Five Vampire Movies worth watching...

and five to probably skip...

With varying degrees of scariness, but little romance {sigh}

The Lost Boys--I think this is the one that did me in. It's all about Keifer Sutherland and his boys. I could care less that they were supposed to be the bad guys, they were way more interesting than the beauteous, but boring Jason Patric, and the Coreys. I was always fascinated by Corey Haim's "I love shopping" t-shirt and the Rob Lowe poster hanging in his room. Was Corey's character struggling with his sexuality? Whatever. Why couldn't they let the sexy and intense Keifer live? Sigh. These days they would've redeemed him.

Shadow of the Vampire--Fun one about the making of Nosferatu (which is pretty neat too, if you've got to patience for something really old). Willem Defoe plays Max Schreck the mysterious guy who played the "Dracula" in that movie. He is very mysterious, and weird things start happening on-set. This one is creepy, humorous and well-done.

Blade--It's too bad that Wesley Snipes went wacky. He made some good movies back in the day. I really enjoyed the first two movies in this trilogy (the third was bleh). An anti-hero type that will be familiar to paranormal romance readers. The second one (my favorite), was directed by Guillermo Del Toro, who also directed Hellboy which I loved.

Dracula--The Francis Ford Coppola one, with Gary Oldman. Very flawed, but it had some great moments. I loved it when Dracula sees Mina/Winona in London at the puppet show thingy. I love Gary Oldman. I definitely thought Mina should stick with Drac rather than Harker/Keanu and his mysterious accent.

Near Dark--A must-see for vamp fans. Travelling desert vampire, lots of atmosphere. Yummy Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henricksen, and Bill Paxton. It's been awhile since I've seen this. I should rent it or something.

And...erm...some others...

Embrace of the Vampire--My husband (who shall henceforth be known as Sidekick) loves this movie. But that's because he got to see Alyssa Milano's boobies. I suspect that your enjoyment of this film is in direct correlation to your enjoyment of Alyssa's boobies, because, lame.

The Breed--I randomly found this on Sci-Fi Channel late one night. It got slammed on IMDB, and Sidekick didn't care for it but I liked it. It takes place in a future where vampires have come out in the open. (Another familiar set-up). It features Adrian Paul from Highlander and Bokeem Woodbine. Everyone's kind of wooden and plastic because it's the future, I guess. IMO, worth a try if it's on TV or something.

Once Bitten--An early, early Jim Carrey movie, wherein he plays a teenage virgin who gets bitten by Lauren Hutton. I'm not a fan of the Carrey slapsick schtick, but someone else might like it better.

Fright Night--Total guilty pleasure. Totally cheesy, totally eighties, but I always enjoy catching this one. The guy from Herman's Head thinks his next door neighbor is a vampire, so he enlists the help of his favorite horror movie show host. And his girlfriend is Marcy from Married with Children. This one shows up on cable this time of year.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer--Can't compare to the series, of course, but kind of fun when judged on its own merit. I enjoyed it as a teen, but I don't like Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry.

While I was typing this I thought of Innocent Blood (good, romance fans might enjoy), and Underworld (total guilty pleasure, IMO.) Don't bother with Underworld Evolution. It stinks.