7 Vampire Stories to Watch After Nosferatu

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is now in theaters, with the reimagining of the seminal vampire horror film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror originally released in 1922 winning over both critics and horror fans alike. The story — a sort of adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula — has become definitive in terms of vampire stories and lore particularly in entertainment with the original casting a long shadow over such tales throughout the decades. While Eggers’ version is poised to have its own impact on the genre, one thing is already clear; vampires are back to having their moment. That means that once Nosferatu gets its fangs into you, you’re probably going to thirst for more stories — and luckily for you, while you might have to avoid the light you don’t have to be in the dark about what to watch next.

Now, before we dive into this list, we have a little bit of housekeeping to do. First, this is not a list of “best” vampire stories to watch — though some of the things on this list are pretty great. This list also isn’t going to suggest some of the common projects you might expect. Things like Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, Dracula, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula are simply a given while things like say, Twilight and The Lost Boys show up on lists like this pretty regularly. Instead, this list hopefully offers up some unexpected selections to help you get your undead fix and maybe even suggest something you’ve never heard of before. Onto the list (which is in no particular order).

The Hunger (1983)

If you haven’t seen Top Gun director Tony Scott’s feature film debut, The Hunger, fix that immediately. Released in 1983, The Hunger stars Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie (yes, David Bowie) as vampires Miriam and John. Miriam dates back to Ancient Egypt while her companion, John, hails from 18th century France. However, two centuries into his undead life, John is beginning to age — well on his way to suffering the fate of all of Miriam’s companions to suffer an eternal living death. Attempting to solve the problem, research gerontologist Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon) gets involved and soon ends up entangled in a romantic relationship with Miriam. The film is a complicated story about loss, the fear of aging, and attraction all rolled up in a vampire story with some incredible music by Bauhaus.

[RELATED: Before Nosferatu, These Were the Best Dracula Performances]

Interview With the Vampire — Movie and Television Series

Here’s a double suggestion for you: both adaptations of Interview With the Vampire. The film version, released in 1994 and directed by Neil Jordan, is perhaps the most authentic adaptation of Anne Rice’s iconic 1976 novel of the same name. Starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and more, the film follows Louis de Pointe du Lac (Pitt) as he tells his vampiric life story from the tragedies of his mortal life all the way to the tragedies and trauma of his vampiric existence. AMC’s television series follows the same general story but switches up the setting and makes some changes to key characters to give the story a more contemporary take. The series, which stars Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, and Delainey Hayles, has aired two seasons with a third season coming in 2025.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Here’s one that you might not even have heard of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. The film, described as a “vampire western” comes from Persian filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour and follows a lonesome female vampire who preys on men who harm and disrespect women in her Iranian city. Not only is the film visually striking thanks in part to being filmed in black and white, but the film’s protagonist, The Girl, is a unique take on the vampire story in that it centers around a female predator. Oh, and she skateboards. It also has great music.

Forever Knight

Debuting in 1992, Forever Knight is a Canadian television series that follows Nick Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies), an 800-year-old vampire who works as a police detective in modern Toronto where he seeks to redeem himself for all the deaths he’s caused over the centuries by solving homicides — all while looking for a way to be human once more. The series, which got its start as the CBS television movie Nick Knight starring Rick Springfield in the titular role, aired for three seasons — the first on CBS, the second as first-run syndication, and the third on USA Network. What makes this particularly interesting in terms of vampire stories is that there are at least two episodes in the series that suggests vampirism is at least partly psychosomatic when it’s revealed that vampires who have forgotten that they are in fact vampires don’t suffer from most of the classic weaknesses. Oh, and bonus: the series has three novels based upon it.

Blade (1998)

Look, this is ComicBook. Did you expect this list to not include Blade? That notwithstanding, Blade is a solid vampire movie. Starring Wesley Snipes as Blade, the. movie is an adaptation of Marvel Comics and follows a human-vampire hybrid protecting the mortal world from vampires. The movie was a key component in the rise of comic book movies, and while Marvel is (eventually) giving us a new blade with Mahershala Ali playing the titular character, you don’t want to mis the original. Especially if you are comics fan.

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

Released in 2013 and starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton, Only Lovers Left Alive follows two centuries-old married vampires navigating not only their relationship but their very existence in a world where blood that hasn’t been contaminated by the environment of the 21st century is growing rare. The movie is very human — the story centers on the lives of Hiddleston’s Adam and Swinton’s Eve and while the characters are vampires, their fears and insecurities are little different than that of mortals. It’s unusual entry in overall vampire stories, but a solid one.

The Vampire Diaries

You can’t really dig into vampire stories without getting into some of the more contemporary ones that have, for better or for worse, started to help shape them for the future and that’s why The Vampire Diaries makes this list. Debuting in 2009 and running for eight seasons on The CW, The Vampire Diaries is somewhat loosely based on the book series of the same name by L.J. Smith. It follows Elena Gilbert, a teen girl in the town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, who falls in love with a 161-year-old vampire masquerading as a human. The series includes various citizens of the town as well as Elena’s family and friends and the vampiric and supernatural threats to the town — which go on to include werewolves, witches, ghosts, and werewolf/vampire hybrids. The series, while often relying on relationship drama for much of its tension, also introduced some interesting concepts to overall vampire lore — most notably the use of magically charged “daylight rings” that allow the vampires to hide in plain sight by walking among the living. It also went on to spawn two spin off series, The Originals and Legacies (though some fans also include the short-lived The Secret Circle series based on another book series by Smith centered on witches as being nebulously part of The Vampire Diaries overall legacy.)

Nosferatu is in theaters now.