When Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, he took the folk stories of Eastern Europe and turned them on their head. Before Dracula, vampires weren't sexy. They didn't menace in the dark and then seduce their prey: they were loathsome killers escaping their fetid graves. They were filthy, stinking and possessed of a low, animal cunning, creatures with a close resemblance to the fast zombies of the film 28 Days Later.

Bram Stoker's vampire changed everything. Unlike the folk-mythological vampires, Dracula lived in a castle. He made complex plans and manipulated intelligent, modern men. He formed alliances and seduced even the innocent . Plus that, he dressed well, traveled the continent of Europe, and could even navigate a real estate contract. If it weren't for that nagging problem with the sun, he would have been the perfect man. And in fact, that kind of appeal has become the foundation of the vampire genre. From Anne Rice to Stephenie Meyer, from Blade to Once Bitten, the vast majority of films and books about vampires have focused on the sexy, aristocratic side of the vampire legend.

Maybe it's my proletariat background or my Eastern European heritage, but I've always been drawn to those odd-ball vampire stories that recollect the ancient, dirty vampire. My personal top-three vampire films are Lost Boys, 30 Days of Night, and Near Dark. They all feature vampires who are dirty low-lives just aching to suck blood and wreak havoc on humanity. Watch them with a big plate of pierogi and some cheap beer for guaranteed entertainment.

Little Miss ZomCon

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