For centuries, mankind has been chilled by tales of vampires. A fixture of literature, art, and folk tales, the vampire was a natural early choice for a movie monster at the dawn of cinema and has remained popular ever since as the screen's most enduring and sexually charged nightmare figure. Within these bloodstained pages, you'll discover that vampires of the silver screen are far more complex and diverse than variations on Dracula and other staples like Carmilla and the Countess Elizabeth Bathory. All the icons are here, from Bela Lugosi and Max Schreck's pioneering fiends to the heyday of Hammer Films, but that's just a sanguinary taste of what's to come as you explore macabre offerings from Hong Kong, India, Italy, France, Germany, and more. Along the way you'll meet vampire-fighting musclemen, rock 'n' roll bloodsuckers, plasma-craving infants, creepy canines, and supernatural strippers. It's all served up on a blood-spattered silver platter by author and film historian Nathaniel Thompson, who also delivers a globetrotting introduction to the history and evolution of vampire cinema from the silent era to the modern age of undead heartthrobs and vampire assassins. Sweetening the bloody deal is a foreword by legendary writer and monster expert Kim Newman, who dragged vampire literature into the daylight of the modern age with his Anno Dracula series. Take our hand, if you dare, and accept our invitation to explore the dizzying array of frightening, hilarious, and often beautiful sights and sounds of the undead on film.