My latest article in NR is headlined “Defanged: Once upon a time, the living dead were scary.” It’s about vampires. Key graf:
I dig vampires as much as the next guy who has read Bram Stoker’s Dracula three or four times, goes out of his way to watch monster movies, and thinks “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus is one of the coolest songs ever recorded. Yet the present ubiquity of vampires is too much, even for me. Once upon a time, vampires were creepy and haunting. Now they’re yawn-inducing bores. Perhaps they’ve finally reached their cultural expiration date. At the very least, they should crawl back into their coffins and give the rest of us a break.
Although I didn’t say so at the time, this article was the occasion for our recent vampire thread–check out the excellent comments from readers on vampires and their ilk here.
