10 Best Vampire Films Of All Time

Sometimes, it feels as though this film hopped over to our universe from another dimension: Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt being cast to play vampires in a tormented, tender, and violent tragedy seems… weird.

Yet, somehow, it works.

Based on the novel of the same name by Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire was one of the first mainstream movies to show vampires as the protagonist, rather than the villain. The romantic, attractive, yet still tragic lifestyle of vampires was met with an eager reception from audiences, who then craved more. This gave way to the aesthetically pleasing 21st century vampire we know and (sometimes) love today.

Set over several time periods, this film shows the journey that Louis takes in discovering how to live his life as a vampire. It stays faithful to a lot of vampire lore: they sleep in coffins, sunlight kills, and (if they drink enough of the good stuff) they can live forever.

However, it also introduces a new rule that turns the existential angst up to a hundred and culminates in this scene: Claudia (played by twelve-year-old Kirsten Dunst), a forty-year-old vampire in a ten-year-old’s body, has a breakdown and attempts to hack off her doll-like ringlets – only to realise, in horror, that they reappear right back on her head. The vampires cannot change their appearance, and seem frozen in time as their minds age.

It’s a terrifying thought – if you get a bad haircut before becoming a vampire, you’re stuck with that look for life. Maybe joining the legions of the undead isn’t such a good idea…