Whether they sparkle or they snarl, vampires have lurked in the realm of film for decades. From Dracula to Blade, the nocturnal creatures have starred in some of the most popular movies in cinema history. Usually resigned to villain status in horror movies, vamps have also been given their time in the sun (not literally) as heroes, exploring a different side of one of the most recognizable monsters in popular culture.
Typically more refined than zombies, vampires' regal nature makes them easy prey for parody. While the shambling undead is used more often in the horror-comedy genre, vampires have had more than their fair share of humorous horror stories. Whether it's following the surprisingly dull life of a modern vampire or watching clueless youths attempt to slay the immortal creatures, the following funny vampire movies go straight for the jugular when it comes to providing laughs.
15 'Once Bitten' (1985)
Image Via Samuel Goldwyn FilmsA centuries-old vampire named The Countess (Lauren Hutton) has retained her youthful looks by feeding on the blood of male virgins throughout the ages. When she sets her sights on dorky teenager Mark (Jim Carrey), it falls to his girlfriend Robin (Karen Kopins) to save Mark from the possessive Countess' grasp.
Despised by critics at release, Once Bitten has amassed a cult following over the years. A key reason for this is Carrey, who scored his first major lead role in Once Bitten. Even as a fresh-faced teen, Carrey offers a glimpse at the comedic talents he possesses and makes this one vampire comedy worth taking a bite out of.
14 'Vampires vs. the Bronx' (2020)
Image Via NetflixWhen vampires begin to take over their beloved Bronx neighborhood, a trio of teenage boys band together to save their friends and family from the bloodthirsty baddies. Vampires vs. the Bronx is a nice throwback to the horror comedies of the '80s, with The Lost Boys a clear inspiration.
While offering plenty of laughs and scares, Vampires vs. the Bronx's narrative also has an eye on social issues. With the movie's vamps being portrayed as rich, white developers who wish to take over the inner city area and transform it for their own purposes, the story has as much to say about gentrification as it does about vampires.
13 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (1992)
.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2)
Image via 20th Century StudiosThe original incarnation of the character that Sarah Michelle Gellar made famous, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, laid the groundwork that the beloved TV series built upon. Starring Kristy Swanson as the teenage vampire killer, the movie follows Buffy as she battles a nest of vampires in LA.
Beginning with Buffy learning of her destiny as The Slayer, the cheerleader swiftly swaps pom-poms for wooden stakes as vampire king Lothos (Rutger Hauer) threatens the world. Also starring Donald Sutherland, Luke Perry, and Hilary Swank, The movie offers a far lighter tone than the darker direction the series ultimately headed in.
12 'Bloodsucking Bastards' (2015)
Image via Scream FactoryWorking in an office can be torture, but it's even worse when your boss is a vampire. When hard-working but overlooked Evan (Fran Kranz from The Cabin in the Woods) discovers new sales manager Max (Pedro Pascal) has a taste for blood, he attempts to out the popular employee while keeping himself and his friends alive.
One of the most underrated comedy vampire movies, Bloodsucking Bastards is a charming B-movie. A pre-The Mandalorian Pascal is the movie's highlight as the slimy but charming villain. As the tension in the office rises alongside the body count, the movie builds to a satisfying conclusion.
11 'Dracula: Dead and Loving It' (1995)
Image via Columbia PicturesThe late great Leslie Nielsen was the king of parody movies, and Dracula: Dead and Loving It is the Naked Gun star's stab at the vampire genre. A comedic take on the classic Dracula, Nielsen stars as the famous bloodsucker as he travels to London in search of fresh blood.
Directed by Mel Brooks, the comedic style is reminiscent of his work on Young Frankenstein and Spaceballs. While the movie doesn't rate as one of Leslie Nielsen's best movies, it still provides enough laughs to warrant fans of both the beloved actor and Dracula to seek it out.
10 'My Best Friend is a Vampire' (1987)
Image Via Kings Road EntertainmentAfter he delivers groceries to a mysterious older woman, teenager Jeremy (Robert Sean Leonard) is bitten and turned into a vampire. Determined to live as a "good" vampire, Jeremy is forced to contend with his new hunger, his feelings for his classmate, and a pair of vampire hunters that have arrived in town.
My Best Friend is a Vampire uses its vampire focus as a way to tell a queer story, with Jeremy's new affliction a metaphor for struggling to come out. This adds an extra layer to this horror-comedy, causing it to age quite well by modern standards.
9 'Day Shift' (2022)
Image via NetflixOne of the best vampire movies on Netflix, Day Shift stars Jamie Foxx as Bud Jablonski, a vampire hunter who masquerades as a pool cleaner in California. Needing money fast, Bud joins the vampire hunting union, which previously booted him out. In order to pass probation, Bud is paired with inexperienced desk clerk Seth (Dave Franco).
The closest we are going to get to a new Blade film until Marvel sorts out the troubled production, Day Shift offers a backdrop for the always charismatic Foxx to ply his trade. Franco steals every scene he is in as the wimpy Seth, while Snopp Dogg also stars as Bud's vampire-hunting friend Big John.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →
01
Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it. BStay quiet and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it. CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again. DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with. ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people. BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight. CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there. DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things. ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours?
APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence. BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out. CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me. DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught. EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer. BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see. CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me. DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself. EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't.
AThe one who says "we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens. BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does. CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to. DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed. EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind. BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me. CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy. DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with. EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it. BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect. CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon. DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on. EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours?
AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me. BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it. CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most. DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed. EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it.
REVEAL MY VILLAIN →
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
- He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn't strategise, doesn't adapt, doesn't outsmart. He simply pursues.
- Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
- The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
- You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention.
- But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
- Michael's power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
- Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
- You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
- You are harder to destabilise than most. You've faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven't looked away.
- The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
- Freddy's greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
- Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
- The Losers Club didn't survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
- You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
- That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise's worst nightmare.
- It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chucky
Chucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
- You don't have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
- Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
- Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
- Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
8 'Vampire's Kiss' (1988)
Image Via MGMMade famous thanks to Nicolas Cage's over-the-top performance, Vampire's Kiss stars Cage as Peter, a white-collar worker living in New York. After a one-night stand with a mysterious woman results in her biting him, Peter becomes convinced he is turning into a vampire.
Divisive at release due to Cage's bizarre and over-the-top acting, this same committed performance is the reason Vampire's Kiss remains a cult classic today. Every element of Cage's signature style is on full display as he tries to convince everyone he meets that he has become one of the undead.
7 'Dark Shadows' (2012)
Image via Warner Bros PicturesTim Burton's revival of the television series from the '60s, Dark Shadows, stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, a vampire from the 18th century. When a love-scorned witch curses Barnabas, a dramatic turn of events causes him to awaken in 1972, where he meets his current line of ancestors.
Dark Shadows contains Burton's signature quirky style, as every Goth kid's favorite director reunites with frequent collaborator Depp. While it is not the best film the pair have made together, it does enough to entertain fans of the director while offering a more retro take on the vampire genre.
6 'Fright Night' (2011)
Image via DreamWorksA remake of the cult classic '80s movie of the same name, Fright Night forges its own identity while paying homage to the original. When teenager Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) begins to suspect his new neighbor, Jerry (Colin Farrell), is a vampire, he enlists the aid of Las Vegas magician and self-proclaimed vampire hunter Peter Vincent (David Tennant).
Stacked with a great cast that includes Toni Collette and Imogen Poots, Fright Night is an entertaining ride that knows when to be funny and when to be frightening. Arriving during the height of the Twilight craze, the movie's R-rating offers a fresh, bloody take on the monsters from a period when their fangs were becoming dull.
English (US) ·