula.
So, it's a pretty safe bet who the first was. How about some of the others that followed?
I never watched BUFFY the show, but of course, I'm reminded of BUFFY: THE VAMPIRE SLAYER the movie, which in turn reminds me of two "high school/teen vampire" movies that had a sympathetic vampire in the lead:
1) Jim Carrey's Jeremy in ONCE BITTEN
2) Robert Sean Leonard's Mark in MY BEST FRIEND IS A VAMPIRE.
And although he was a Spider-Man villain, hasn't Morbius walked the line between good and evil for years?
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Glen Keith
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 9:36pm | IP Logged | 9
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Actually, given a little more thought, the first sympathetic portrayal of a vampire may just be Varney the Vampire from the 1845 "penny dreadful" of the same name. Varney is depicted as despising his condition, even as he's a slave to it. The novel ends with him committing suicide to end his blood lust.
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Michael Todd
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| Posted: 15 January 2013 at 11:21pm | IP Logged | 10
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Barnabus from the Dark Shadows soap opera was a reluctant vampire who hated the curse that had changed him and underwent experimental treatment to try to become human.
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Bill Conway
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| Posted: 16 January 2013 at 12:13pm | IP Logged | 11
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Barnabus only became "good" when he became human. While he was undead, Barnabus had no problems helping himself to snack on the local townsfolk, killing off anyone who discovered his secret, or trying to make his current love interest into a vampire. While he did protect the Collins family, as a vampire, from external threats - one could argue that he only did this for his own self-interests.
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Anthony J Lombardi
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| Posted: 16 January 2013 at 2:11pm | IP Logged | 12
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Lord Ruthven by John William Polidori was probably what led to the stage version of Dracula. As far as his portrayal. Hamilton Deane was the first to give Dracula his recognized look but as was pointed out Bela Lugosi's sauve and sexually charged performance on stage was defining. I believe the first reluctant vampire would be Barnabas Collins.
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