Bite me, Please--Vampires, What is the Appeal?

 

 

In the last post, I didn't write a lot. I simply wanted to give my readers and vampire lovers everywhere a visual treat for Halloween. And wow, was it a treat.   Vampire hotties forever.  

 

 Even if you hated Twilight, you have to admit that the vampire lover fantasy is something that just won't go away. 

 

My first love on the Vampire line up might have been Bela Lugosi, but my second one is even stronger than the first.  

 

Louis, from Interveiw with the Vampire.  I read the book when I was sixteen. I loved it, and loved the angst ridden Louis who kept mourning the loss of his humanity.  

 

Anne Rice did a great job in that book, she humanized the monster. Those of us who actually loved the whole Dracula story felt a deep sadness when Dracula's undead existence was ended. It just didn't seem fair, so brilliant, so ancient a creature, so extraordinary, and all we are left with is "kill the monster!" 

Thank you, Anne, for making it possible to embrace the monster.  

Poor Louis, don't you just want to hug him?

 Louis dosen't want to kill. He tries to live on rats because he cannot bring himself to feed on humans  He's the perfect vampire, hot, sexy, and a vegetarian, sort of.  We feel his pain, and that is the appeal. Poor Louis, like Pinnochio, just wants to be human. 

 

But, if your tastes fall on the  darker side, there is always Lestat.  He's not sorry to be a vamp, he's proud. He's embraced the darkness, and takes pleasure in playing with his food before he eats it. If you prefer a more edgy, dangerous sort of vampire, Lestat might make you swoon a little more than Louis, the reluctant vampire. 

Lestat would have no qualms about killing you, or turning you....

Anne Rice confessed once that Lestat was her god, her hero, her lover, and her demon. I can understand. My charactetrs do that to me, too.  Lucky for us, Anne was not finished with Lestat when she finished the "Interview" manuscript. She wrote more books with Lestat featured in them. He enjoyed the center stage, literally, in Queen of the Damned.  Stuart Townsend did a wonderful job portraying Lestat, and the movie gives us a lot more of his history, making us empathsize with him a little more. In 'Interview', he was the villain, Louis' adversary. In 'Queen', he becomes the hero. He falls for Jessie, and then saves her from death, takes her as his immortal lover. The dark hero redeemed--yes, I love dark heroes, hence the name of one of my own books, Dark Hero.  

Townsend as the violin playing, angst ridden, lonely vampire Lestat

 

I think that is part of the appeal of these bad boys. Yes, they are really hot, and eternity with a hot immortal is always compelling for a girl. But underneath, they are just tormented, lonely men who need a woman to complete them. They need a woman make them whole again, to make their undead existence 'sparkle' again after centuries of being alone.

 

Jessie and Lestat

We are attracted to bad boys, like Heathcliff, Mr. Rochester, Eric Northman, and the like. We want to redeem them. 

 

Not every bad boy can be redeemed.  But when it comes to fantasy, and loving our monsters, we can dream a little, right? 

 

Who would be your choice in between these two. Are you Team Louis or Team Lestat? 

 

Lestat turns Jesse in the end

  So, we have a happily ever after, sort of, for Lestat. At least in the movie. He turns Jesse and together they walk into the darkness, holding hands.  It's a better ending than most for our Vamp heroes!