This is a personal essay about why I love the recently renewed trend of vampire movies being increasingly graphic and ugly. Vampires as a literary concept are representative of sexual coercion, the sucking away of sexual autonomy and dignity, and the loss of self. Vampires cannot forcibly enter your home, but they push until you give them permission, similar to the predatory nature of sexual coercion. Many Hollywood movies have left vampires essentially "defanged," with characters like Edward Cullen or Gary Oldman's Dracula as non-dangerous, passionate lovers. These vampires have lost the true meaning of what vampirism represents in media, but the rise of grotesque gothic horror, such as Robert Eggers' Nosferatu, bring back the visually disturbing imagery and danger that vampirism represents.
Cover image credit, Nosferatu , eine Symphonie des Grauens, F. W. Murnau, Germany 1922, 81 min., 16mm, accessed through the George Eastman Museum, https://www.eastman.org/nosferatu
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