Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Top Five TV Vampires


Following Robert Pattinson's win as Teen Choice's best vampire, Donal O'Donoghue gets his teeth into the top five small-screen vamps of all time
On Sunday night, Teen Choice awards gave the specially created Best Vampire gong (actually a surfboard but what's a creature of the night going to do with that?) to Robert Pattinson for his Twilight turn as Edward Cullen. Immediately the good folk at Entertainment Weekly were shaking pointy sticks at the decision and wondering how the hell that blonde bloodsucker, Eric Northman (as played by Alexander Skarsgard) from True Blood didn't claim the top prize. Cullen is Byronic and brooding but he looks as scary as a sonnet. Northman on the other hand .
So we decided to raise the stakes (!) here at Number TEN and pick our favourite TV bloodsuckers of all time.

1. Alexander Skargsard in True Blood
Yes, we're with EW on this. Skarsgard's vampire is one of the meanest bloodsuckers on the box - a 1,000 year old Viking (Northman!) who is also the sheriff of the undead down on the Bayou. In other words, what he says goes. Skarsgard's Northman is a complex character - a beguiling mixture of brawn and brawn and beauty - who adds bite to a series that is in danger of losing its grip. His scenes with Sookie sizzle and he's a damn sight more compelling than goody-two shoes, Bill Compton.
2. Kurt Barlow in Salem's Lot
Salem's Lot was the scariest thing on TV at the fag-end the 1970s: even scarier than Garda Patrol and its flashing blue light. The mini-series' horror pedigree was impeccable. It was adapted from a Stephen King novel, it was directed by Tobe 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Hooper and it starred James Mason and, er, David Soul (hey you can't win 'em all). Anyway it was Reggie Nalder as the balding and befanged head vampire, Barlow, who had us all spinning in our sleep - bedevilled by images of this whey-faced monster looking into sight (Barlow's image was based on the classic vampyr, Nosferatu). Check it out.

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2 comments:

Rita said...

Where is Bill?

Sharon said...

I agree with number 1! However, I would like to have seen David Boreanaz "Angel" in there, at number 2.