After the exotic, erotic vampires of the seventies, the next two decades introduced us to a number of naughty vampiric vixens that ran the gamut from dramatic to comedic to otherworldly. Among them were Louise Fletcher in Mama Dracula (1980), an entirely nude Mathilda May in Lifeforce (1985), Lauren Hutton in Once Bitten (1985), Grace Jones in Vamp (1986), Britt Ekland in Beverly Hills Vamp (1989), Sylvia Kristel in Dracula's Widow (1989), Anna Parillaud in Innocent Blood (1992), Talisa Soto in Vampirella (1996), and Denice Duff in the Subspecies series.

All of these hypnotic hellcats brought to the genre a new breed of female fiend that would set in motion the idea that women could carry a vampire film, perhaps even without the trappings of Carmilla's lesbian tendencies or Countess Bathóry's slaughter of innocents for the evil purposes of retaining her youthful good looks. Of all the films of that era, however, there are a few female vampires who put on a bloody good show, in particular, one of vampire cinema's most renowned immortals — Catherine Deneuve.

Catherine Deneuve

Legendary French ingénue Catherine Deneuve is arguably one of the best actresses of her time, beginning with her one of her earliest major roles in Roman Polanski's 1965 Repulsion to the 1967 tour de force role as a frigid housewife moonlighting prostitute in the 1967 Belle de jour to her 1992 Oscar-nominated Best Actress performance in Indochine. But in 1983, Deneuve transformed into a sensuous creature of a different kind when she became Miriam Blaylock, the several millennia-old vampire in The Hunger, adapted from the 1981 Whitley Strieber novel (see Chapter 13).

As with all novel-to-film adaptations, there are noted differences in plot (especially the film's ending), but what sets The Hunger apart from other film's of the genre is the stylish upper-crust look created by director Tony Scott (who went on to direct Top Gun and Days of Thunder among others). The film was largely criticized for its primary focus on visual appeal, but ultimately there's little to dislike about Deneuve's icy vampiric portrayal. With a torrid mix of decadence and predatorial ferocity, Miriam is a classy but subliminally terrifying vampire whose preternatural je ne sais quoi combined with her intimidating bisexuality offer a glimpse into the ruthless psyche of an ancient immortal. Also starring David Bowie as her “dying” lover and Susan Sarandon as Miriam's chosen replacement, the cult classic is most commonly noted for its erotic yet tasteful lesbian scenes between Deneuve and Sarandon.

Kate Beckinsale

Starting in the late seventies, a handful of elite actresses like Sigourney Weaver in the Alien franchise and Linda Hamilton in the Terminator series set the stage for strong female action heroes in the horror and sci-fi genres. Those performances, which in the case of Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton in Terminator and Aliens garnered Oscar nods for Best Actress. Those two pioneers of feminine protagonists breathed life into the concept that chicks could make successful action flicks, an idea that also took hold in the vampire realm. With the onset of successful literary adaptations, including Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992 followed by Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned and the ongoing Blade series, the world of vampire cinema was searching for fresh female blood. What they found was Kate Beckinsale, cast in the lead role of Selene in the 2003 film Underworld and its sequel, Underworld: Evolution in 2006 (see Chapter 17).

More than just your average run-of-the-mill bloodsucking vixen, who's traditionally cast as Dracula's midnight snack and object of his obsession, Selene epitomizes a new-age girl power, casting herself smack in the middle of a deadly war being fought for the better part of a millennium between vampires and lycans (arguably the best werewolves you'll ever see transform on the big screen). Selene's smoldering immortal sexuality plays in brilliant contrast to her extreme survival instinct as a “death dealer” and the tumultuous risks she takes in the name of revenge, regardless of the laws of her coven. Also intermingled in the bloody savoir faire is the introduction of a male protagonist, Michael, who in his fight against becoming a hybrid, stirs in Selene the memories of what it was once like to be human. While the sequel, which takes off where its predecessor ends, doesn't quite hold the same serum as the original, it does serve to further establish that there's nothing sexier than a female predator in skintight leather — especially one who knows right from wrong and can play the undead game from hilt to blade.

The action-oriented vampirism of Underworld proved successful enough to bring viewers to the 2006 film Ultraviolet, where a seriously pumped-up vampiric plague sufferer, brilliantly played by Milla Jovovich, wreaks major havoc in a futuristic society hellbent on eliminating her “kind” (see Chapter 17). Using those films as inspiration, many other action-oriented vampires have burst from their coffins, including Kristanna Loken as the hybrid human/dhampir in the 2005 film BloodRayne, and Lucy Liu in Rise (2007).