James Wan Has Some Killer Choices on His Essential Vampire Movie Watchlist

It’s ever amusive to inquire fearfulness bigwigs astir their ain favourite movies successful the genre; arsenic we precocious learned, Mike Flanagan’s a large Lake Mungo fan, and Damien Leone shrieks for Black Christmas. James Wan—who has many cinematic credits, but for the involvement of scares we’ll ID him arsenic a creator of The Conjuring, Saw, and Insidious franchises—has chopped close to the pursuit with this vampire-specific watchlist helium conscionable shared to societal media. It’s got immoderate blockbuster titles, and adjacent much intriguingly, offbeat cult picks too.

Here’s the afloat list:

Quite obviously, the intent present is to signal-boost 2024’s Salem’s Lot, which Wan produced; it was besides scripted and directed by his Conjuring Universe cohort Gary Dauberman. (We emotion that Wan besides recommended the 1979 made for TV miniseries, directed by Tobe Hooper.)

But determination are immoderate coagulated classics represented here, namely the archetypal Dracula with Bela Lugosi and the soundless Nosferatu—and amusive cult picks Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Interview With the Vampire, Near Dark, and Fright Night (we’re going to presume helium meant the 1985 original, since it’s not specified). The 1958 Christopher Lee-Peter Cushing face-off Horror of Dracula is indispensable viewing, too.

Also: we indispensable applaud the motion for Blade, a movie you tin ever spell backmost and ticker adjacent if Marvel ne'er gets around to making that caller version.

However, the main thrill present comes from seeing Wan’s much obscure selections: The Night Stalker (1972), Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, Vampire Circus, Vampire Lovers, Subspecies 2, and Planet of the Vampires.

The Night Stalker is the TV movie that introduced Darrin McGavin’s intrepid writer Carl Kolchak, who went connected to prima successful his ain ABC series. As helium chased aft stories involving supernatural forces (vampires, werewolves, past demons), Kolchak had to endure the exasperation of his brag astatine the newspaper, arsenic good arsenic the contempt of the section police—both parties, of course, everlastingly skeptical of Kolchak’s investigations. The Night Stalker was a large power on The X-Files and McGavin adjacent popped up connected the amusement arsenic a Kolchak-like character.

Wan besides has a trio of 1970s British flicks connected his list. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter hails from legendary workplace Hammer and was written and directed by Brian Clemens, who worked connected 1960s secret-agent bid The Avengers. Clemens’ lone diagnostic was this communicative of a sword-fighting vampire huntsman and his hunchbacked partner, hired to analyse a colony beset by bloodsuckers; it’s go a cult classical acknowledgment to its high-energy tone. Vampire Circus (1972) is acceptable successful a 19th period Serbian colony where, immoderate years aft the townsfolk teamed up to instrumentality down the section aristocrat-turned-vampire, a traveling circus arrives (amid a plague, nary less) to entertain and… get immoderate tasty revenge. And 1970’s The Vampire Lovers is simply a riff connected the classical Carmilla narrative, which so means the “lovers” successful question are women—including legendary bombshell Ingrid Pitt.

Planet of the Vampires, meanwhile, signals Wan’s affection for Italian fearfulness maestro Mario Bava; portion 1965’s Planet is simply a much explicitly sci-fi outing for Bava (as the rubric suggests), it was released alongside immoderate of his best-known giallos, including Blood and Black Lace and Kill, Baby, Kill.

And Subspecies 2—the existent rubric is Bloodstone: Subspecies II—is the 2nd introduction successful Full Moon’s pleasingly unhinged, Romanian-shot 1990s bid starring Anders Hove arsenic a vampire named Radu, arsenic good arsenic immoderate endearing stop-motion peculiar effects. This is possibly the astir astonishing prime connected Wan’s database for an array of reasons, but the information that helium singled retired part two is close up there.

What bash you deliberation of James Wan’s list? Will you beryllium queueing up immoderate of his recommendations tonight? Let america cognize successful the comments!

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