Vampires... Real or Fake?

[Becky's Butt]

@xdeadpan:
1. I read the book and saw the film at about the same time. And Pitt wasn't annoying or whiny. He was perfect as Louis. Only thing htey added in the film was how he killed a slave and then burned the plantation. That scene was very powerful.

2. There's a very clear erotic element in the books. Between Lestat and Louis, Louis and Claudia and Armand and Louis.

3. What, you never heard the many shouts of "emo!!!" at Angel (froM Buffy), Louis or any other character who has emotions? It's a word without meaning when used like that.

[Weskers Flag]

Well, blood-drinking, burning is the sunlight vampires aren't impossible.
Though they are highly unlikely.

[Dan Corson]

I remember I had a brief flirtation with vampire lore when I was in middle school, but being the kid I was, it was restricted to, ehh, anime portrayals. I did see a Hammer film with Christopher Lee as Dracula though. Vampire Hunter D has always been one of my favorite OVAs. Plus there's this George Romero film that I've been meaning to see for a while called Martin. Definitely a more modern interpretation of "vampires." Thanks for the book recommendation.

VHD <3

I love Vampire Hunter D. The newer one's pretty awesome too.

[Alexia_Ashford]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler

Where "Dracula" comes from. There are Vampire stories going back way before him, though, so he's not the be all and end all of vampirism.

In terms of real "vampires", google "Sanguinarianism".

[aris13]

I think the legend of Dracula was started by a man named Drugula The Impaler, who lived somewhere in Europe (Transylvania?)

His name was Vlad Dracula and he was from Romania.

[kevstah2004]

Zombie = Dead Human + Piranha
Vampire = Dead Human + Bat
All in all the work of fiction just like Frankenstein.

[missvalentine]

I love Vampires, and always enjoy watching vampire films and movies.

I think the legend of Dracula was started by a man named Drugula The Impaler, who lived somewhere in Europe (Transylvania?). He used to impale is victims on a pole and drank there blood afterward.

And Ive heard stories about modern day vampires too. There's a City in the state below me where there was a reported Vampire living there. This guy sneaked into a young girls apartment while she was out, killed her pets and hung them up and drank all there blood, then hid in her closet and when she fell asleep he came out, killed her and drank her blood too. The police caught him later and he claimed that he was a real life Vampire. Freaky stuff.

And on the topic of Vampires, can we also talk about Werewolves and there origins too?

I heard that the legend of the werewolf was started by witches in the dark ages. Supposedly the head witch in a coven could transform herself into a large manlike wolf on certain occasions or to hunt down and kill any witches thinking of leaving the coven. The wolf was said to be unstoppable, could it be a werewolf?

[Bianca]

I quite agree.

And insulting Brad Pitt? Unforgivable.

And emo is just a general meaningless insult for hates who can't actually justify their opinions.
"Louis is emo1!!!"
Well..golly here I thought he'd be in high spirits after spending centuries murdering people against his will and being partly responsible for the person he loved being killed.

Emo can just be assumed to mean good characterization and depth when used by some people.

I’ve only read two of Anne Rice’s novels—Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat—and while I generally think she is given far too much credit for “reinventing” vampires, I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with her stories. It is more of her fanbase that is quite... disturbing. In fact, IWTV (the book) is quite enjoyable. I think the characters in the book are really interesting, and I was sincerely interested in what they went through, especially Claudia, the little girl. It’s been EONS since I’ve watched the movie, but from I remember, I think Brad Pitt made Louis far more “whiny” and “annoying” than how the character was portrayed in the book. As far as Tom Cruise’s portrayal of Lestat, well, I actually thought he did a decent job, but it’s not a performance I couldn’t have seen from another actor. I feel IWTV is too “Hollywood,” and I would’ve liked to see its outcome with lesser-known actors. Of course, I am not a fan of either actors (Pitt or Cruise), but whatev.

Anne Rice’s vampires are sort of a hit or miss. Some of her characters are genuinely pleasing, while others are ridiculous and laughable. I sort of think she should’ve made IWTV a stand-alone book instead of taking the characters on a 30-year ride with over 9000 novels.

However, I will say that her “version” of vampires is one of the few modern-day versions I actually accept, because she makes it realistic and truthful to the legends. For example, she doesn’t let her vampire characters engage in sex. It sincerely aggravates me when people allow vampires to still have intercourse, because it seems completely meaningless. The whole concept of “biting” someone in vampirism is completely akin to sex. The “biting” is penetration, pleasure, an exchange of fluids, and generally, a means to reproduce. Why would vampires be having conventional sex if they are no longer human and should no longer have human urges (especially when the alternative outlet is, as I said, akin to sex)?

And about the definition of “emo”… uh, whut?

[WeskerSexyCheez]

Vampires aren't fake, per say. They are fictional of course, but one of the reasons they have survived so long is because they have some basis in fact. Personally I find the factual side of vampires to be far more interesting than fiction... Especially because the factual side is about as far removed from Twilight as you can get. <_< Lot's of blood, gore and terror. I'd like to see somebody ending up with their head stuck on pole in a Meyer book...

And it's Ezerbet Bathory... I know Elizabeth is the English version of it and all,
but she was Hungarian, not English. If everybody used everyone's English names, what a boring world it would be.

[Becky's Butt]

Saying Dracula, a classic, is mainstream but then mentioning movies that star Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, plus movies that have vampires doing nothing but running around in leather and angsting is...good and preferable to bland horror.

I quite agree.

And insulting Brad Pitt? Unforgivable.

And emo is just a general meaningless insult for hates who can't actually justify their opinions.
"Louis is emo1!!!"
Well..golly here I thought he'd be in high spirits after spending centuries murdering people against his will and being partly responsible for the person he loved being killed.

Emo can just be assumed to mean good characterization and depth when used by some people.

[Darkmoon]

In a similar vein to zombies, I have to wonder about the legends of vampires. So many different cultures have different legends with different names of blood drinking, night dwelling former humans. There's no scientific evidence for there exsitence but it's hard to ignore so many cultures, isolated from each other, comming up with such similar legends.

[CODE_umb87]

Vampires like the one's seen in movies with glowing yellow eyes and fangs are definitely myth, but I do remember seeing a documentary once on TV about people who drank blood because of it's "good" taste and considered themselves to be part vampire.

As for the movies, I always had a thing for the more "fun" vampire films (The Lost Boys, Fright Night, Near Dark, Blade, Salem's Lot, etc...). Aside from Nosferatu the only Dracula film I really ever liked was Bram Stoker's Dracula, one of the best vampire movies ever. I've never really watched the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, I've been thinking about giving it a try though.

[Bianca]

^Sadly, Elizabeth Bathory's life isn't as interesting when you really delve into it and realize it's been sensationalized so much over the years and much of what brought you into researching her in the first place ends up being completely false. So disappointing. Although, she most certainly had a lot of impact on vampire legends, both the ones with lesbian undertones and otherwise.

But, yes, do read Carmilla. It's an easy read, but very short. I still read it from time to time, and I'm always blown away by how subtly erotic the whole thing is. :3

[GuardhouseMusic]

Carmilla, eh? Well I found a pdf and it's a quick read. Once I'm done with The Short-Timers this'll be worth it I'm sure. I've always heard that name in reference to vampire stories, if I'm not mistaken more of a connection to the countess Elizabeth Bathory. I think people speculated that she was a vampire. Something about bathing in her victims' blood.

[Bianca]

OMG! Vampryz r s0 realz! 1 day I am g0nna meet a b0i just like Edward Cullen!!!!!

Pffffft.

I'm not a huge fan of vampire stories, but I have read a lot of the older stuff, particularly the ones that center around vampire lesbianism, like Carmilla. Unfortunately, these days, those type of books/movies have really gone down in quality, as most feed into titillating heterosexual men rather than telling a good story. The Hunger is an example of that. *shudder*

Getting back on the real topic, though... I don't really believe in vampires. I think they are an interesting legend, but I'm not going to spend my life searching for them, but I am somewhat saddened by what they've become to the mainstream media. Thankfully, however, I'm not that invested in the legends to begin with, so I can't get myself to get really upset over it or whatever.