How Do You Prefer Your Vampires and Zombies?

This past week, I started watching the From Dusk ‘til Dawn TV series on Netflix. I’d seen the trailers for it on TV, and I really enjoyed the movie, so I thought, “Why not?”

So far, I’m really digging it. It pretty much follows the movie, with the Gecko brothers staging a daring prison escape and heading down to Mexico for freedom. The only difference is that the series foreshadows the upcoming vampires where the film didn’t. However, that makes sense, especially if you consider that most people have probably already seen the movie and know what to expect. And yet, even if they haven’t seen it, the foreshadowing reveal is still done really well.

It’s shown through the perspective of Richie, the brother who has some obviously mental issues. So if you don’t know what’s coming, you might just think it’s his mind playing tricks on him. But if you do know what’s coming, you can’t wait until they show up.

From Dusk ‘til Dawn is one of my favorite movies. It starts out as something completely different than how it finishes. And most people never see the twist coming. Robert Rodriguez did an awesome job with the film. And he’s the one who created the TV series too. I’m not very far into it; I just started episode 2, but I’m enjoying it.

It got me thinking about the evolution of the vampire and what my favorite kind has been. The vampires in From Dusk ‘til Dawn are hideous monsters that feed and gorge in horrific fashion. If you’ve seen the film, you know that they can go through clientele in very little time, and blood and body parts get everywhere—they even become the instruments of the house band. It’s gory, much like a feeding frenzy with zombies.

While all vampires are monstrous, not all of them look like monsters. The vampires in Interview with the Vampire had a sexy quality about them. And so did Count Dracula in Dracula when he decided to look a certain way. But no matter how “sexy” they appeared, they were still incredibly dangerous. They still killed humans—even if they had a moral objection to doing it (such as Louis in Interview with the Vampire).

But as time ventured forth, the vampire evolved. They became less dangerous and way sexier. So sexy, in fact, that they would glitter in the sun. And they wouldn’t dream of killing a human. They satiated their hunger by hunting animals.

Even zombies have taken on this type of evolution. In Warm Bodies, R has the ability to feel for Julia. He can even go so far as to eat her boyfriend’s brains so he can indulge in his memories of her. He’s dangerous at the beginning of the film, but as it progresses, he becomes less and less of a monster. By the end, he’s able to regain his humanity.

Personally, I like my vampires monstrous. I like them evil and vile, like how they are portrayed in From Dusk ‘til Dawn and pretty much every movie before Twilight. They can have a sexy quality about them, but it must never be forgotten that behind that beauty is a killer.

I also like my zombies as mindless killing machines. I don’t have a preference if they are fast or slow, as long as they do what a zombie is supposed to do: kill mindlessly.

Although, I will say that it’s fascinating to think about vampires and zombies evolving. It’s intriguing to see how people reimagine them and how they affect a story.

How do you prefer your undead?