01-22-2011, 09:52 AM
Aldarron Wrote:Well, no, when you consider this is 1970 and the american midwest we are talking about. There really were no other famous vampires or vampire stories.
Really? - Again, I wasn't born then, and the lands of my parents had a very different media culture, but I'd say that by 1970, there were more than enough other examples for Vampire-ish characters. Namely (using wiki for convenience):
The Giaour by Lord Byron (1813)
Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood by James Malcolm Rymer (or Thomas Peckett Prest) (1847)
The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker (1911)
"The Dark Castle" (1931) by Marion Brandon
"The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" (1949) by Fritz Leiber
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King (1975)
And that, leaving out movie interpretations like Nosferatu, the Omega-Man (based on I Am Legend),
all the sci-fi b-movies featuring vampires, all the magazine short stories, all the comic books, comic strips,
and so on...
Quote:This was the early 70s, so the model for ‘vampire’ was Christopher Lee in Hammer films. No deep folklore .
Just so you get me right, I don't think you're wrong. I just think pinning it to Dracula is very, very difficult.
Of the rating I use, I would give Dracula a (2) or a (3), in the sense that an influence is likely, but not exactly provable by evidence. - Unless I miss something.
Quote:As the rough specs were drawn up, comments about the need for healing and for curing disease came up.
Ta da, the “priest” was born. Changed later to ‘cleric’."
That is one of the things I find most interesting:
Where does this concept stem from, that priests can heal by magic, and turn undead?
Who was the first author that had such characters?