The 38 Best Vampire Movies of All Time

The newest entry on this list is 2024’s Abigail, which comes from Radio Silence—the team behind Ready or Not, Scream (2022), and Scream VI. Which tells you one vital thing: it’s scary, it’s violent, and it’s funny. A ragtag group of criminals (including Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, and more) think they’ve found a home invasion job with an easy payout—but a little girl with a blood-sucking secret proves to make it anything but.

Stream It Here

Nicolas Cage has dabbled in the Vampiric Arts a number of times through the years (most recently Renfield, which we don’t quite recommend). The standout for Mr. Cage has to be Vampire’s Kiss, where Cage—at his most manic, which is really saying something—plays a man who gets bitten by a woman, and convinces himself he’s turning into a vampire.

Stream It Here

You’ve heard of Nosferatu; Shadow of the Vampire imagines an alternate history where Max Schreck, the actor who played the original Count Orlok (played here by Willem Dafoe), is way way way way more into the whole vampire thing than anyone could have expected. Is he the OG method actor, or something a bit more… supernatural?

Stream It Here

The title alone—John Carpenter’s Vampires—should be enough to get you on board. Carpenter is one of the all-time horror masters (he made Halloween and The Thing, come on), and the fact that it took him until 1998 to tell a vampire story is actually surprising. In any event, this film is based on a book called Vampire$, and is about a team of vampire slayers led by James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, and Twin Peaks star Sheryl Lee. It’s awesome.

Stream It Here

Only Lovers Left Alive is both a vampire movie—and with Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as its leads, has a pair of stars who feel like they were born to play vampiers—and a Jim Jarmusch movie. For those not familiar with Jarmusch’s work, he tends to create a quiet, deliberate atmosphere; he puts less emphasis on “plot” than on “character,” and frequently uses deadpan humor to create fun film situations. In other words? It’s a hangout movie. Swinton and Hiddleston play blood-suckers pondering their place in the world after centuries of wading through it.

Stream It Here

Based on Anne Rice’s 1976 novel of the same name, Interview With the Vampire flashes back and forth between 1791 New Orleans, 1870 Paris, and modern-day San Francisco. This vampire movie follows Lestat (Tom Cruise) and Louis (Brad Pitt) after Lestat transforms Louis, and their story later includes a ten-year-old named Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) that they also turn into a vampire.

Stream it here

This horror western from Ana Lily Amirpour features a vampire preying on men in Iran. While the film has traditional vampiric horror at its fang root, it also veers into the best of art house cinema. For something fresh, provocative, and masterfully done, check out this gem.

Stream it here

Based off the 1897 novel Dracula and 1973 film of the same name, Francis Ford Coppola’s vampire movie stars Gary Oldman as the vampire Count Dracula as he travels to England. Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Keanu Reeves also star.

Stream it here

Probably one of the coolest films on the list, 1998’s Blade follows the highly skilled half-vampire “daywalker” Eric Brooks (played by Wesley Snipes) as he hunts vampires. Two sequels—Blade II and Blade: Trinity—followed in 2002 and 2004.

Stream it here

Imagine, if you will, a horde of intelligent, sentient vampires taking over an Alaskan town, wreaking havoc just as nighttime falls upon the tiny suburb for an entire month. Yes, there are several plot holes—mainly, why does this town not having a functioning airport during the winter so these people can escape?—but it’s a gruesome, entertaining extravaganza, starring none other than ’90s heartthrob Josh Hartnett.

Stream it here

In this classic Swedish vampire movie, a 12-year-old boy unsuccessfully deals with bullies at his school and seeks revenge. Fortunately for him, he meets his next-door neighbor—who also happens to be a young (seeming) vampire with super strength and a slew of other supernatural skills. How convenient! (Chloë Grace Moretz starred in an American remake back in 2010, too.)

Stream It here

We had to include at least one teen vampire saga, and as influential as the one you’re thinking of definitely is, we’re putting Joel Schumacher’s horror comedy on here instead. It may have even been the grandfather of the sexy young vampire genre we’ve all come to openly hate (but secretly kind of like).

Stream it here

The vampires have won. Human beings are decimated. Society is now wholly contingent on the remaining blood (and humans) in the world to feed the starving. That’s how Daybreakers approaches the vampire genre, and it does a damn good job at it, particularly with Ethan Hawke at the helm.

Stream it here

Hear us out—I Am Legend is not a perfect movie. For a flick about vampires having ravaged New York City, leaving Will Smith’s character as the lone survivor on the island of Manhattan, it’s surprisingly not scary. (Maybe it’s the CGI-vampires that ruins the effect?) That said, the movie is beautifully shot. Streets were deserted specifically for the production of the movie, likely much to the dismay of New Yorkers at the time, but at least viewers can appreciate them now.

Stream it here

Tim Burton’s vampire movie is based on the 1966 TV show of the same name, and it stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, an 18th-century vampire who awakens in the 20th century. Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Bella Heathcote fill out the rest of the cast.

Stream it here

Ever wondered what the world would have been like if President Lincoln was a secret vampire hunter? Well, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is here to fulfill your fantasy. The movie takes some…liberties with history, but the visual style is stunning.

Stream it here

Okay, fine it’s a “limited series.” Still, the seven or so hours you’ll spend with Midnight Mass won’t entail derivative vampire lore. The series merges vampirism with Catholicism in a terrifying trip to one small town’s Sunday sermon.

Stream it here

2003’s Underworld tells the story of Selene, played by Kate Beckinsale, a vampire who works to kill the Lycans (werewolves) who slaughtered her family. But after a human that she’s attracted to is bitten by a Lycan, she has to choose between her heart or her duty. Four sequels followed between 2006-2016.

Stream it here

Loosely based on the second and third novel of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles series, Queen of the Damned stars Aaliyah as Akasha, the queen of all vampires, and she desires to make legendary vampire and rock star Lestat (Stuart Townsend) her king.

Stream it here

Going all the way back to 1932 with this German adaptation of an even older short story collection—1872’s In a Glass Darkly. It may have been a little too ambitious for the time, but now it’s a must see for all horror cinema scholars.

Stream it here