Vampires have been know for centuries in different cultures as a blood-sucking creatures; souls of dead persons superstitiously believed to come from the grave and wander about by night sucking the blood of persons asleep, causing their death. This superstition was very strong in parts of Eastern Europe, especially in current Hungary and Romania. The term vampire firstly occurred in the early 18th century, before vampires were known under different names given them in particular societies. Form the folklore beliefs the motif of a vampire entered the culture and was presented in literature, art and also in movies. Vampires gained popularity and people, since ages, wanted to became like them and live their lives. All over the world there are subcultures based on vampirism where people claim to be vampires and live according to the rules of a vampire life. This interest has caused the image of a vampire change considerably from the blood-sucking monster to a tragic hero who has to deal with the pain of lost life. Popular culture provides viewers with a constant influx of vampire movies and TV series just to quench their hunger for new stories. A “new” vampire is the type of supernatural being desired in today’s pop culture but not always. At the beginning of the vampire movies there were no vampires. The first movies, especially The Vampire by Robert G. Vignoli from 1913 presented vamps not vampires. The whole image of the vamp was based on a poem written by Rudyard Kipling The Vampire from 1897. Vamps were females, famous femme fatales, who seemed to have supernatural powers used to seduce men. Vamps were said to have been beautiful, mysterious and have the ability to hypnotize a man and suck his life of him in order to leave him empty. The picture of a real vampire for the first time was presented in Nosferatu, a movie directed by F. W. Murnau in 1922. The film was unlicensed version and being too strongly based on the Bram Stoker’s novel entitled Dracula the names had to be changed so a vampire became a nosferatu and Count Dracula became Count Orlok. The main character, Count Orlok played by Max Schreck, was nothing like Dracula. He was a hideous creature with long clutches therefore his appearance was associated with death. He did not turn his victims into vampires but killed them instantly. This type of character did not cause any positive feelings, he was a deadly weapon to kill and people were scared of him. Max Schreck’s acting in that movie was so great that he was thought to have been a real vampire but it was not confirmed. What is interesting that on the base of Nosferatu there was a number of other characters who were given traits after the Orlok. In some movies nosferatu were coexisting with vampires as a different species. After Nosferatu Universal Pictures made in 1931 a licensed version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula under the same title. The main character Count Dracula, played by Béla Lugosi, is by far the most well known and popular vampire of our times. Tall and handsome vampire wearing a long cloak did not make people scared. Although his manner, gestures and accent could have caused unpleasant feelings many viewers found him eloquent and interesting. Unlike other creatures Dracula was not a blood thirsty animal that wanted to scare the victim. The archetypical image of Dracula was created by a numerous other films taking Dracula as their main character. Mainly the Hammer Films Production in 1958 made a remake of Horror of Dracula with Christopher Lee as a main character. Christopher Lee gave Dracula the traits of an aristocrat not to be confused with Lugosi. The Hammer Productions contrasted aristocratic behaviour of Dracula with his violent attacks to show his nature. Even more striking was picturing a vampire as a sexual object. Although Lugosi was the pioneer in showing hidden erotic context, Lee mastered it to perfection. The way he bit women in their necks connected vampirism with forbidden love. The sexual context was shown also in the 1970’s when a new branch of vampire movies was created: lesbian vampirism. Lesbian vampirism has its roots in Joseph Sheridan le Fanu’s novella Carmilla about the love of a female vampire for a young woman. Even in the Dracula’s Daughter (1936) were given the first hints of lesbian attraction in a vampire film, when the main character fed on an attractive girl she invited. Another aspect of vampire love was shown in the Interview with the vampire from 1994. The film was based on the book written by Anne Rice telling the story of Louis (Brad Pitt) who agreed to be transformed into a vampire by Lestat (Tom Cruise). The Interview with the vampire shows completely different picture of vampires, who were very like humans. Louis was different than bloody Lestat, he did not want to kill people and regretted his decision connected with becoming a vampire. Describing the story of his life Louis talked about his “inner” problems and about his friendship with Lestat. The two vampires are bonded with each other. Some people see a homosexual context in the history of Louis and Lestat but in the movie this conception is not pointed directly but there are slight allusions. In the Interview with the vampire the vampire was shown as a tragic hero, young, handsome and immortal but on the other hand cautious of his vampire nature. Putting traits of melodrama with bloody scenes of a horror movie was a new convention in the vampire movies and created a new trend to which belong movies and TV series of an “after Twilight era”. True Blood is an American television series created and directed by Adam Ball in association with HBO on the basis of The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. The action takes place in Bon Temps, a little town in Louisiana where vampires live with humans. Due to inventing a synthetic blood by Japanese scientists, vampires decided to come out and reveal their presence. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a telepath waitress who hears other people’s thoughts which is tiring and frustrating for her. She works at Merlotte’s- bar owned by Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) a shapeshifter who is secretly in love with her. One day at the bar she meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome vampire who has returned to Bon Temps after the death of his last living relative. As she cannot hear his thoughts, she finds him interesting and falls in love with him. The society of Bon Temps has not a positive attitude towards vampires, Bill has to protect Sookie many times and for that he is punished. Through their relationship the viewer gradually learns more about vampire culture, life style and also about their limitations.
Twilight is an American vampire movie from 2008 based on Stephanie Meyer’s novel of the same title. Twilight is the first part of The Twilight Saga film series extremely popular not only in America but also in other parts of the world. Main character Bella Swan (Kirsten Stewart) is a normal teenage girl who moves to Forks to live with her dad. In extraordinary circumstances she meets Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison), who saves her life. Like in the novel, Bella and Edward fall in love. She finds out that he is a vampire but decides to be with him anyway, that puts her in a dangerous position of being a target of evil vampires who want to hunt her. Edward’s family decides to protect Bella at all costs. In the opposition to True Blood vampires in Forks have not revealed themselves but live among people. “After Twilight era” vampire movies are extremely popular all over the world. This type of movies is a creation for the pop culture business purposes. More people watch the movies, more money the industry earns and eventually more new movies are made to quench viewers’ hunger. It is all natural but what is so special about new vampire movies and why are they so popular? Firstly, the new vampire movies aim at young viewers who are the target age group. Those are movies about young people and for young people. They present problems of regular teenagers combined with supernatural motifs of vampires, warewolves or witches which makes them so popular and exciting. However, this type of movies gained popularity not only among adolescents but almost in every age group. Everyone has the right to a thrill of emotions, of love combined with danger. Yet, after watching “after Twilight era” film productions viewer will love it or hate it instantly. There is no place for being between. Moreover, the image of a vampire has changed considerably. He does not sleep in a coffin, is not afraid of crucifix, garlic or any other vampire killing item. A new vampire is forever young, handsome and has irresistible charm which works not only in the movie world but also in the real one. It is assumed that the main character in the movie is in love with one of the vampires. It is not only because of their external beauty but also because of their complex personality. They are not monsters anymore, they regret their deeds from the past and try to live the good and decent life. Through the centuries vampires had the chance to change themselves. Some of them took this opportunity and become some kind of “vegetarians” feeding on animal blood and deny killing people. This is the example of the Cullen’s family or Bill Compton. They left behind them their violent vampire nature and became exemplary models of citizens in Forks or Bon Temps. They have their own jobs and try to function on normal basis. Of course there are vampires who do not want to change their nature and stop feeding on people. Both kinds of vampires gained popularity. People identify with them, want to live next to them. Popular culture idealizes an image of a vampire showing his change and ability to leading normal life. Also the picture of a vampire as a perfect man needs mentioning. In movies and TV series “good” vampires are contrasted with those “bad” ones. Modern viewer, especially women want to find in vampire movies traits of melodrama, love story and a beautiful creation of everlasting friendship. Being romantics women identify themselves with female characters and imagine that the beautiful young vampire is only theirs. It is easy to imagine because everyone has its own desires and needs so the image of a modern vampire has to be flexible. Edward Cullen is a perfect example of a man, friend and lover. Being melancholic and missing his lost life he does not want to turn Bella into a vampire, even though he knows that they could live together forever he does not want to take her life away from her. He is a perfect boyfriend, taking care of his girlfriend, he is romantic creating songs for her lover. The whole idealistic image of Edward is fulfilled with his appearance of Adonis, the most handsome boy in Forks, sparkling in the sunlight, having an incredible smile. All this traits make women fall in love with him. Love that is purely platonic but may become an obsession. Furthermore, a vampire became an object of sexual desire. Vampires in True Blood are almost sex machines. The community of Bon Temps is divided between sympathizers and opponents of having any kind of relationship with a vampire, either emotional or sexual. The same story is between viewers of vampire movies. Some of the audience is attracted to them and some cannot stand a thought of having any kind of relationship with a monster. Taking into consideration biting the victim, vampires create a whole in the neck of a victim or a donor, put the fangs into the body and suck the blood which can be the metaphor of sexual relationship. An interesting photo occurred on the cover of Rollin Stone magazine showing main stars of True Blood, Alexander Skarsgard, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, being completely naked and covered with blood. This is a symbol of sexual desire of the viewers towards the characters of this TV series which was shown in a quite controversial way. Vampires are the symbol of immortality and feelings that cannot be felt by humans, so when they became a “good” vampires why not to take the advantage of the goods that relationship with a vampire brings. People want to experience new, extraordinary, and dangerous feelings. Sex with a vampire is definitely new, extraordinary and extremely dangerous which makes it even more desirable. All in all, the popularity of modern vampire movies and characters is due to mass media campaign to promote their movies and TV series. They are highly advertised in all spheres of mass media from the newspapers, through the internet to the TV commercials. After the success of Twilight or True Blood there is a constant demand of items connected with the movie or characters like posters, notebooks, dolls, Lego blocks or even wallpapers with the photos of popular vampires. All this creates a myth of a “new”, good vampire, who is a perfect friend and lover.
So far the last stage of the evolution of vampires is “the after Twilight era” where “new”, human-like vampires are created. Taking into consideration the Twilight movie and a TV series True Blood the image of a vampire changed considerably. From the eccentric outcast to popular young person, from the blood- thirsty creature to a vampire “vegetarian”, from the hideous monster to the sex machine. For the contemporary viewer vampires are not scary anymore, they are some kind of a new species living among us. What attracts people in modern vampires is the tragic situation of a hero who is thorn between his instincts and humanity, the mystery of vampire’s lives and the thrill connected with tasting a forbidden fruit, even when it is only by watching a movie. Sources:

1. http://www.filmweb.pl
2. Blood Read. The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture. Edited by Joan Gordon and Veronica Hollinger.