Vampire stories have been told and retold for hundreds of years, from folklore to film. From the spine-tingling to the romantic to the laugh-out-loud comedic, there is no shortage of great vampire movies worth watching. If you’ve had enough of the vampires that sparkle and are looking for something more, here are our picks for the best vampire movies.
What are the best Vampire movies as of 2026?
Although the vampire myth has roots dating back to ancient times, our modern understanding is largely shaped by Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published in 1897. Interestingly enough, Stoker got the idea from a crypt at the Dublin church where he was a parishioner as a child (St. Michan’s, if you ever want to visit for yourself), where the bodies wouldn’t decompose. Now we know it’s thanks to limestone, but back then, these fleshy, centuries-old bodies served as tourist attractions and were enough to inspire the start of vampire lore in literature. And ever since then, we can’t get enough of it.
As far as this list is concerned, these are just a few of the many fantastic vampire movies out there. Though we’ve left some of our favorites off to keep things condensed, here are just a few of our favorites to sink your teeth into, listed in chronological order.
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922)
This is what we’re calling a two-for-one deal. The original Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is maybe the best vampire movie of all time, but the latest adaptation from Robert Eggers is also very good. While the most recent one received mixed reviews from audiences, it’s a beautiful film, featuring cinematography by Jarin Blansche, costumes by Linda Muir, movement choreography by Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, and, of course, a killer cast including Bill Skarsgård, Lily Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Eggers’ version didn’t blow fans away (it fared better with critics), but it pays a terrific tribute to the original.
The original, though! F.W. Murnau’s silent classic is the vampire film that started it all. The general plot in both films is the same. In both movies, we follow Thomas Hutter, a real estate agent sent to Transylvania to visit Count Orlok, a mysterious nobleman looking to purchase a house in Hutter’s hometown. Orlok, of course, is a vampire, and before long, he brings terror (and plague) to the unsuspecting villagers. Though Murnau’s Orlok has since been memed too many times to count, Nosferatu set the standard for vampire horror and influenced generations of filmmakers.
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The Lost Boys (1987)
Despite the title, this sure isn’t Peter Pan. Though, come to think of it, maybe James Matthew Barrie was onto something with the immortal child thing. As far as vampire movies go, The Lost Boys is pure fun. Directed by Joel Schumacher, the film drops us into the neon-tinged coastal town of Santa Carla. Two brothers — Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) — discover that their new home has a serious vampire problem.
Michael falls in with a leather-clad biker gang led by the magnetic David (Kiefer Sutherland), while Sam teams up with self-proclaimed vampire hunters (including Corey Feldman) to try and save him. The film is chock-full of 80s excess. There’s big hair and even bigger saxophone solos. Still, this campy, iconic flick is also surprisingly sharp about teenage longing and the seduction of belonging.
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Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
If we had to put our favorite ’90s vampire movies to the test, we’d say it would be a toss-up between this film and Interview with the Vampire, directed by Neil Jordan. The two are neck-and-neck (no pun intended) in the rankings. Still, we gave the slight edge to Francis Ford Coppola. No huge notes on this movie, except maybe Keanu Reeves’ accent. Still, that’s a minor quibble against the lavish opulence of Coppola’s horror epic based on Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel. Everything about this film is over-the-top, but done with finesse. Big nods to production design from Thomas Sanders, cinematography from Michael Ballhouse, and costumes by Eiko Ishioka.
Like the novel, the film follows the infamous Count Dracula (played by the very creepy and iconic Gary Oldman) as he travels from Transylvania to Victorian London, intent on spreading his curse and taking revenge on those who wronged him hundreds of years ago. At the heart of the story is a tragic love: Dracula becomes obsessed with Mina Harker (Winona Ryder), believing her to be the reincarnation of his long-lost love Elisabeta. Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) and a group of vampire hunters, including Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins), set out to stop him.
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Interview With a Vampire (1994)
Unapologetically decadent, Interview with the Vampire is easily one of the most stylized entries in the modern vampire canon. Directed by Neil Jordan and based on Anne Rice’s novel, the film follows Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt), a plantation owner turned immortal against his will by the charismatic Lestat (Tom Cruise).
Framed as a confession to a modern-day reporter (Christian Slater), Louis recounts centuries of guilt and longing only known to those who cannot die. We have a hunch that poor Louis and Frankenstein’s Creature would be good pals, but alas. At the film’s center is Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), the child vampire whose eternal adolescence becomes a form of horror in its own right.
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Let The Right One In (2008)
Directed by Tomas Alfredson from a script by John Ajvide Lindqvist, this Swedish romantic-horror film is adapted from Lindqvist’s 2004 novel. It tells the story of 12-year-old Oskar, a lonely boy in the 1980s who is relentlessly bullied and spends much of his nights plotting revenge. His life changes when he meets Eli, a mysterious girl who quickly becomes his friend. As their bond grows, the story takes a progressively darker, more vampiric turn.
While this movie is undoubtedly a vampire story, it’s also a beautiful, intelligent coming-of-age tale that’s quirky and creepy in all the best ways. Still, beyond the film’s cool sensibility and unequivocally 80s feel, there’s plenty in the movie to give it weight. At its heart, the story is about how outsiders and outcasts find love. This is not your typical blood-and-guts horror film, and it’s unlikely you’ll find yourself scared at any point. Still, there is some dismemberment and a body count. There’s not much else to say other than this film is stunning in so many ways. If you haven’t watched it yet, make this one a priority.
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Thirst (2009)
Park Chan-Wook is one of those directors we’ll trust with anything. Somehow, his grotesque vampire epic falls to the wayside in terms of notoriety compared to his vengeance trilogy and most recent film, No Other Choice. Still, in the style of his other horrors, Park Chan-Wook is working with a lot more than the genre alone. While the film certainly has the stamp of violence, it’s also surprisingly tender.
One of the most unexpected vampire films of the 21st century, Thirst follows Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), a Catholic priest who volunteers for a medical experiment meant to cure a deadly virus. What no one expected, however, was that he would become a vampire instead.
This shocking crisis of faith transforms into something far more complicated when he reunites with Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin), a woman trapped in a suffocating marriage. Their affair is passionate (as vampire-human love affairs tend to be), destructive (yet another hallmark of the mortal-immortal relationship), and increasingly unhinged as hunger — both literal and emotional — takes over. Erotic melodrama meets comedy meets body horror in this one-of-a-kind take on the genre.
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What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Taking things to the lighter side, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary that proves vampires can be spooky and absolutely hilarious at the same time. Set in New Zealand, the film follows four centuries-old vampire roommates as they stumble through the challenges of modern life. From paying rent to dealing with roommate drama (the vampire chore chart is hysterical), their struggles are as mundane as they are supernatural.
The brilliance of the film lies in how it plays with contrast: these terrifying, immortal creatures are forced to adapt to everyday annoyances, such as electric bills, nightclub etiquette, and learning to use a refrigerator. A TV series based on the film was released in 2019 and ran for six seasons.
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A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
Marketed as “the first Iranian vampire Western,” A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night feels like it exists in its own cinematic universe. Written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, the film is set in the fictional Bad City. It’s an apt name, as this ghostly city is a place of oil rigs, empty streets, and quiet desperation. At the film’s center is a figure simply known as The Girl (Sheila Vand), a chador-clad vampire who stalks the men who prey on women.
Alongside her is the story of an Iranian man named Arash who takes care of his father, who is suffering from a heroin addiction. Meanwhile, a harassing drug dealer is also after him. Arash’s life is essentially a reflection of the Bad City he dwells in, until he meets this mysterious woman who offers him an escape.
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Nosferatu (2024)
Robert Eggers’ recent historical folk horror Nosferatu stars Lily-Rose Depp as the beautiful yet tormented Ellen, who has long been plagued by disturbing visions. These hauntings follow her for years, only seeming to subside once she marries. When her husband (Nicholas Hoult) is called away on a suspicious business trip to a remote estate in Transylvania, the dread and visions return.
Warned by villagers not to continue his journey, he ignores them — and at the castle, he unknowingly signs a contract that binds more than just himself, offering his wife to the decrepit Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). Ellen’s visions intensify, foretelling Orlok’s arrival and the plague that follows unless she offers herself in sacrifice.
This updated adaptation draws on its source material while expanding on its expressionist roots. If you’re a fan of The Witch of the Norseman, you’ll likely enjoy this film as it fully embraces Eggers’ image-heavy, slow-burning sensibilities. There’s much that can be said about this film’s strengths, so for the sake of brevity we’ll point to Depp’s mesmerizing performance here, particularly in her transformational movement work, influenced by Butoh and choreographed by Gabrielle Marie Roti.
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Sinners (2025)
The most recent entry on our list, Sinners, was the blockbuster summer hit of 2025. One of those films I walked into knowing almost nothing about, I was pleasantly surprised when it suddenly turned into a vampire movie. What starts as a gritty Southern Gothic drama set in the 1930s Mississippi Delta quickly takes a supernatural turn, as twin brothers (played brilliantly by Michael B. Jordan) and members of the Black community encounter a vampiric force that threatens not only their lives but the existence of their culture.
While on the surface it looks like a vampire film, Sinners uses vampires as a symbol of whiteness and white supremacy. Beyond the obvious presence of Klansmen, the film introduces a more alluring kind of bloodsucker, one that tempts the exchange of success and family for culture and identity. There’s so much to unpack in the film’s themes, making it worth watching on repeat. However, the entertainment value alone is reason enough for this one to make our best-of list.
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How we picked the best Vampire movies
With a limited word count, we narrowed our choices to vampire films spanning multiple genres and with significant cultural impact. Though we could have added twenty more films to this list without breaking a sweat, these are the ones we return to time and time again.
