An insatiable thirst for vampire stories is telling of our times

From Courier Mail AU

THEY have stalked us for centuries, the night creatures preying on the blood of the living, beings once like us but who now crave only breathing, bleeding flesh.

They are the whispered tales of unspeakable things of ancient myth, the dark and brooding monsters of folklore who feast upon us.

In popular culture they are the 19th-century vampires of Bram Stoker's Dracula, from the silent movies like Nosferatu, and from the films of Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee.

They are the vampires and their opponents as imagined by the likes of Quentin Tarantino, George Clooney, Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis (From Dusk Till Dawn). They are the spawn of the darkest corners of the imagination of directors such as George A. Romero (Martin) and John Carpenter (Vampires).

They are the undead. And once again they are one of the hottest tickets at a cinema, bookshop, television channel or computer game store near you.

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