10 Best Movie Vampires

2. Van Helsing - Count Vladislaus Dracula

Forget about Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing, the poorly-realised Frankenstein's Monster and Igor. For all of its annoying characters, horror-lite moments and reliance on action: Van Helsing actually featured an interesting interpretation of Dracula. The story follows that Dracula was murdered at the hands of Archangel Gabriel hundreds of years before the events of the film and that Van Helsing is the reincarnation of said murderer - hence his innate adeptness at hunting monsters. Richard Roxburgh's portrayal of the Count may be a little cliché, but that didn't stop him from being unsettling and 'scary' when he needed to be. The concept of silver, holy water and garlic being old wives tales also served to make this take on Dracula one that was much more threatening and believable. The excessive action has already been mentioned, but the climactic battle between Dracula in a monstrous devil/bat form and Gabriel as a werewolf is definitely one of the film's highlights. It's just a shame about all that other stuff. Ah well.