What accounts for the vampire’s undying popularity? Unlike many other famous monsters of filmland, they have agency and intelligence. They are usually hot and sexy, often cultured and well-read. They have their challenges — sunlight, stakes, endless years to fill — but when the sun goes down, they get around; they can mix with people, take in a show, run a business, whatever. As characters, they have myriad possibilities, “vampire” being a category and not, like Frankenstein or King Kong, an individual; and unlike many monsters, they are not particularly pitiable. Or, rather, they are romantic, their particular brand of social apartness catnip to moody adolescents.
In the 125 years since Bram Stoker published “Dracula,” and the century since director F.W. Murnau ripped him off for “Nosferatu,” bloodsucking stories have encompassed tragedy, comedy, the arty and the exploitive, straight horror and soft porn, teen romance and cartoons. The undead come in all ages, shapes, sizes, colors, sexes and genders. They are better and worse people, with vampires who are basically heroic pitted against those who are merely sociopaths. By and large, they are killers, which is not a likable trait, although some concentrate on “deserving” victims — mortals, as each of these new shows will remind you, can be really terrible people — and others get by on animal blood, though even that can lead to some nasty scenes.
Comedy, suspense
My favorite among these shows is “Reginald the Vampire,” which feels like a kind of tonal companion piece to Syfy’s great “Resident Alien,” with its winning combination of comedy, suspense, likable characters and real feeling. Created by Harley Peyton, whose TV career goes back to the original “Twin Peaks,” it focuses on Reginald (Jacob Batalon), who mans the counter at the Slushy Slack, where he is abused by manager Todd (Aren Buchholz) and harbors a shy crush on co-worker Sarah (Emily Haine). He develops a friendship with a customer, Maurice (Mandela Van Peebles), who encourages him to ask Sarah out, and who we already know is a vampire. In an emergency, to save Reginald’s life, he makes him a vampire too.
The bad, but also good, news is that vampirism enhances only one’s natural abilities, so that while Reginald will never be super strong or superfast, he does become super smart and develops a mental power that no other vampire in history has ever possessed.