This past weekend, while The LEGO Movie dominated the box office, the latest vampire movie to try to cash in on the success of Twilight came out and bombed…hard. Vampire Academy, based on the best-selling series of novels, debuted at #7, making a paltry $4 million at the domestic box office. Vampire Academy is just the latest in a long string of movies about the undead that have failed to catch on with audiences in the wake of Twilight’s massive success. Unless this Fall’s forthcoming Dracula: Untold somehow manages to become a hit, expect major studios to not go near vampire films for a very, very long time. And as a fan of the vampire movie genre, this just bums me out.
You see, vampires and me… we go way back. I first became obsessed with creatures of the night with repeated airings of Fright Night on HBO back in 1986. Then the following summer, when I turned thirteen, I sneaked in more than once to see The Lost Boys, back when you could do stuff like that and never get caught. When high school rolled around, I graduated to more serious (and gayer and sexier) stuff, and carried around Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles in my backpack with me everywhere I went. This led me to the video store to discover older vampire stuff I’d missed, like Tony Scott’s The Hunger and Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark. In my twenties, there was the double-whammy of awesomeness that was Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Then, at some point in my thirties… the Twilight bomb hit. It was the biggest success the vampire movie genre had ever had, and quite possibly the end of that genre at the same time.
There have been enough articles written about how awful Twilight is, so I don’t need to get into the specifics as to why here, but to summarize:Â just as vampire fiction alone, Twilight is terrible, because it takes mythical creatures who, despite their wildly different interpretations over the years in various media, were always portrayed as dangerous outsiders, and turned them into the annoying popular kids at school who really love to shop at Old Navy. Twilight is like seeing your twelve year old niece wearing a Ramones t-shirt from Target; she has no idea what it means or who the Ramones were, just that it’s something once edgy and cool that she’s appropriating and therefore (pun totally intended) de-fanging it of any of its former meaning.
Worse than being crappy vampire fiction however,  Twilight also has a weird anti-feminist, anti-premarital sex, and frankly misogynist bent to it, but that’s a subject unto itself. Even the women in my life that I know who like Twilight all seem to know how bad it is and give me the “yeah, I know it’s bad, but I love it anyway” answer whenever asked why they love it.  And that’s totally fair. I enjoy lots of terrible things that I know are terrible. I can watch the last forty minutes of Attack of the Clones and enjoy it despite knowing better. I don’t begrudge them that enjoyment.
Nevertheless, the success of the Twilight franchise towers over every other vampire film ever made. Four of the five films made something like $300 million dollars, and that’s just domestic. By comparison, the next two most successful non-Twilight vampire movies, 1994’s Interview with the Vampire ($209 million, adjusted for inflation) and 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula ($166 million, also adjusted) are as close to fully mainstream as bloodsuckers got before Twilight, and neither come close to Twilight‘s best box office numbers. Even with the successful nature of many of the vampire movies of the ’80s and ’90s, they just hovered around being mega-blockbusters; they were popular, but never quite mainstream enough that your grandma would watch them. They still primarily preached to the choir. There were no “Dracula Moms” back in the day.
But it seems the success of Twilight has seemingly killed the chances of any other vampire movies to succeed. Stephenie Meyer’s sparkly vamps have apparently put a stake in the heart of the entire vampire movie genre, at least for the foreseeable future. But just why is this? After all, it goes against the way Hollywood usually works. The success of Star Wars in the seventies led to string of high profile sci-fi hits for the next decade. The more recent success of superhero movies has just led to more and more successful superhero movies. Eventually these trends burn out, but it seems Twilight left zero room for the success of any other vampire property it its wake.
There was no domino effect once Twilight became a pop culture phenomenon, not even a short lived one. Judging by box office numbers, since the release of the first Twilight in 2008, vampire movies have been, to quote Mommie Dearest, “box office poison.” Since then, almost every major vampire film released has tanked; movies like Daybreakers, Let Me In, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter all hovered around the $30 million range or lower, which is what movies like Fright Night and Lost Boys made three decades ago when tickets were much, much cheaper. Vampire Academy is just the latest and maybe biggest flop of all of these, and this one was tailor made for the demographic that embraced Twilight.
So just what has happened? Well, it seems for an entire generation of younger moviegoers, the term “Vampire” literally equals “Twilight.” Younger audiences make no distinction between the two, even though on some level you have to figure they know better. I know I’ve found myself recommending good vampire movies like Let The Right One In to younger Millennials, only to have them say “nah, I hate all that vampire crap.” When I dig for more information as to were the prejudice comes from, the answer is almost always the same: “my girlfriend (or wife, or sister, or mother, or just female friend) made me sit through all of those awful Twilight movies with her, and I never want to see another vampire again.” Younger males (and those females who rejected the whole Twilight phenomenon) don’t differentiate; vampires began and ended with Robert Pattinson. They are one and the same thing.
But what about the female demographic that went insane with Twilight-mania? The “Twihards” who lined up for days to see it? Â The women and girls that make up Twilight’s target demographic were clearly not interested in seeing any other vamps on the big screen that weren’t Edward Cullen, even when that vampire was played by Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows. Apparently, vampires began and ended with Robert Pattinson for them, too, judging by the abysmal box office of Vampire Academy, a movie seemingly tailor made for the Twihard demo.
If there’s a silver lining to this development for those of us who love vampire fiction, it’s that vampires seem to have found a very comfortable home on television. Since True Blood launched on HBO in 2008, it’s been the pay-cable network’s highest rated (or second highest rated) original show, a true pop culture phenomenon all its own. Although it’s ending this year, it’s certainly not due to a massive ratings dip. The CW’s anchor series has been The Vampire Diaries since 2009, and just recently got a spin-off show, The Originals. Being Human, which features a vampire lead character, has also been one of Syfy’s biggest hits. I even hear that Dracula on NBC has gotten better, although I gave up on that show early on because I couldn’t get past the criminal sin of having Jonathan Rhys Meyers lose his British accent. With True Blood ending soon, another cable network really needs to fill that hole with a television version of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. Please, network executive who makes these decisions and reads Nerdist, go make that happen. And cast Tom Hiddleston as The Vampire Lestat, please. We already know he can look good as a blonde.
But as for movie vamps, are they really gone for good? Well, forever is a long time, so I imagine at some point they’ll make a big splashy return. Vampires have been an ongoing part of western culture for nearly two hundred years, since the novella The Vampyre came out in 1819 and started a century’s long obsession that ultimately resulted in Dracula. Movies are too big a part of pop culture for vampires to abandon them completely. Â But just what’s it going to take for a vampires to make a big screen comeback? For starters, I’d say, at least five to ten years for the stink of the Twilight franchise to wear off. By that point, a new generation of younger moviegoers who weren’t forced to sit through the whole saga can come in without the baggage of that franchise behind them. In the meantime, our TV bloodsuckers will just have to tide us over. And maybe that’s not so bad.
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I hate twilight and I find most current vampire movies horribly boring and highly overrated, especially “let the right one in.” More like, “run the hell away fast.”
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Your grammar is terrible.
Drop dead…
Oops.
I forgot losers don’t die.
I didn’t like twilight, in terms of books, I seriously thought that Vampire Academy topped Twilight by a long shot.
In terms of quality television with vampires, there’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the TV series, just skip the movie, trust me). It’s about so much more than the title would have you believe. Don’t be fooled by first season either, it’s not on par with the rest of the series because the writers were finding their footing.
If you want to do get into the good stuff right away, then possibly just watch eps 3, 7, 10-12 of Season 1 for some character/relationship/setting set-up. Then, after watching eps 1, 3, 6 of Season 2, continue on in a normal fashion (possibly skipping “Bad Eggs” and “Go Fish”).
If you (like me) don’t like sites that make you sign up to watch movies, even if the sign-up’s allegedly “free,” I recommend watching it on the site primewire.ag (formerly known as 1channel.ch): the episode list is well-organized, they have many links, use some sort of adblock because there are a ton of ads. Of those, I find that gorillavid and sockshare work best. After that come sharesix, filenuke, and sometimes sharerepo and daclips. Some of these may say “download”, but if you click the “free user” button once or twice, you’ll get to the browser version of the file and you can watch it.
I wrote this June 14, 2014 in a G+ group for vampire fiction writers. My story will be published someday, I hope.
Just when I thought I had it done something crashes into my mind to alter the substance of my story. I’d seen the movie before, Let the Right One In and watched again today. I realized it didn’t matter how much I liked Eli; she was still a brutal serial killer. She preyed on people that had committed the sin of having too much to drink. I have to change the story to reflect this.
Modern stories tend to focus on rich, beautiful vampires and their glamorous doings. Some of them even sparkle . They ignore the fact that vampirism is a curse. The vampire is condemned to wander through eternity friendless and living off the blood of others; he or she will never know the glory of God’s kingdom. The mythology doesn’t work without a deity of some kind.
I want to tell at least part of the story from the victim’s perspective. Accurate anatomy in stories would help too. If you bite into someone’s carotid artery it going to be much bloodier than 2 neat little holes.
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Recently saw “Only Lovers Left Alive”. One of the best vampire movies of recent times. To those of you who believe Twilight is the epitome of vampire movies: please, watch “Only Lovers Left Alive”. It might clarify why so many of us consider Twilight as the Vamp-Genre’s illegitimate child with the Rom-Com.
Its not that.. The fans have just moved on to Hunger Games. They were looking for a new Twilight or Harry Potter and found it in Dystopian movies. What you’re looking for is the next thing after Hunger Games ends. The people hoping to capitalize on Hunger Games with Divergent were smart and not to wait. Trying to replace something after it ends when was so personal is hard. You have to strike while the iron is still flaming hot. Not after people lost something that they loved. its just makes them want more Twilight. So it you’re gonna do something similar after it ends will fails. Hunger Games was different enough from twilight just like Twilight was different enough from Harry Potter. Im talking about the movie goers. Fans of just the books will usually not falter in their loyalties. But movie goers will give new things a chance. But if you love a certain movie. Anything after it ends is a rip off.. The new thing right now are Dystopian films. When they dies out we can get to back paranormal vamps. But you have to have a good book first.
I however loved Underworld.. Even though the last one was awful. I hold on to hope.
I found this article after it was posted on Facebook by Anne Rice, herself. But to all “Twi-hards”, you’re inept & inexperienced. It took me 6 months to (very painfully) read the first 7 chapters of Twilight and everytime I tried to read that gawd-aweful GARBAGE,I wanted to puke.
Then it was made even worse to find out Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon and she used (&uses) her books & (underserved) fame to prop her bigotry&hatred. (like all Christians do) I’ve been reading & watching Vampire stuff over 40 years and without question,TwiLight is the worse “vampire story” EVER.The somewhat saving grace (only slightly) are the hotties in the cast,like Kristen Stewart&Nikki Reed but at the same time it pulls the movies down because they’re filled with “kids” who looked like they were pluked from crowds @ The Mall of America. My favorite “modern” vampire movie is “Dance of The Damned” starring Cyril O’Reilly &if you’d like to see a TV series written with DEPTH,buy the boxsets of FOREVER KNIGHT,there’s plenty of GOOD Vampire stuff out there&I wish everyone to get out there & experience it so we can hopefully blast this Twilight PLAGUE into oblivion.
Vampires are IMMORTAL
They will always have a place in Cinema, Art, Music and Literature. Every genre of entertainment has suffered tremendous, horrible moments. But all have bounced back. Too many people LOVE tales of Vampires to ever let them go missing for long. I think “those who make things happen” were shocked to see how popular the Vampire genre is with teens, young adults and older generations. These are the people with disposable income and they will get what they want because of it. The entertainment industry jumped the gun with twilight and flooded the market with anything that had anything to do with Vampires, regardless of the quality. The Vampires shall recover as always.
Also giant successes: The Transformers series. Also terrible movies: the Transformers series. $$$ does not = good. You twihards have to start using another argument besides popularity and money make something good.
As the author of a somewhat successful self-published vampire series, I can agree with a lot said here. Without Twilight, I probably wouldn’t have been able to earn my living full-time as a writer. Just as the Twilight books began to break sales records, I began my perilous journey through the unfamiliar world of self-publishing. I was inspired by the brand new series, The Vampire Diaries (new at the time) and wrote the first novel of my Undead in Brown County series, releasing it in 2011. I’ve seen all the TV series in that genre and I’m looking forward to seeing Vampire Academy.
I think that Twilight raised the awareness of women and girls who had yet to open a fictional book. Because their friends recommended it, they bit the bullet and started reading. As much as I disagree with some of the themes Stephanie included in her series, I believe the overall contribution was excellent. Perhaps not for the vampire genre, but for the reintroduction to the joys of reading.
Oh, please, shut the fuck up! Twilight is one of the best book series and movie series there ever was about vampires! How dare you say that you don’t understand how twilight became a huge box office hit and the best selling vampire movie ever? The cast of the movies were amazing and they picked according to the describtion in the books. I really loved it so freaking much. And I think a lot of people loved it to, ‘cus it was (and are) such a big success, huh? About Vampire Academy, could please you guys understand that this movie only came out IN TWO COUNTRIES? So, obviously, it isn’t gonna a lot of money yet! This movie is amazing, so give it a change before telling bad things about you don’t even know.
Wow guys, thanks for all the responses, good and bad. First off-Vampire Academy fans. I have not seen the movie, so I’m not slamming it. Nevertheless, in the States it DID bomb, it’s undeniable. That’s not a critique of the movie’s quality.
To whomever pointed out that the Vampyre came out in 1819 not 1919, you are correct, that was a typo. Fixed 🙂
And Twihards…God bless ya. Seriously.
and the True Blood series is really good,i l;ike sookie
Personally, I’ve always had something with vampires. When I was 9 or something my dad gave me the dutch translation of the Vampire Lestat to read. Because I already read vampire books and like the “horror” genre. That was love at first sight.
When Interview with the Vampire was shown on tv here, I secretly watched, it being a schoolday and me not being allowed to stay up and watch it. My parents promised to tape it for me (oh those good old VHS days), but I secretly watched in my room on my own antique tv.
After that, I read all Anne Rice’s books, in English and pretty much anything else I could find on the subject.
I loved Buffy and Angel, I could talk along with Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned.
Even still I watch and read pretty much anything Vampire related.
Twilight I tried to avoid as long as possible, sparkly vampires.. really not my thing and also the sugary sweet love story.. well it makes me vomit to be honest.
However, when I read the first book I got hooked and read the other four books within a week.
Then I saw the movie, and it was a huge disappointment.
I don’t care who plays which character (much), as long as the portrayal of the story is correct. And Twilight sucked big time..
Being Human, well the BBC version that is, was awesome! I got bummed out by the USA version because the first couple of episodes were an exact copy, except for the names of the characters. I prefer originality over copycat work.
I would very much love to see a Vampire Chronicles series.. I’d definitely make it my new addiction, as are Vampire Diaries, True Blood and the Originals.
However, Stuart Townsend as Lestat.. not so much.. And with Tom Hiddleston I’d keep seeing Loki I’m affraid..
How about Jamie Cambell Bower for Lestat? Or even a new totally unknown actor.
The Vampyre=1819; Dracula=1897 — please fix — otherwise heart the post quite a bit
I’m looking forward to “Only Lovers Left Alive” and I’d like to recommend “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead”. If you respond to the title, it’s worth a look.
Jesus 🙁 I’m from de generation who met the vampires with Sesame Street and the first book I read was Dracula. After reading 4 books of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles I can’t believe this genre will be out for a long time 🙁 this couldn’t be happened to one of the most amazing genres of literature, movies and series
Personally in my opinion, I love the older vampire movies, but Twilight was a teen romance series with a little action mixed in, and that’s why I like it. The movies could have been better in my opinion. I’ve also read Vampire Academy books, and the previews I have seen won’t do the books justice at all, and I have no intention of seeing them. Give me the vampire movies from the 70s til before Twilight and I’m a happy person. And I noticed a little mishap in your article about the book The Vampyre predating Dracula, and that isn’t the case. Dracula predated The Vampyre by 22 years! I absolutely love True Blood, but I haven’t read the books that went behind the making of the series. Give the movie industry at least 10 more years before they come out with a really good vampire movie. The shouldn’t have started so soon after Twilight ended. Plus, there aren’t alot of people out there who in the teenager’s world has read The Vampire Acadamy series.
I was a serious serious Twilight fan, and was dragged along to see Vampire Academy. I loved it! Went out and bought the book immediately, hoping I love them as much as I did the movie. Any twilight fans reading this, don’t be put off: it was more PLL than a copy of Twilight: vampires are really the only similarity.
I’m rambling, but seriously: go see this movie! I’m officially a Vampire Academy convert
I definetely think taste in vampire movie plots (and books) has changed, most of the youth these days find “boring” the idea of the vampire as an inmortal, misterious, complicated, even tormented being… it is just too “difficult” for some people to understand or even apreciate. Just imagining the stories behind someone who´s been around for centuries is amazing… but unfortunately the box office needs something that sells, not interesting, complicated or too insightful.
I´m a HUGE fan of Anne Rice´s vampire chronicles, and I´d love to see them become tv series. I dare to say that most (If not every) characters in her novels are perfectly constructed and defined, far from the “easyness” that people got used to with the Twilight thing.
And for all those who defend the Twilight saga using the argument that it was a millionaire thing, and that millions of people around the world love it, there is one simple thing: That is not even an argument, a bad movie or bad book, can be a big success for many other reasons than than having the best quality. Let´s not fool ourselves.
FYI I would much rather Stuart Townsend to be Lestat.
Twilight is one of the best book series and movie series there ever was! How dare you say that you don’t understand how twilight became a huge box office hit and the best selling vampire movie ever. If you think that the twilight movies stunk and were badly written than you don’t understand anything about movies.There are millions of people including myself that would disagree. Twilight broke box office records because the movies were perfect and the actors were perfect and picked according to the describtion in the books. Unlike some books that are being turned into movies for example “Fifty shades of gray” this movie was done accurately according to the books and they chose actors that were a perfect fit according to the book. I am proud to be a twihard!
Yes, Twilight is certainly ruining our culture’s love of vampires. You’d think people would be smart enough not to run with current trends, namely the one that says it’s cool to act like you’re sick of vampires. Vampires are immortal and forever want their place in our entertainment culture. The Vampire Academy movie is amazing, so much better than Twilight. People need to give it a chance. The book series is my favorite YA series, and I’m over thirty years old. The story is about female empowerment, friendship, and loyalty. It has real vampires, for goodness sakes, the kind of our nightmares. Don’t let Twilight have the power of ruining your love of vampires. Go see Vampire Academy, people! See it now! See it so the rest of the stories can come alive and be the blockbuster hits they are destined to be.
Does no one understand that this movie only came out IN TWO COUNTRIES?! Of course we’re not gonna have a lot of money as of yet! Most countries are getting the movie this weekend, so can everyone just STOP WITH THE BASHING AND GIVE IT A GODDAMN CHANCE?! This movie is fantastic, so true to the books, that you guys need to give it a break and give this movie a chance!
“Did TWILIGHT Permanently Put A Stake In The Vampire Movie Genre?”
Jesus/God I hope so.
sorry i made a typo in the last one, it is suppose to read, if you do disagree there are millions upon millions who disagree with you!! just wanted to clear that up!! 😀
i believe that Stephanie was brilliant when it comes to twilight. they made the movies the way they did with them sparkling in the sun and when killed, there is no blood just crystal formation so they could get the rating they wanted which was pg 13. they knew who the targeted audience was and that is who they made the movie for. you can not say the movie stinks because it would not be the number 1 vampire movie that was ever made. the movie saga has millions of followers of all ages and both genders that think it is one of the best sagas ever made. so how can you sit there and say it stinks? i am almost 40, do i love the movie? yes! do i wish it was more for adults? of course! but what they did do with it was amazing and you can not disagree and even if you do there are millions upon millions who disagree, just ask the author and the director of the movie who made millions upon millions of dollars off of it!!!
I love vampires and I am a 47yo mom. I was watching vampire movies as a kid and Anne Rice my favorite. My daughter was totally obsessed with Twilight, I read it, loved it for the junk it was. But the movies sucked. My daughter, now 19 is reading Lestat, loves other vampire movies, but she isn’t interested in the ones from books. Mostly because of the bad adaptations.
Kids who are scifi fans can get back to vampires if they get the right ones. It may not be great for movies but Twilight did wonders for books. I suddenly was able to actually find vampire novels on shelves. Anita Blake was around for years but I only discovered her after Twilight because it was on the shelf in the bookstore.
You should try The Originals. Much like Angel to Buffy, The Originals is much more mature than the show that spawned it. There were even a few moments while watching where I thought “damn this feels like something out of a Rice novel”. Taking place in New Orleans probably helps the whole Interview vibe too.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers did not lose his British accent for Dracula. He’s Irish.
If HBO would take Anne Rice’s Lestat stories – turn them into a super cool series – that would re-vamp Vampires.
Did you forget Underworld? I didn’t read your whole post. According to wiki the series made over $458,000,00.
If you want to see Tom Hiddleston as a vampire, check out Only Lovers Left Alive, written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and also starring Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, and Anton Yelchin. Oh yes, you heard me correctly! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714915/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Well, I had just about formulated an appropriate response until you mentioned a Lestat Hiddleston and that image alone blasted away anything I had gathered prior.
Though, it is funny, my brother and I had just been having a similar conversation. And you’re forgetting another demographic that aren’t going to see these movies: the stubborn older generation that thinks that vampires should be deadly dangerous and so they refuse to watch anything that resembles their B-Monster-F and romance.
Not permanently…probably for the next 5 or 10 years. It is enjoying the predictable life cycle of a fad. It will die down, people will forget all about Twilight, and then someone will bring vampires back out again. They’re a pretty inexpensive (in terms of makeup and effects) way to make a sexy supernatural movie, so it won’t be left to languish too long in the pile of Cosby sweaters, side ponytails, lens flares, and shaky cam fight scenes.
Of course I just noticed every typo in my post. Damn it all. I also forgot to mention that The Strain is coming to TV this summer on FX, and Preacher was just picked up by AMC, so I think we’re OK as far as Vampires, especially since the inverse of TV being much, much better than movies these days, and hey, at least we still have The Walking Dead for our horror fix.
I wouldn’t really say that Twilight ruined vampires. A good example is The Strain, written in response to sexy urban fantasy in response to make vampires gross again. Also, as much of a Whedon junkie as I am, let’s not kid ourselves, Buffy got kind of dopey at times. I mean, I guess our generations (Over 30) vampire’s are better than today, but for every Twilight there’s a Dresden files as far as books, TV shows, comics or movies.
For as cheesy as they are, Daybreakers and Abe Lincoln: VH were gross and fun, almost in the same way that Lost Boys was. I don’t think the genre is getting worse, I just thing audiences tastes are changing. The New Fright Night was every pretty good.
Buffy got dopey, but it is a show with a consciously silly concept that balances between seriousness and complete baffoonery. You can forgive a lot more when something is funny.