50 Fun Facts About Vampire Movies

After Bram Stoker's widow sued over the silent vampire film Nosferatu, what did a court order for every copy?

Every print was ordered to be destroyed, but several copies had already slipped out of reach, which is the only reason the film can be watched now.

The title of the teen vampire film The Lost Boys borrows from which classic children's story?

Peter Pan leads a band of Lost Boys who never grow up, and neither do vampires, which is the joke behind the title. The film was shot mostly in Santa Cruz, California.

Which actor ate a live cockroach on camera while playing a man who believes he is a vampire in Vampire's Kiss?

Nicolas Cage swapped the raw egg called for in the script for a real cockroach, the one big unscripted moment in the film.

Which actress, later Mary Jane in Spider-Man, played the child vampire Claudia in Interview with the Vampire?

Kirsten Dunst was the first girl tested for Claudia, and the role brought her a Golden Globe nomination.

Which actor starred as the half-vampire 'daywalker' who hunts his own kind in the Blade film trilogy?

Wesley Snipes played Blade three times, then surprised audiences by returning to the role in Deadpool & Wolverine more than 25 years after the first film.

Which comedian voiced Count Dracula in the first three Hotel Transylvania animated films?

Adam Sandler gave Drac his voice for three films but missed the fourth, Transformania, because of scheduling conflicts, so Brian Hull took over.

Who wrote the screenplay for From Dusk till Dawn and also played the unstable bank robber Richie Gecko?

Quentin Tarantino wrote the script in 1990 for $1,500, his first paid writing job, years before Robert Rodriguez directed it.

Which actor played the Count opposite Winona Ryder in Francis Ford Coppola's film Bram Stoker's Dracula?

Gary Oldman's Count was dressed by Eiko Ishioka, whose costumes earned one of the film's three Academy Awards.

The vampire film 30 Days of Night is set in the snowbound town of Barrow in which US state?

Alaska's far-northern town of Barrow really does go weeks without a sunrise each winter, the polar night that the film's vampires exploit.

Which actor played vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight films before taking the lead in The Batman?

Robert Pattinson was one of four finalists for Edward and won the part after an audition held at the director's house.

Which British actor played Count Dracula in seven Hammer horror films before becoming Saruman and Count Dooku?

Christopher Lee first wore the cape in 1958 opposite Peter Cushing's Van Helsing, and his fanged Count fixed the popular image of the vampire.

In Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the future president is trained to slay the undead with which weapon?

An axe is the weapon his mentor Henry Sturges favours, a nod to the real Lincoln's reputation as a rail-splitter.

Which Australian actor played the monster hunter in the film Van Helsing during his years as Wolverine?

Hugh Jackman's hunter takes on Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and werewolves in one film, a homage to Universal's monster mash-ups of the 1940s.

Which star of The Naked Gun played the Count in Mel Brooks's spoof Dracula: Dead and Loving It?

Leslie Nielsen faced Mel Brooks himself as Van Helsing, in what remains the final film Brooks directed.

Which author's novel about a Maine town overrun by vampires was adapted for the screen as Salem's Lot?

Stephen King's second published novel reached the screen more than once, first as a 1979 miniseries from Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper.

Which actor played David, leader of the motorcycle-riding vampire gang, in The Lost Boys?

Kiefer Sutherland broke his wrist doing a wheelie during the shoot, which is why David wears gloves: they hid the cast.

Which singer and former Disney Channel star voices Dracula's daughter Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania films?

Selena Gomez stepped in as Mavis after Miley Cyrus, who had been announced for the part, was removed from the film.

Which Oscar-winning actor played Dr Michael Morbius, a scientist turned 'living vampire', in the film Morbius?

Jared Leto won the Golden Raspberry for Worst Actor for the role, one of five Razzie nominations the film collected.

In Ryan Coogler's vampire film Sinners, twin brothers Smoke and Stack return to Mississippi to open what?

A juke joint in an old sawmill is the twins' dream, and Michael B. Jordan, who plays both brothers, won the Best Actor Oscar for the double role.

Which British actress played Selene, a vampire who hunts werewolves, in the Underworld action films?

Kate Beckinsale's Selene is a Death Dealer, one of an elite squad of vampire assassins, and a year later she fought Dracula himself in Van Helsing.

Which star of the Bill & Ted comedies played English solicitor Jonathan Harker in the film Bram Stoker's Dracula?

Keanu Reeves was cast because the director wanted a matinée idol for Jonathan, a part he admitted was not a great one.

Which actress played the vampire dancer Santanico Pandemonium in the saloon of From Dusk till Dawn?

Salma Hayek's character borrows her name from Satánico pandemonium, a 1975 nunsploitation film.

Which rock star played a rapidly ageing vampire opposite Catherine Deneuve in Tony Scott's film The Hunger?

David Bowie took the role in what was the first feature directed by Tony Scott, who went on to make Top Gun.

Which R&B singer played the vampire queen Akasha in Queen of the Damned shortly before a fatal plane crash?

Aaliyah died in August 2001 after completing her scenes, and the film, her final screen role, is dedicated to her.

Which New Zealand filmmaker co-directed What We Do in the Shadows and played the dandy vampire Viago?

Taika Waititi shared the writing and directing with Jemaine Clement, and their flat-share mockumentary grew into a whole screen franchise.

Universal's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi had a second version shot at night on the same sets in which language?

Spanish-speaking actors took over the sets after dark, once the English-language crew had finished shooting for the day.

Which actor took over the interviewer role in Interview with the Vampire after River Phoenix died?

Christian Slater gave his entire salary from the film to River Phoenix's favourite charities.

Which British rock band's song Supermassive Black Hole plays over the vampire baseball game in Twilight?

Muse was a favourite of author Stephenie Meyer, who listened to the band while writing the novels and was consulted on the soundtrack.

In Let the Right One In, bullied schoolboy Oskar befriends the vampire Eli in a snowy suburb of which capital?

Stockholm's suburb of Blackeberg is the setting, but most of the film was shot far to the north in Luleå to be sure of enough snow and cold.

Which future director of The Hurt Locker made her solo directing debut with the vampire western Near Dark?

Kathryn Bigelow wanted to make a western but could not find the money for one, so she mixed in vampires, the more popular genre at the time.

Which director of the circus shocker Freaks made Universal's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi?

Tod Browning can also be heard in the film: he supplied the uncredited off-screen voice of the harbourmaster.

Tim Burton's vampire film Dark Shadows, about Barnabas Collins, was based on what kind of TV show?

A daytime soap opera on ABC was the source; Barnabas only arrived during its first year and quickly became the breakout character.

Which horror director, best known for A Nightmare on Elm Street, made the Eddie Murphy comedy Vampire in Brooklyn?

Wes Craven was brought in by Paramount and pushed the project toward a more serious tone than a typical Eddie Murphy vehicle.

Before the TV series, which actress played the cheerleader heroine of the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Kristy Swanson's Buffy shared the screen with Hilary Swank, who made her film debut as one of the cheerleader's friends.

Which actor earned an Oscar nomination as a silent-era star who really is a vampire in Shadow of the Vampire?

Willem Dafoe's bloodthirsty leading man brought a Best Supporting Actor nomination, and he later switched sides as an occult scholar in Robert Eggers's Nosferatu.

In The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Edward travels to which Italian town to ask a vampire council to end his life?

Volterra is a real Tuscan town, but the crew shot its scenes in Montepulciano after scouting more than a dozen locations.

In Park Chan-wook's Thirst, a man of which calling becomes a vampire after a failed medical experiment?

A Catholic priest is the unlikely vampire, in a story loosely based on Émile Zola's novel Thérèse Raquin.

Which Mexican director made his first feature with Cronos, about a clockwork scarab that grants eternal life?

Guillermo del Toro cast Ron Perlman in Cronos, the first of several films the two made together, Hellboy among them.

Which future comedy star had his first major lead role as a teenager pursued by a vampire countess in Once Bitten?

Jim Carrey played a high school student seduced by Lauren Hutton's centuries-old countess, nearly a decade before Ace Ventura made him a star.

In Blacula, an African prince visits Count Dracula's castle seeking help to end what, only to be bitten?

The slave trade is what Prince Mamuwalde wants suppressed; Dracula refuses, turns him into a vampire and locks him in a coffin.

Which German actor played the vampire Count in Werner Herzog's remake Nosferatu the Vampyre?

Klaus Kinski had already starred for Herzog in Aguirre, the Wrath of God, and this was the second of their five films together.

Which actress played Ellen Hutter, the woman haunted by Count Orlok, in Robert Eggers's Nosferatu?

Lily-Rose Depp replaced Anya Taylor-Joy, who had been attached to the long-delayed project since 2017.

In the horror film Abigail, kidnappers discover that their young hostage is a vampire trained in which art?

Ballet shapes the whole role: actress Alisha Weir learned it for the part and worked it into the way the vampire moves.

Pablo Larraín's black-and-white satire El Conde imagines which South American dictator as a centuries-old vampire?

Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile's 1973 coup, and the film reached Netflix four days after that event's 50th anniversary.

Which German actor played the vampire Count Orlok in the original silent film Nosferatu?

Max Schreck was so little known that rumours long claimed he did not exist and that the name hid a famous actor, Alfred Abel.

In A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, how does the chador-wearing vampire glide through the streets of Bad City?

On a skateboard, and not always the star's own feet: director Ana Lily Amirpour is a lifelong skater and doubled in those scenes.

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston play centuries-old vampires Eve and Adam in which Jim Jarmusch film?

Only Lovers Left Alive follows the couple between his cluttered mansion in Detroit and her book-lined home in Tangier.

Which Vincent Price film was the first screen adaptation of the vampire-plague novel I Am Legend?

The Last Man on Earth arrived in 1964, ahead of The Omega Man with Charlton Heston and the Will Smith film that kept the novel's title.

Which Danish director of The Passion of Joan of Arc made the eerie early sound film Vampyr?

Carl Theodor Dreyer was making his first sound film, and to complicate matters Vampyr was recorded in three languages.

Which actor played the title role in Renfield, a servant who joins a self-help group to escape Count Dracula?

Nicholas Hoult's Renfield finds a 12-step group for people in codependent relationships, and decides his boss is the toxic one.