Horror Director James Wan Shares His Favourite Vampire Films

It’s all the time enjoyable to ask horror bigwigs about their very own favourite films within the style; as we not too long ago realized, Mike Flanagan’s a big Lake Mungo fan, and Damien Leone shrieks for Black Christmas. James Wan—who has many cinematic credits, however for the sake of scares we’ll ID him as a creator of The Conjuring, Noticed, and Insidious franchises—has lower proper to the chase with this vampire-specific watchlist he simply shared to social media. It’s bought some blockbuster titles, and much more intriguingly, offbeat cult picks too.

Right here’s the complete record:

Fairly clearly, the aim right here is to signal-boost 2024’s Salem’s Lot, which Wan produced; it was additionally scripted and directed by his Conjuring Universe cohort Gary Dauberman. (We love that Wan additionally beneficial the 1979 made for TV miniseries, directed by Tobe Hooper.)

However there are some strong classics represented right here, particularly the unique Dracula with Bela Lugosi and the silent Nosferatu—and enjoyable cult picks Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Interview With the Vampire, Close to Darkish, and Fright Evening (we’re going to imagine he meant the 1985 authentic, because it’s not specified). The 1958 Christopher Lee-Peter Cushing face-off Horror of Dracula is important viewing, too.

Additionally: we should applaud the nod for Blade, a film you may all the time return and watch even when Marvel never gets around to creating that new model.

Nonetheless, the primary thrill right here comes from seeing Wan’s extra obscure choices: The Evening Stalker (1972), Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, Vampire Circus, Vampire Lovers, Subspecies 2, and Planet of the Vampires.

The Evening Stalker is the TV film that launched Darrin McGavin’s intrepid journalist Carl Kolchak, who went on to star in his personal ABC sequence. As he chased after tales involving supernatural forces (vampires, werewolves, historical demons), Kolchak needed to endure the exasperation of his boss on the newspaper, in addition to the contempt of the native police—each events, in fact, ceaselessly skeptical of Kolchak’s investigations. The Evening Stalker was an enormous affect on The X-Recordsdata and McGavin even popped up on the present as a Kolchak-like character.

Wan additionally has a trio of Seventies British flicks on his record. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter hails from legendary studio Hammer and was written and directed by Brian Clemens, who labored on Nineteen Sixties secret-agent sequence The Avengers. Clemens’ solely function was this story of a sword-fighting vampire hunter and his hunchbacked companion, employed to analyze a village beset by bloodsuckers; it’s turn into a cult basic due to its high-energy tone. Vampire Circus (1972) is ready in a nineteenth century Serbian village the place, some years after the townsfolk teamed as much as take down the native aristocrat-turned-vampire, a touring circus arrives (amid a plague, no much less) to entertain and… get some tasty revenge. And 1970’s The Vampire Lovers is a riff on the basic Carmilla narrative, which certainly means the “lovers” in query are ladies—together with legendary bombshell Ingrid Pitt.

Planet of the Vampires, in the meantime, alerts Wan’s affection for Italian horror grasp Mario Bava; whereas 1965’s Planet is a extra explicitly sci-fi outing for Bava (because the title suggests), it was launched alongside a few of his best-known giallos, together with Blood and Black Lace and Kill, Child, Kill.

And Subspecies 2—the precise title is Bloodstone: Subspecies II—is the second entry in Full Moon’s pleasingly unhinged, Romanian-shot Nineteen Nineties sequence starring Anders Hove as a vampire named Radu, in addition to some endearing stop-motion particular results. That is perhaps essentially the most stunning selection on Wan’s record for an array of causes, however the truth that he singled out half two is true up there.

What do you consider James Wan’s record? Will you be queueing up any of his suggestions tonight? Tell us within the feedback!

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