From the scary to the romantic to the straight-up comedic, vampire stories have been told and retold for hundreds of years, from folklore to literature to film. Whether you’re getting into the spirit of Halloween or love vampire flicks any time of the year, here are our picks for the best vampire movies.

What are the best Vampire movies as of 2025?

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. Other honorable mentions include Interview With the Vampire (1994), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), Thirst (2009), The Lost Boys (1987), and The Addiction (1995).  

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 Alexander 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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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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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, like electric bills, nightclub etiquette, and learning how to use a refrigerator. A TV series based on the film was released in 2019 and ran for six seasons.

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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 in terms of 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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Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

To be very transparent, it was a toss-up between this film and Ann Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, directed by Neil Jordan. The two are neck and neck (no pun intended) in terms of ranking. 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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How we picked the best Vampire movies

With a limited word count, we narrowed our choices down to vampire films that span multiple genres and have had a significant cultural impact. We’ve got the most recent addition that expands and reframes the typically white-centered vampire narrative, one that leans into comedy, another that reimagines the coming-of-age story through a blood-soaked lens, the design-forward pick, and of course, the original that started it all. 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.