Top 10 vampire deaths

4 Underworld (2003)
The old 'oh, you sliced me' trick began to get pretty popular in the early noughties, showing up in Ghost Ship and Resident Evil. Earlier versions can be found in Monty Python's Meaning Of Life and Johnny Mnemonic, but this is a pretty good example, as Kate Beckinsale's apparently useless lunge at Bill Nighy turns out not to have missed the mark after all.

3 Nosferatu (1922)
The first significant vampire death in movies remains one of the most iconic, as Max Schreck's infatuated vampire falls prey to his own lusts and ends up devoured by daylight, in Murnau's horror classic.

2 Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
Vampires meet their maker in some memorable and truly spectacular ways in Neil Jordan's atmospheric take on the Anne Rice classic. The death of Brad Pitt's love, trapped in a silo by her tormentors and left to await the path of the killer sun, is memorable, but the sight of the vamps flying up to the ceiling like burnt parchment in the ensuing revenge sequence is one of the most startling and inventive sights in vampire cinema.

1 John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)
The master of horror provided a hilarious and very effective medium-tech wrinkle to the hackneyed process of despatching bloodsuckers. James Woods' vamp-hunting force, sent out by a secret cabal in the Catholic church, harpoon their prey and use a towing winch to drag them out into the burning desert light. I'm afraid this trailer doesn't really show it, but this film is definitely worth a look.

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26 Comments

hectorbustnuts Jun 26, 2009 11:35 AM	"Ultraviolet" WAS a brilliant series...wish they'd continued it for more than one paltry season. As for "Nosferatu", a brilliant companion piece is "Shadow of the Vampire", in which John Malkovich and an almost unrecognisable Willem Dafoe turn in awesome performances in a fictional behind the scenes look at the making of "Nosferatu" andthe exploration of what truly makes a monster. One of my favourite films ever (and the inclusion of Eddie Izzard is the icing on the cake...and the original reason I went and saw this. Probably shouldn't have gone on valentines day, but hey...what can you do when genius calls?)
robzy Jun 26, 2009 11:57 AM	No mention of Angelus at the end of S2 of Buffy? Unacceptable! Rob.
hectorbustnuts Jun 26, 2009 12:03 PM	Stabbed through the heart with a huge fuck-off sword then sucked through a magical vortex into a hell dimension? Pfft. Too common a death to warrant mentioning.
Hawkeye Jun 26, 2009 12:05 PM	Yeah, well... My problem with Angel - remember, he's not actually Angelus as the last moment - is that I CRY LIKE A BABY EVERY TIME I WATCH IT. So, if you want a Top Things That Make David Cry list, It'll go in there.
hectorbustnuts Jun 26, 2009 12:14 PM	Really? Spike's heroic death, yes...but I don't remember getting that worked up about Angel's death.
Hawkeye Jun 26, 2009 12:27 PM	I might have a little thing for Angel...
hectorbustnuts Jun 26, 2009 12:34 PM	My man-crush on Xander runs too deep. He dislikes Angel. I side with him.
Hawkeye Jun 26, 2009 12:46 PM	Then I am afraid, sir, that we can no longer be friends!
hectorbustnuts Jun 26, 2009 1:04 PM	Come on...you can't deny that Xander's a far better man than Angel! When he had the love potion made up and Buffy, the girl he'll forever love but knows it's not returned, throws herself at him he chivalrously denies her. He loves her...but doesn't mope about it either. None of this "I love you, but it'll work so I'll bog off to another city" business. No...he stays by her side, always there, the guy whose shoulder to lean on, the guy who'll be there with a smart-arse remark. Hell, he has no super-powers but still jumps in to fight, even when the odds are against him. HE LOST HIS DAMN EYE fighting for Buffy and STILL cracks jokes about it! Xander is the freakin' man, man.
hectorbustnuts Jun 26, 2009 1:05 PM	There should be a "never" in between "it'll" and "work" cause, you know...then sentence actually makes sense.
AMTP10E Jun 26, 2009 7:25 PM	Sing it Hector! Xander is the Man. Buffy's White Knight, Heart of the Scoobies.
hectorbustnuts Jun 26, 2009 7:54 PM	Damn straight. Anyone that can save the world be telling a story about a broken yellow crayon, well...Xander the Man. And he is just that. A man. No magic, just goofy guy trying to do the right thing. Xander. Rockin'.
Devilsmurf Jun 26, 2009 8:40 PM	That was my problem with Xander, and the Buffy serious in general. Too many overpowered females, emasculating the male gender in the process. Angel was a much, much better series. Look what they did with Wesley, and Gunn. Men don't need super powers to actually beat up on vampires ONCE in a while.
Devilsmurf Jun 26, 2009 9:25 PM	series, not serious. Damn lack of an edit button.
Devilsmurf Jun 26, 2009 9:25 PM	series, not serious. Damn lack of an edit button.
Hawkeye Jun 27, 2009 10:46 AM	"Too many overpowered females, emasculating the male gender in the process. " I... what? It's one of the FEW shows that empowers women, and that's 'too much' for you?!
hectorbustnuts Jun 27, 2009 10:56 AM	Ah ha ha ha!! I thought I'd get him wound up with the Xander-love. YOU, Devilsmurf, got DH posting on a Saturday morning. doffs cap
tantryl Jun 28, 2009 8:15 PM	My favourite? Random white-guy wearing a silly bandana after/during the concert in Queen of the Damned. Why? 'cause I know that guy. He's brother of one of my best friends. And he gets decapitated with an extremely stupid expression on his face :P
tantryl Jun 28, 2009 9:49 PM	Also, Angel didn't die at the end of Season 2 any more than Buffy died in the first episode of Season 3 or Conor and Holtz died going to Quor'Toth. They went to hell dimensions. I mean sure, Buffy got off light by falling onto a pool of teleporty oozey stuff, and Angel got the sharp end of the sword - but sword through the chest doesn't do the job for him (as demonstrated in You're Welcome when the tiny Texan ran him through). I win the nerd points! And yes, much man-love for Alexander Lavelle Harris.
TheSecret Jun 29, 2009 9:17 PM	Why does everybody let Xander get off with being responsible for killing all the people killed by spontaneous human combustion? He summoned Sweet, but everyone just kind of laughed at the end....Oh Xander... I like the guy as well, but Angel wins out.
tantryl Jun 30, 2009 4:14 PM	Yeah, I put that one down to sloppy writing. Not only does it make him responsible for deaths... but it's so out of character for the 6th season. He's learned the lesson that everything comes at a cost, several times (although I suppose they hadn't quite realised the cost of Buffy coming back until the end of that episode). It just seems like a much dumber move than you'd expect from him.
TheSecret Jun 30, 2009 7:40 PM	But they were aware of it! They were all ready to crucify Dawn when they thought it was her, but when it was Xander their attitudes changed. There definitely should have been a buffyverse death in here though. Angel didn't die, but Spike did, as did Darla. The Master would be an obvious choice...
tantryl Jul 1, 2009 10:10 AM	Yup, they were aware. Like I said, sloppy writing. I got the feeling they cut the exposition way down in that episode to fit in more songs. The episode was allowed to run a few minutes longer than a normal by the network 'cause they thought it was that good, and it's wall to wall songs. There's quite a few examples of sloppy writing in Buffy. Most of it in the early seasons, but not all of it. Random example - first season episode "The Pack". Xander gets the devil in him, and the principle gets eaten by a group of bullies (which was great). But for a gag at the end, they make Xander remember everything he did while possessed. Which means the bullies remember everything they did. Like eat the principle, raw. But for some reason Giles and Xander don't think this is something serious enough to worry about...
creeky Jul 1, 2009 7:57 PM	Seriously not one comment or mention of any of the Vampire Deaths from the original Lost Boys movie ?? "Death by stereo" ring any bells ?? Not too mention the Bathtub full of Holy Water and the Vamp getting regurgitated through the plumbing of the whole house.
tantryl Jul 1, 2009 11:41 PM	Damn, good point. Lost Boys was epic.
Rory K Aug 31, 2009 6:59 PM	Spike's death at the end of S7 was totally the best ever. :) Except then he cam back in Angel. And why do you know Xander's full name Tantryl? Wait, google? Or epic nerd? And wasn't it only one person who died of spontaneous combustion?

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