FrightFest Guide to Vampire Movies

This sixth volume in the “FrightFest Guides” series spotlights vampire films with the same exhaustive research and biting wit of the previous volumes, which showcased werewolves, ghosts, monsters, grindhouse, and exploitation movies. The UK-based FrightFest film festival has been essential viewing for horror fans since 2000, which gives gravitas to this book’s outstanding selection of films ranging from classics to very obscure films. Film historian Thompson (Fear Without Frontiers) begins with a 27-page overview of the history of vampire films that offers a rollicking journey through the decades, touching on Universal’s classics, Hammer Films, vampire-porn films in the 1970s and 1980s, TV series, and more. The majority of the book is devoted to highlighting 200 vampire films (including TV movies). Listed chronologically from 1922’s Nosferatu to 2021’s Night Teeth, each film gets a beautifully designed full page with color stills and poster art. Thompson rarely dismisses a film as unworthy and admirably finds fun facts to enliven even risible films like Billy the Kid vs. Dracula.