Friday, May 28, 2004
Since I was a kid, I've been enthralled by vampires, whether they're literary, shown in movies or on TV, are on a box of cereal or are the result of legends and myths created by various cultures around the world. Although my parents used to dress me up for Hallowe'en as a clown or some other such harmless thing, by the time I was eight, I was demanding to be Dracula, fake, crusty blood and all. My mother sewed me a cape, put me in a white collared shirt, paled my face with makeup and spilled that icky fake blood down my chin from the corners of my mouth. I was Dracula until I gave up Hallowe'en, which was actually earlier than most of my peers. The last time I went out trick-or-treating was in Grade 5.
Even when I was a young'un and too afraid to watch horror flicks, if there was a vampire in the movie, the fear went away. Watching Bela Lugosi hide behind a cowl, Billy the Kid throw a stake from fifteen feet into Dracula's heart (assuming I'm remembering the movie correctly) or a bunch of teenagers being demonized by Keifer Sutherland and his vampire buds, I was ready to plunk myself down in front of the TV or movie screen and stare for hours.
Little has changed. I have a healthy collection of vampire movies on VHS and DVD, several novels, a couple of books on vampire legends and countless roleplaying games in which vampires play a part (I'm running a Vampire: The Masquerade play-by-email game via YahooGroups now and I've had several vamps pop up in my D&D games over the years).
There's just something about blood-suckers that can keep me mesmerized for hours. Perhaps it's the immortality. Or maybe it's the need to drink blood and be apart from human society. Of course, it could just be the erotic horror that's evoked when you analyze vampires to the core -- something I wouldn't have understood when I was eight but that I certainly understand now. Whatever it is, vampires are like a drug to me.
Even when I was a young'un and too afraid to watch horror flicks, if there was a vampire in the movie, the fear went away. Watching Bela Lugosi hide behind a cowl, Billy the Kid throw a stake from fifteen feet into Dracula's heart (assuming I'm remembering the movie correctly) or a bunch of teenagers being demonized by Keifer Sutherland and his vampire buds, I was ready to plunk myself down in front of the TV or movie screen and stare for hours.
Little has changed. I have a healthy collection of vampire movies on VHS and DVD, several novels, a couple of books on vampire legends and countless roleplaying games in which vampires play a part (I'm running a Vampire: The Masquerade play-by-email game via YahooGroups now and I've had several vamps pop up in my D&D games over the years).
There's just something about blood-suckers that can keep me mesmerized for hours. Perhaps it's the immortality. Or maybe it's the need to drink blood and be apart from human society. Of course, it could just be the erotic horror that's evoked when you analyze vampires to the core -- something I wouldn't have understood when I was eight but that I certainly understand now. Whatever it is, vampires are like a drug to me.
// posted by Chris @ 8:13 AM 
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