It’s fitting that a monster who doesn’t age would remain relevant in movies. Going back to the original Nosferatu in 1922, vampires and cinema have had a long, shared history. The box office success of 2025’s Sinners proves that the blood-suckers still have a way of drawing audiences, even after the numerous interpretations of the classic horror movie villain.
Within the last 100 years, vampire movies of all different types of styles have graced the big screen, with some of them offering original takes that no one could have expected. With that in mind, we’ll take a look at the ten most original vampire movies of all time, ranked by a combination of originality and overall execution.
10
‘Renfield’ (2023)
Count Dracula always gets top billing, but the horror action comedy Renfield gives his familiar a chance to shine. Nicholas Hoult stars as R. M. Renfield, the immortal servant to Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage), who is beginning to feel job burnout. Anxious to part ways with his undead master, Renfield attempts to create a new life for himself, but Dracula isn’t as receptive to the idea.
There’s no argument being made that Renfield is a piece of revolutionary cinema, but it is an outside-the-box idea that plays with the classic concept of Count Dracula in a light-hearted way. Horror takes a backseat to a focus on action comedy, but Hoult is great as an emotionally shattered Renfield, and it should come as no surprise that Cage reliably chews scenery in between chewing people. At roughly 90 minutes, Renfield is a fast and fun popcorn movie for someone wanting an alternative to serious vampire flicks.
9
‘Lifeforce’ (1985)
Vampires swap out coffins for spaceships in director Tobe Hooper’s genre-splicing epic Lifeforce. After a team of astronauts discovers a trio of preserved alien life forms, a course is set back for Earth to study them. Unfortunately, none of the top scientists are prepared for the seductive powers of the aliens, who feed on a person’s life essence before turning them into uncontrollable zombies.
After directing horror classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist, Hooper went all out to make an epic disaster movie with naked vampires causing havoc. When measuring vampire movies purely by their originality, the concept of space vampires that cause crippling lust qualifies easily and is the kind of idea that makes or breaks studios. In this case, Lifeforce failed to make back its budget and played a factor in Cannon Pictures’ shutting its doors, but the ambitious movie has developed a cult following in the years since.
8
‘The Lost Boys’ (1987)
If you hear someone playing the saxophone in the dead of night, it can only mean vampires are close by. The Lost Boys tells the story of brothers Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim), who move to the town of Santa Carla with their mother, Lucy (Dianne Wiest). When a clan of motorcycle-riding vampires tries to initiate Michael into their group, Sam and his new friends fight to save his soul.
A few years before audiences would see a meta-take on slashers with Scream, director Joel Schumacher shook up the vampire genre with youthful sex appeal, self-aware humor, and an MTV-influenced visual style. Core aspects of a vampire’s mythology, such as the need to be invited in, were still honored, but the overall package was presented with a modern sensibility that would appeal to a younger demographic. The Lost Boys was a late ’80s horror hit, and its influence was felt in later flicks like the 1992 horror comedy Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
7
‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ (1996)
Fugitive brothers and their hostages become an unlikely team of vampire slayers in the grindhouse action horror mashup From Dusk Till Dawn. Bank-robbing brothers Seth (George Clooney) and Richie (Quentin Tarantino) escape to Mexico using a family of hostages as cover, and they wait for their contact at an agreed-upon meeting spot of a seedy strip club. When the club is revealed to be a vampire’s nest, the group must survive the night against an army of the sharp-toothed undead.
If a viewer who was unfamiliar with From Dusk Till Dawn sat down to watch it, having never seen a trailer and knowing anything about what was to come, the genre twist from crime movie to vampire horror–action would have been mind-blowing. From Dusk Till Dawn doesn’t blend the two genres; it abruptly shifts tones in a way that is rarely seen in a movie, let alone one starring a future movie star.
6
’Near Dark’ (1987)
A vampire movie with a unique, Western aesthetic, Near Dark has garnered a cult following with its take on classic horror conventions. Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) falls for the mysterious and intriguing Mae (Jenny Wright), but their budding relationship takes on darker stakes when she bites him, turning him into a vampire. Resisting his new urges, Caleb finds himself at odds with Mae’s family of psychopaths, who have no hesitation in killing him or his family.
Near Dark isn’t simply setting a vampire story in the rural South; it pairs each horror trope with a romanticized Western concept. It’s a white-hat-versus-black-hat story, and this time, the gang of outlaws is a band of soulless monsters who travel in a van with shaded windows. Near Dark balances romance and horror well, especially with Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton giving it their all as smiling psychopaths with infinite power.
5
‘Shadow of the Vampire’ (2000)
Shadow of the Vampire proposes that there was a sinister untold story behind the making of a legendary vampire movie. The film follows a fictional account of director F. W. Murnau’s (John Malkovich) efforts to make the film Nosferatu. In order to create the most terrifying film possible, Murnau finds a legitimate vampire in the form of the impossible-to-control Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe), whom he passes off as a committed method actor.
Shadow of the Vampire is a bold idea executed masterfully, and it’s able to be enjoyed by film buffs and newcomers alike. A large part of this is due to Dafoe’s Oscar-nominated performance as Shreck, who is able to look like a feral animal in one scene before slipping into a moment of painful vulnerability that hints at a sliver of humanity still knocking around in his deformed body. Shadow of the Vampire is horror, satire, and a captivating exploration of obsession without missing a beat.
4
‘Cronos’ (1992)
Guillermo del Toro made a strong first impression with his debut feature film Cronos. Elderly Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi) finds his quiet life as an antique dealer thrown upside down when he comes across an ancient, mechanical golden scarab that grants the gift of a youthful, eternal life. However, the scarab also makes Jesús crave blood, and while he adjusts to his vampiric changes, he must fend off a rich, dying businessman who will stop at nothing to have the device for himself.
Cronos takes the basic structure of a vampire story and refashions it into something that looks and sounds more like a modern-day fable. So while concepts like the need to consume blood to stay youthful are central to the narrative, Jesús is a loving husband and grandfather grappling with a discovered curse, and not a monster who is willfully making the decision to take lives. Cronos is heartfelt and tragic, an inventive take on vampirism that cemented del Toro as a visionary with a bright future.
3
‘What We Do in the Shadows’ (2014)
What We Do in the Shadows finally answers some of the biggest questions about vampires, like “how do they distribute daily chores when living together?” The mockumentary comedy follows a group of vampires living as roommates together in Wellington, New Zealand. The crew grabs insightful interviews from vampires Viago (Taika Waititi), Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), while capturing what life as a vampire looks like in the modern age.
Endlessly creative and charming, What We Do in the Shadows is a modern masterpiece of horror comedy. Every scene feels fresh, and the chemistry between the undead roommates works to the extent that the movie would be entertaining as one long take of them bickering about minor complaints. Through well-crafted world-building and ingenious comedic rifts on vampire mythology, What We Do in the Shadows is a rewatchable gem.
2
‘A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night’ (2014)
Image via Vice Films
A beautiful and haunting story about isolation and reclaiming power, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is an incredible indie horror film. In the twilight hours of an Iranian town, a young woman (Sheila Vand) in a chador observes people from a distance, carefully choosing who she feeds on as a vampire. After a chance meeting with Arash (Arash Marandi), a young man with a gentle spirit, she reluctantly forms a relationship with him that gives them both much-needed companionship.
There’s a mysterious, dreamlike quality to A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night that makes it a mesmerizing film to watch. The black and white cinematography is beautiful from start to finish, and the inky shadows create an aura around Vand, who delivers an amazing performance. The budding romance between the vampire and Arash is a combination of sweet, awkward, and intense that feels dangerous and genuine at the same time, and the ending scene leaves you wondering what will possibly happen next.
1
‘Let the Right One In’ (2008)
Let the Right One In is one of the best vampire stories of the 21st century, approaching the material from a perspective rarely explored. The movie tells the story of lonely Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) and his new friend, the mysterious Eli (Lina Leandersson), a girl who has just moved into his building. Although Eli looks like someone his age, her mannerisms and odd behavior hint at a darker truth to what she really is.
Not many coming-of-age stories have as many dead bodies in them as Let the Right One In. Oskar and Eli are opposites in every possible way, but from their mutual isolation and loneliness, the two form a bond that goes deeper than friendship and guarantees unwavering devotion from the boy. Let the Right One In is a quiet and intimate film, so when the moments of brutal violence happen, they cast an uncomfortable shadow on Oskar and Eli’s relationship, leaving their surface-level innocent pairing open for interpretation.