One of the oldest forms of horror cinema is the vampire genre. The first significant vampire movie arrived in 1922 with Nosferatu, based on the 1897 horror novel Dracula. The first of the Universal Horror Monsters then came in 1931 with Dracula, which also received a Spanish-language version of the same film. Since that time, vampires have been a movie staple.
It looked like, in the '80s, vampire movies were making a comeback. In 1987, The Lost Boys and Near Dark started the revival, and the '90s saw several different types of vampire stories, from comedies to gothic horror tales, to a straight-up superhero movie. Here is a look at the 10 best vampire movies of the '90s, based on Rotten Tomatoes scores.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992) - 35%
The TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the best urban fantasy series in history, and it helped the raise interest in the 1992 movie on which it was based, turning it into a cult classic. However, when it comes to the Rotten Tomatoes reviews, it was not well received, especially when it came out with a low 35 percent rating.
Kristy Swanson is the slayer in this movie version, while Rutger Hauer stars as a local vampire king. Joss Whedon wrote the movie and made the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show to change things he didn't like about the film. If anything, this movie serves as an interesting prequel for the landmark series.
John Carpenter's Vampires (1998) - 40%
By 1998, John Carpenter was on the down-swing of his otherwise legendary career. However, he was still making movies and created his vampire romp with the slightly generic if straightforward name John Carpenter's Vampires.
This film appeared somewhat influenced by Near Dark, putting the vampire story in what looked like a Western. James Woods was the leader of a team of vampire hunters who set out to stop the world's most powerful bloodsucker.
Blade (1998) - 55%
Before Spider-Man and X-Men started the Marvel movie craze and before Black Panther was dubbed as the first major superhero movie with an African American lead, Marvel's Blade hit theaters in 1998. Blade was more of an action-packed horror movie than a typical comic book movie, which is why some people overlook it.
Wesley Snipes is a Dhampir (a vampire who can walk in the sun, aka a Daywalker) whose mother was bit by a vampire when she was about to deliver him as a baby. He has dedicated his life to hunting and killing vampires.
Nadja (1995) - 60%
Najda is one of the least known vampire movies from the '90s. The film has a positive Rotten Tomatoes score, with it sitting at 60 percent fresh, and fans also liked it, with a 67 percent rating. While a vampire movie at its core, this film took a more arthouse approach to its execution.
The movie starts with the death of Dracula, with a stake through his heart, and his daughter Nadja shows up to claim his body, hoping it will free her. Van Helsing (Peter Fonda) knows that the body has to be destroyed and sets out to get it back.
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) - 63%
In 1996, two of the independent filmmaking stars of the '90s teamed up for a movie, and it merged each of their worlds into one story. The first part of From Dusk Till Dawn was pure Quentin Tarantino, a crime story about two thieves who take a family hostage during the mad dash to the Mexican border.
However, when they reached a certain bar for a rendezvous, it turned out to be a vampire haven, which is where Robert Rodriguez's sensibilities kicked in. The movie has a 63 percent fresh rating. The Dusk Till Dawn movie even garnered a franchise, spawning sequels and a series.
Interview With The Vampire (1994) - 63%
Neil Jordan brought Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire to the big screen. The movie starred Brad Pitt as the vampire Louis, turned into the creature by the elder vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise).
Interview With The Vampire is not so much a horror movie as it is a drama, with Louis telling his life story in modern times to a reporter, chronicling his time with Lestat and the 10-year-old vampire child they turned. While this one was loved by critics and Rices' fans alike, the second adaptation of Anne Rice's vampire novels, Queen Of The Damned, was less appreciated.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - 71%
In 1992, one of the most iconic modern-day vampire movies arrived, with Francis Ford Coppola directing Bram Stoker's Dracula. The film has a high Rotten Tomatoes score for a vampire movie, although one of the biggest things to drag it down was the casting of Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker.
However, the production design, costuming, and makeup effects were widely praised, as was Gary Oldman's performance in this Dracula adaptation. The film picked up three Oscars out of four nominations, all for the production design of the movie.
Habit (1997) - 72%
Director Larry Fessenden is known for a long career making and starring in all kinds of low-budget indie horror movies, but he enjoyed his breakout success with his small vampire film Habit.
The movie is about a self-destructive young man in New York who meets a beautiful woman and ends up in a sexual relationship with her, only to believe over time that he is turning into a vampire. The film won the Producers Award at the Independent Spirit Awards and has a 72 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Addiction (1995) - 75%
The Addiction is a 1995 vampire movie by indie filmmaking pioneer Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant). The film is about a graduate student played by Lili Taylor, who is turned into a vampire when a woman attacks her one night.
She proceeds to become more aggressive and attacks several people on campus before she meets a man named Peina (Christopher Walken), who said he is a vampire who has almost conquered his addiction for blood and offers to help her.
Cronos (1994) - 90%
The most critically acclaimed vampire movie of the '90s, according to Rotten Tomatoes scores is Cronos, and nothing of this decade comes close. The only vampire film of the decade to hit 90 percent fresh, Cronos is a Guillermo Del Toro Spanish-language movie and the director's first feature film.
In this movie, an antique dealer finds an ancient scarab that gives him eternal life, but a thirst for blood. When a man shows up to retrieve the scarab, the man is not willing to give up immortality easily.