There is nothing more cliche than a vampire in a movie or television series or book. Most of them are utter crap. They are the most overplayed monster in media to the point that its really sickening.
But I do have my favorites and my own personal dislikes. Here’s a quit rundown. Personally, I have not seen them all, so I will just give you what I consider the best and worst of what I have seen:
Best vampire characters:
- Alucard from Hellsing – if you are going by the anime, the manga, or the latest anime, he pretty much the same character. A vampire who kills without impunity and without remorse. Yet he has a strange sense of honor where he serves a human mostly because of her own strength of will. He could have easily killed her or made her into his fledgling. He also desires to be killed by another human (in the manga only) and place an end to his existence. Check out Hellsing Ultimate on animesquish.org. You will love this character. If you happen to get an English dub, he is voiced by Crispin Glover, who does an awesome job of sending a slight thrill up your spine whenever Alucard kills.
- Moka Akashiya from Rosario + Vampire – specifically, I am referring to the “inner” Moka because the outer version is an empty personality with no real sense of her powers. For some reason, her father, who likes naming his kids after hot beverages, decided to suppress Moka’s powers with a special cross. For some other unexplained reason, only a human could remove the cross and this cross also split her into two distinct personalities. The “inner” version is much more enjoyable as she is tough and yet frighteningly beautiful. Too bad they focus a lot of time on panty shots in the anime and stupid high school romances between monsters and a single human, otherwise it would have one badass show. The opening and ending theme songs are pretty good for the show as well. I do not know much about the manga that this show was based on, however.
- Lucien LaCroix from Forever Knight – OK, I know the first two were from Japan, but this one comes from Canada. LaCroix is probably one the most compelling vampire characters in a live action television series. The main character of the show was sired by him and so LaCroix thinks it is his duty to mess with him every chance he gets. He is one of the few characters in the show who fully accepts what he is and always is there to remind Nick Knight, the show’s main character, of what he is, much to his own agony and guilt. In one episode, he even stood in sunlight to prove to Nick, who had gained temporary humanity, that Nick was his as long as he wanted.
- Spike from the Buffyverse – Spike was probably my favorite character on the shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. He was great at pointing out the obvious and he was awesome at being a jerk about it. While starting out as a villain, he eventually became more of an antihero. I will not say that he was a hero because he was such a jerk to just about everyone. Even when he got his soul back, he was still a total jerk and kept most of his personality unlike Angel, the other vampire, who has basically two distinct personalities.
Worst vampire characters:
- Dracula from the original Bram Stroker novel – I know, I am ripping a classic horror novel, but have any of you actually read it? Dracula himself comes off as one of the most moronic of characters. If he really wanted to conquer England, he should not have bothered to try and kill the realtor who was working the deal out for his property purchase. Or killed the sailors on the ship who transported him there. Or tried to kill off said realtor’s friends. Anyway, if you read the book, you will probably be bored out of your mind more than horrified.
- Lestat from The Vampire Chronicles movies – This guy is probably one of the most annoying characters in the movies. I have not read the books, so I am sure he comes off much better in the books, but I never liked him in the movies. I do not fault Anne Rice for this because I am sure she wrote better characters, although I think she liked writing too much about gay vampires.
- Blade from the Blade movies – OK, this is one is technically “half-vampire” whatever that means, but he is probably one of the most robotic characters onscreen. There is no conflict, no emotion, no sense of duty or justice coming off him. Just a guy who kills other vampires. And the sunglasses always bothered me too.
Well, that is all I can think of right now. Happy Halloween everyone!