Though vampires might not fit the mold of traditional heroes, they have held a mysterious allure for centuries. The first English-language vampire story, The Vampyre by John Polidori, appeared in 1819, igniting a fascination that would only grow.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1897 set the stage for F.W. Murnau’s iconic silent film Nosferatu in 1922, and now, a remake directed by Robert Eggers and featuring Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp, and Nicholas Hoult, is set to be released in the UK in 2025.
For writer and actor Mark Gatiss, co-writer of the BBC series Sherlock and Dracula, this fascination began in childhood.
A lifelong “horror obsessive,” Gatiss has explored vampires in various forms, from playing Dracula in an audio production to creating a BBC series in 2020 that follows the Count, portrayed by Claes Bang, on his journey to London.
The opportunity to bring Stoker’s infamous Count to life felt like “too good to be true,” he says, noting that Dracula’s mythos, like Sherlock Holmes, is “imperishable.”
Meanwhile, Rolin Jones, an executive producer and writer for the TV adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, based on Anne Rice’s novels, believes the allure of vampires endures because they “get in your bones and haunt you.”
The BBC iPlayer series follows the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac, portrayed by Jacob Anderson, as he recounts his life and love with Lestat de Lioncourt (played by Sam Reid) to a journalist.
Stories about vampires resurface time and again because they probe deep themes like immortality, death, and love, offering viewers a haunting escape.
This ongoing allure is evident on social media platforms like TikTok, where #vampire boasts 2.7 million posts, underscoring the genre’s popularity.
Jones notes that each day brings more fans tattooing vampire characters on their bodies, highlighting the fervor of a devoted fan base.
Vampires, it seems, are a fascination that will never die.
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