10 Scariest Horror Movie Vampires

Stephen King turned his hand to Vampires for his second published novel, 'Salem's Lot. Based on a short story he had written several years earlier, the novel famously depicts the cool and suave Mr. Kurt Barlow casually picking off the townsfolk, one by one.

The movie of 'Salem's Lot decided to go in a different direction, offering almost all of Barlow's lines to Mr. Straker, played by James Mason. Barlow is instead a creature much closer to Nosferatu than Count Dracula, and to this day stands as one of the most frightening depicitions of a Vampire on screen.

The strength of 'Salem's Lot comes from what you don't see, rather than what you do. Although, when it does start to depict the Vampires, it does so carefully, slowly and great menace. Few who see it forget the floating child at the window, nor the slowly rocking chair in the guest house.

But it is Barlow himself who is the most unsettling. His pale blue skin and savage fangs are designed solely to create death, little suggesting an unlife of fun Vampirism. These Vampires do not sparkle and they do not have souls. They are like Zombies, unable to control their urges, cursed to obey and kill.

In a way, Barlow is one of the more simple creations on this list. And for that, he is one of the most terrifying.