trailer park

Have you ever noticed that some horror fans are really into vampires? Like, they dig that whole "romantic" aspect of the bloodsuckers and in some cases even start to act as if they are vampires? Yeah, that's not me. I'm not a huge vampire fan to begin with, but even so, I like my vampires to be creepy, gross, and scary: more Klaus Kinski, less Frank Langella- though I do admit I have a humongous soft spot for Christopher Lee as Dracula. But compare A to B here and you'll see what I'm talking about:


To me, one is horror, the other Harlequin. Whatever floats your boat, baby. For me, one of the very first vampire films is also the best: Murnau's 1922 silent opus Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens. There's plenty of food for thought in that film, but on its most basic level, Max Schrek as Count Orlok completely terrifies me; he's simply a nightmare come to (un)life. Vampire-as-rat-demon-from-Hell works for me, whether in Murnau's film, in Werner Herzog's 1979 remake, Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, or even in Tobe Hooper's 1979 Stephen King adaptation 'Salem's Lot.

I totally have a point about all this, I swear. The trailer for the upcoming 30 Days of Night (due in October) has gone online recently, and I'll be damned if it doesn't look scary. And wow! Vampires-as-rat-demons-from-Hell, just like in the source material, the comic series from Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. What a coincidence!



I realize, naturally, that virtually any movie can look good and scary with a nicely pieced-together trailer, but still...my hopes are high for this- and I never get excited about vampire films. So, you know, I'm sure that means something.