1) literary/historical treatments (Dracula, Coppola)
2) modern vampires/comic book (Matthew Bright's Modern Vampires, Underworld, Interview)
3) non-intellectualized (From Dusk TIll Dawn, Fright NIght)
The literary and historical treatments can often be boring, and often have poor ROI as is usually the case with costume dramas. I find this subspecies the least satisfying of all the sub-genres, with the notable exception of Mario Salieri's Dracula (1994). This is a beautifully lit and beautifully shot (credit the Italian crew--see Warhol's Dracula) medium-budget costume porno, with a particularly repellant appearance by Ron Jeremy. This is an extraordinary piece of cinema, with a particulary enjoyable cinematic device deployed for the portrayal of erotic hypnosis; this particular bit of directorial invention proved hard to replicate in unwilling vampire.
I personally find the other conventions more interesting. Apparently it's been proven that zombies or vampires couldn't exist because both their viruses would either take over the earth or get wiped out quickly--a peaceful equilibrium could not be established. I find this type of analysis retarded, and evidence that any attempt at intellectualizing the secret existence of vampires has similar intellectual merit as, say, the conceits presented in, say, From Dusk Till Dawn.
Here are some useful filmographies:
Leila's Old Web Vampire Movie Guide
Dr. Delahoyde's VAMPIRE FILMOGRAPHY by the decade
Six vampire movies with bite - MSNBC
Vampire Realm of Darkness
Amazon's Best Vampire Movies
Listmania's Best Modern Vampire Films
BBC's Cult Vampire Magazine
Odd Film's Unusual Vampire Movies
Kyla Ward's boring academic treatise
Bloody directory
DVD - Digital Vampire Disc*
*Home to such priceless information as the production details of Bruce Campbell's Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She Vampires.
