Given that you can’t go a day without fanging, sorry, falling, over something vampire related, it’s unsurprising that everyone wants a slice of this lucrative pie and Vampire Lovers has the definite feel of one hand in the cash register. Of course, if you really love vampires and want to make sure people actually pay attention to your obsession, now is the perfect time to release a book on them. So which side of the fence does Gavin Baddeley’s glossy book land on?
There has never been a shortage on the theoretical breakdown of the vampire’s place in social terms, from sexuality to disease, but Vampire Lover’s gives anything academic a fair swerve other than to give props to a few female vamps bucking the trend (Kate Beckinsale and her big guns in Underworld) and concentrates far more on short and sweet anecdotes from various actors who have played blood sucking roles.
A vamp book in 2010 wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, and True Blood but this is the sticking point; while a cultural phenomenon, there is currently little to be said about the impact of these that hasn’t already been shallowly explored in the gossip rags and film magazines. I say ‘shallowly’ because it’s near impossible to have real insight while the sagas are still being played out.
Thus they feel like necessary but ultimately hollow additions to this “book of undead pinups”. Where this book could have shone is in exploring those films and TV shows that really changed the face of the vampire legend. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Hammer films could (and do) each have their own minutely detailed explorations by other authors, but here their incredible influence is melted down to why the ladies love Spike (maybe cos he looks like Billy Idol) and Angel (he has a heart which negates his parental-eating past).
Baddeley’s choices are hit and miss; Richard Roxbrough in the truly atrocious Van Helsing (bad), Udo Keir in Blood For Dracula (good). Salma Hayek in From Dusk Til Dawn (interesting), Tom Cruise as Lestat (over it).
The crux is, if you’re going to do a book of pinups… then make it coffee table sized and on gloss perforated paper so those of us that dream of a nip in the night can rip them out and frame them. Even better, choose lesser known stills to make us want to buy it for new drooling action; most of these images can be found on Google.
If you want to write about the vampires that made us weak at the knees then do something more than just give us some sketchy details we as fans already know. Because even if you’re 13 and new to the genre because of that (un)dead boring jessie Edward Cullen or you’re a little late on the scene and coming round to the vampire way because Alexander Skarsgard gives you the panty moisture, there’s not much here that will convince you to explore outside the 21st century vamp.
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