10 Hidden Gem Vampire Horror Movies

1. The Addiction

Kiss of the Damned
October Films

While Abel Ferrara is best known for helming the likes of Bad Lieutenant, King of New York and infamous video nasty The Driller Killer (in which he also starred), the filmmaker's true masterpiece is his relatively under-the-radar 1995 picture, The Addiction.

Starring The Conjuring's Lili Taylor, this twisted black and white offering is something that brings far more to the table than most other vampiric efforts. Taylor plays Kathleen, a philosophy student who is attacked and bizarrely bitten by Annabella Sciorra’s mysterious Casanova during the movie's opening act.

From there, Kathleen becomes extremely ill and eventually develops a thirst for blood. With this thirst the addiction of the film's title, Taylor's character descends into a desperate spiral of instinct and obsession. That is, of course, until she meets Christopher Walken's supercool Paina.

The Addiction is an all-time great vampire film, yet it's one that's criminally overlooked by general audiences when they debate the best bloodsucking efforts out there. Oozing with style, brimming with social commentary, with a career best performance from Lili Taylor as she carries so much of the film, and Christopher Walken being, well, Christopher Walken, this rollercoaster ride ticks so many of the right boxes to mark it out as something genuinely special.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.