h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It is really interesting to see the progression in the Dracula movies over time.

With the Bela Lugosi version, Dracula was portrayed as a beast (with a dinner jacket) but he had this sort of overpowering effect on women which they could not resist (in the movie, it involved wiggling some fingers in the general direction of female subject) and they were ever only prey to him.

But with every successive movie, I like how Dracula has been no longer cast merely as a monster, but as a creature with a past. And I even like how he now has to seduce the women, and not just finger wiggling! The best of them has to be Gary Oldman as Dracula--he actually had to work to get her and he wasn't merely trying to overpower her. And it wasn't just about Mina Harker as prey, but the sexual tension between them was palpable.

I think it just means that we no longer want to reach for the pitchforks to drive the beasts out, but that we are seeking to humanise them. Very Tim Burton-esque of you, Hollywood!

Butt hat just leads to wishy-washy sparkly vampires. They need to be monsters

I refuse to count those sparkly, emo high-school students as vampires. Definitely not in the same class as ANY of the Draculas! Even the Lost Boys vampires had SUCH character.

Both, the Frank Langhella and the Gary Oldman Draculas had class and seduced their Mina Harkers with style. It is possible to look dashing in a dinner jacket and still be a bloodthirsty 'monster' I think
And it is very telling that people didn't buy the B-movie monsters anymore, and wanted a monster that not only had fangs and super-strength and all that, but also had a way with words (and therefore, a way with the ladies?).

But not sparkly vampires. Definitely Not.

Oh, definitely - there has to be an element of psychoterror.