Our deep, dark obsession with Vampires

From USA Weekend (it's almost Halloween so expect lots of articles)

Garlic, crosses, daylight and a good decapitation are supposed to be weaknesses for a vampire, but in today's pop culture, the modern bloodsuckers seem unstoppable.

It has been 112 years since Irish novelist Bram Stoker's classic, "Dracula," first swooped into European bookshops, a literary amalgam of the history of Vlad III Dracula, Prince of Wallachia (aka Vlad the Impaler), with a dash of Romanian folklore. That iconic character has given rise to many interpretations, from Bela Lugosi's and Christopher Lee's cinematic takes on "Dracula," to the vamps on the TV cult hits "Dark Shadows" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and even the Count on "Sesame Street" and Count Chocula of breakfast cereal fame.

These days, though, vampires are swarming like bats out of you-know-where, especially the mega-popular book-to-screen vamps of "Twilight," "True Blood" and "The Vampire Diaries." With more than 70 million books sold, Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series is a full-fledged phenomenon, particularly among teens. The first "Twilight" movie adaptation grossed nearly $200 million in theaters last fall, which bodes well for next month's sequel, "New Moon." "True Blood," based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, completed its second season in September and is HBO's second-most-watched series ever, behind The Sopranos. And more people watched the debut episode of CW's "The Vampire Diaries" than any premiere in the network's history.

read on