Vampire movies are among the oldest horror movie monster genres in history. One of the earliest successful German expressionist films was Nosferatu, based on the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. The movie that kicked off the Universal Horror Monsters of the 1930s was Dracula, the best movie vampire in history and one that helped carry the torch through the '40s and then again in the '60s with Hammer Films.
In the late '80s and early '90s, vampires were back in fashion. The resurgence came with a pair of great films in the '80s with The Lost Boys and Near Dark, and another Dracula movie arrived from Francis Ford Coppola. By the time the 2000s rolled around, vampires had morphed into something almost unrecognizable. The scary monsters from the past were now action heroes and romantic interests, although a terrifying movie occasionally slipped in. Here are the 10 best vampire movies from the 2000s, according to Rotten Tomatoes scores.
10 Underworld (2003) - 31%
In 2003, Len Wiseman directed the horror-action movie Underworld, a film that showed a long-running war between vampires and werewolves. However, this was not your dad's monster mashup. The vampires had high-tech weapons and guns with specialty bullets while the Lycons were using scientific research to try to create an ultimate hybrid.
At the center of Underworld was strong mythology, with a political war in the vampire camp and betrayals that went back to the start of the Lycan rebellion. Critics didn't love it, but fans loved it, and Underworld ended up with a prequel and three other sequels, the last coming in 2016.
9 Twilight (2008) - 49%
Possibly the most polarizing vampire movie in history, Twilight sits on top of the list when it comes to the box office of vampire movies. Many fans hate this movie with a passion, with its romantic plot of a vampire named Edward falling in love with a human named Bella — and a love triangle that involves a werewolf named Jacob.
However, the original four novels have sold over 120 million copies, and the movies grossed over $3.3 billion, proving that there are just as many people who love the vampire love story as those who hate everything about Twilight.
8 30 Days Of Night (2007) - 51%
It seems almost hard to believe that David Slade, the same man who directed the movie The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, also helmed the vampire movie 30 Days of Night. However, when looking a little closer at Eclipse, it is the one Twilight movie that has a lot more horror elements in it. As for 30 Days of Night, the film is based on the IDW comic book series of the same name.
The story takes place in Alaska, where they experience a month-long polar night every winter. This makes it a perfect haven for hungry vampires. The night the 30 days of night starts, vampires attack the town, and the citizens have to fight for their lives.
7 Blade II (2002) - 57%
The first really successful Marvel comic book adaptation came in the '90s with the vampire movie Blade. In 2002, Guillermo Del Toro signed on and directed the sequel Blade II and what resulted was a movie that surpassed the original in almost every area.
Wesley Snipes was back as the vampire hunter, and a new group of militant vampires arrived to work with him with a mutated pandemic that began to spread throughout the vampire community, turning them into horrific creatures immune to most vampire weaknesses.
6 The Little Vampire (2000) - 55%
There are two vampire movies in the 2000s based on the friendship between a human boy and a child-like vampire. While one of them is one of the top critically acclaimed vampire movies of the century, the other is The Little Vampire.
Based on the children's books created in 1979 by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, the movie stars Jonathan Lipnicki (the little kid from Jerry Maguire) as a human who befriends a young vampire named Rudolph, whose family only drinks from animals and wants to become human again. However, there is a hunter in town who wants all vampires dead.
5 Night Watch (2004) - 60%
Released in 2004, Night Watch is an urban fantasy movie based on the Russian novel by Sergei Lukyanenko. The book is about two secret organizations that battle to keep the balance between light and dark even to prevent an apocalypse.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov in Russia, the movie kept a similar theme, with the keepers of the Light known as the Night Watch and the keepers of the Dark being vampire-like creatures. However, a prophecy threatens to unbalance the world and threatens an end to it all. The film had one sequel in 2006, titled Day Watch, which sees the prophesy come true.
4 Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) - 72%
In 2000, the anime dark fantasy series Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust arrived. The film is based on the third book in the Vampire Hunter D series, titled Demon Deathchase, by Hideyuki Kikuchi.
In this movie, D is hired by a man to find his daughter Charlotte, abducted by the vampire nobleman Baron Meier Link, and either rescue her or kill her humanely if she has been turned into a vampire. However, Charlotte's brother hires a more ruthless group, and the race to collect the bounty is on.
3 Thirst (2009) - 81%
In 2009, Park Chan-wook released the South Korean vampire horror movie Thirst. This film was a dark and brooding horror film, with a Catholic priest with an almost unwavering faith volunteering for an experiment to find a vaccination to a deadly disease.
The experiment fails, but the priest recovers after a blood transfusion before realizing soon he has become a vampire and needs human blood to survive, or he will relapse with the deadly disease. However, when he turns a woman that he loves into a vampire as well, and she becomes a remorseless killer, the priest has to make the ultimate sacrifice.
2 Shadow Of The Vampire (2000) - 82%
E. Elias Merhige directed one of the most eccentric vampire movies to date when he created Shadow of the Vampire in 2000. The film is based on the creation of the German Expressionist silent era horror movie Nosferatu from 1922.
However, the film supposes that the man hired to play the vampire was a real vampire to lend authenticity to the film. John Malcovich plays real-life director Frederich Murnau while Willem Dafoe stars as Max Shreck, the actor who took on the role of Nosferatu in the movie.
1 Let The Right One In (2008) - 98%
The highest-rated vampire movie of the 2000s has an almost perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 98-percent fresh rating. That movie is the Swedish horror movie Let the Right One In, based on the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
This Scandanavian horror movie has a young, bullied boy meeting an enigmatic girl next door who happens to be a long-living vampire in a child's body. The two strike up a friendship as she protects him, but at a high cost. An American remake arrived in 2010, and while it was good, it didn't match the brilliance of this first effort.
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