Rayne is the main protagonist of the BloodRayne series. She is the daughter of the vampire Kagan and an unnamed human woman, making her a dhampir. She was an agent of the Brimstone Society, a secret fraternity who works to protect humanity from all supernatural evil. Sep 09, 2008  Vampire Rain: Altered Species Review A year after its disastrous debut on the Xbox 360, Vampire Rain is still a pain in the neck. By Brett Todd on September 8, 2008 at 6:31PM PDT.

. Shankar Animation. Project 51 Productions. Mua FilmDistributorReleaseOriginal networkOriginal releaseJuly 7, 2017 ( 2017-07-07) –presentChronologyRelated showsCastlevania is an American based on the Japanese video game series. The first two seasons adapt the 1989 entry and follow, and as they defend the nation of from and his minions. Seasons 2 and 3 borrow characters and elements from the 2005 entry.The series was originally planned as a film, developed by producer Kevin Kolde and his company Project 51.

Kolde had a contract for a script with writer in 2007; the project entered until about 2015, when boarded the project and it was picked up by streaming service. Joined the team and production commenced.

Its art style is heavily influenced by Japanese and 's artwork in with the production team including staff members who worked in the Japanese anime industry.The series premiered on Netflix on July 7, 2017, and was renewed for an expanded second season of eight episodes on the same day; the second season premiered on October 26, 2018. A ten-episode third season was greenlit by Netflix and released on March 5, 2020.

On March 27, 2020, Netflix announced they have renewed the series for a fourth season. Wrote the series as a direct-to-video film before adapting it for a television format.In March 2007, acquired the rights to produce an animated film adaption of, intended as a production. Frederator brought writer aboard as the screenwriter for the series. In an interview with, Warren Ellis said that when he was contacted about Castlevania he had no previous knowledge of the series and discovered it was a 'Japanese transposition of the I grew up with and loved'. Ellis explained how he worked with Castlevania producer to fit the film into the timeline of the series, including writing a new backstory, and how he was frustrated that Igarashi wanted eight full re-writes of pre-production material before giving approval. Ellis noted that Frederator's Kevin Kolde, who was slated to produce the work, did not want the film to be aimed at children, allowing Ellis to use gruesome imagery and scenes as necessary to tell the story he wanted to write, something that Ellis had found restrictive in working with normal television animation.In adapting the game for the film, Ellis did not want to make a point-for-point adaption, but instead provide some material to flesh out the game's world and elements behind it. At this stage, the film was anticipated to be only 80 minutes long, which Ellis knew would not be enough to tell the full story he wanted, so was able to break apart his script into a trilogy of works, each part having a self-contained; the first part would be to introduce the characters of Dracula, Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard and with a meaningful narrative resolution.

In this manner, Ellis noted that if the other two parts were never greenlit, the first work 'doesn't demand the presence of the other two parts for it to work as its own thing'. Due to the limited time, Ellis opted to drop, a pirate character in the game; Ellis noted that besides 'the stupid name', he felt the pirate was misplaced in the setting and that the limited run time would not allow him to develop the character fully.Sometime around 2008, work on the production stalled, and entered. Ellis had completed his script in June 2008, and the show's production blog had said in August 2008 that they were shopping around the idea as a theatrical release, but no further updates followed before the blog was quietly deleted.Around 2012, was approached to direct a live-action version of Ellis' script. Shankar, who at the time had just finished work as executive producer of, said that the party was looking to make a film in the style of the films with a similar budget, representative of a small studio with large independent backing. Shankar turned the opportunity down, saying it felt '250 percent wrong', as he had deep respect for the original game and felt the live-action version would not treat it well.

Following this, Shankar stepped back from Hollywood to pursue more self-published works, stating that 'the major studios were blatantly disrespecting fandom' as a reason he turned down the offer.The show was revitalized when 's Sam Deats was able to negotiate a deal with for the production, using the existing scripts that had been written nearly a decade prior. Powerhouse reached out to Frederator to help with the show's production. According to Ellis, Netflix was very positive about his original scripts that he wrote in 2007, and so he had to only make a few changes to fit the Netflix format while staying true to the version of the script Konami had accepted. Shankar was approached with the opportunity to produce the work, which he took as neither Powerhouse or Frederator sought to restrict his creative vision from Ellis' scripts. And Kevin Kolde of Frederator Studios also co-produce. The series was animated by Frederator Studios and Powerhouse Animation Studios and directed by Sam Deats. Composed the show's music.The show's art style was heavily influenced by the work did for.

They also took ideas from director 's works for character expressions and series such as and for inserting humor among the more serious elements. The show is produced using 2D, taking cues from and, with staff members that previously worked on. The series and were also cited as inspiration, with one of the show's animation directors having previously worked on the. The production works closely with, the holders of the Castlevania franchise, who helped to identify small continuity issues but were otherwise very receptive towards the work.The first season of four 30-minute episodes was released on July 7, 2017. This season represents the first part of the trilogy that Ellis has laid out in 2007. The second season is eight episodes long and was released on October 26, 2018.

Ellis said that the second season, completing the trilogy, is where he had been able to deviate somewhat from the game, and has been better anticipate the show's release on Netflix in terms of scenes and episode lengths. Shankar believes that there is an opportunity for more stories to be told borrowing from other games in the series, noting that overall he sees the series as 'a story about a family and multiple generations of this family' with many tales to draw from. The production team for the second season included staff members who worked on productions such as.Developing the character of Dracula, made it clear that one of the series' main goals has been to paint Dracula not as a villain, but a tragic, doomed figure. According to him: 'The best villains, in general, are the heroes of their own story and the trick to making Castlevania resonate was this idea that Dracula isn't a bad guy, he isn't a villain, he's just a person consumed with darkness. That first episode in Season 1 we start to see why he wants to eradicate humans. He's not just this mustache-curling, one-dimensional villain.

What Dracula is doing is not really a war against humanity. It's more a suicide note.' The show's third season was greenlit by Netflix a few days after the broadcast of the second season. Shankar announced in November 2018 that he will also be leading an animated series based on Capcom's, which he acquired the rights for himself, and will make the show, alongside the Castlevania series, part of a shared '. The third season was released on March 5, 2020. Reception Audience viewership According to Parrot Analytics, Castlevania was the most popular digital original series in the during July 6–19, 2017, with the show generating 23,175,616 'demand expressions' on average.

According to Parrot Analytics, 'demand expressions' indicate the 'total audience demand being expressed for a title, within a country,' measured by video streams and downloads as well as social media.It remained the 7th most in-demand digital original show in the United States through October 11, 2017. By the end of 2017, Castlevania was the year's 15th most in-demand digital original series in the United States, averaging 18,137,196 demand expressions throughout the year.

It was also one of the year's top 20 most in-demand digital original series in the (20th), (4th), (10th), (11th), (13th), (14th), (19th) and (20th).By the time the second season became available in 2018, Castlevania had reportedly garnered nearly 30 million viewers worldwide according to Netflix analytics, becoming one of the most successful original animated shows on Netflix. Critical response The website reported that 80% of critics have given the first season a positive review based on 25 reviews, with an of 7.39/10.

The site's critics consensus reads, ' Castlevania offers spectacular visuals and a compelling adaptation in its all-too-short first season.' It is the first video game adaptation in the site's history to receive a 'Fresh' rating., which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, reported that there were 'generally favorable reviews' for the first season, with an weighted average score of 71 based on 5 reviews.gave a mixed review, noting that the gore did little to create a sense of danger and felt 'intentionally flashy'. It concluded that ' Castlevania is ripe with potential, but also burdened with cliches.' Dave Trumbore of gave the series four stars out of five, praising the chemistry between the cast and comparing the violence with anime such as.

Also wrote glowingly of Warren Ellis's script, but felt some of his humor was a little jarring. In a review for, Dave Raposo wrote that Castlevania channeled the cutaway gag formula that is seen in. He dismissed the 'absurd' attempts at humanizing Dracula and called it a 'milquetoast imitation of ', noting that the ambitions of the script 'fly in the face of the simple ideals that unify the best entries in the Castlevania series'. Several reviews lauded the voice cast, particularly Graham McTavish as Dracula and Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont. 's Sarah Moran drew attention to the 'sarcastic edge' that Armitage brought to the character, and also noted Callis's 'air of sophistication' as Alucard.

Also wrote positively of Trevor Belmont as a protagonist, but criticized the animation and added that the character designs were 'flat'. Dan Seitz at left a negative review, writing that it tried too hard to find profundity in the story of the Castlevania series. He also cited issues with the pacing.Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of critics have given the second season a positive review with an average rating of 9.73/10, based on 12 reviews. The critics consensus reads, ' Castlevania sinks its fangs into vampiric lore during a devilishly fun second season that benefits from an expanded sense of scale and episode tally that allows the series to fully spread its leathery wings.'

Complaints were made towards the pacing and the screen time spent on Dracula's court in season two. Writing for, Michael Rougeau was disappointed that Trevor's group spent the majority of their time in a library, and also said Dracula 'does literally nothing in all the episodes we've seen so far. There's one medium length flashback in which he massacres a council of merchants who offended him, but it's not like that moves the story along'. Rougeau concluded that the action was creatively executed, but he felt that the new cast was given more development and that the previous characters were left to 'tread water'.

Echoed similar sentiments, who said the second season was more of a complement to the first one. McTavish and the rest of the voice cast were once again met with high praise.

In Collider's review for the second series, Dave Trumbore mentioned there 'isn't a weak link in the cast here'. Wrote very positively of the voice work and also noted the new performances, including Jaime Murray as Carmilla and Adetokumboh M'Cormack as Isaac.

IGN gave the second season a 9.2/10, praising Ellis's approach to Castlevania as 'witty and self-aware enough to poke fun at itself when necessary'. See also.References. Retrieved 2020-03-27.

^ Fitzpatrick, Kevin (June 28, 2017). Screen Crush. Retrieved June 29, 2017. ^ Donaldson, Kayleigh (October 26, 2018). Retrieved October 26, 2018.

Dying Light 2 release date Delayed. While we were initially given a Dying Light 2 release date of Spring 2020, Techland has announced that the immensely anticipated sequel is delayed indefinitely. Dying light 2 release date. Dying Light was the little zombie game that could, and Dying Light 2, which we got a taste of at E3 2019, looks even better. Techlands zombie-parkour darling has left a lasting impression in the.

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The Vampire, by, 1897A vampire is a creature from that subsists by feeding on the (generally in the form of ) of the living. In, vampires are that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighborhoods they inhabited while they were alive. They wore and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century.Vampiric entities have been; the term vampire was popularized in Western Europe after reports of an 18th-century of a pre-existing folk belief in the and that in some cases resulted in corpses being staked and people being accused of vampirism.

Local variants in Eastern Europe were also known by different names, such as in, in and in.In modern times, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, although belief in similar vampiric creatures such as the still persists in some cultures. Early folk belief in vampires has sometimes been ascribed to the ignorance of the body's process of after death and how people in pre-industrial societies tried to rationalize this, creating the figure of the vampire to explain the mysteries of death. Was linked with legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media exposure, but has since been largely discredited.The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the publication of ' by the English writer; the story was highly successful and arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century.

's 1897 novel is remembered as the quintessential and provided the basis of the modern vampire legend, even though it was published after 's 1872 novel. The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire, still popular in the 21st century, with books, television shows, and video games. The vampire has since become a dominant figure in the genre. See also:The notion of vampirism has existed for millennia. Cultures such as the, and had tales of and which are considered precursors to modern vampires.

Despite the occurrence of vampiric creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity known today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century, when of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published. In most cases, vampires are of evil beings, victims, or, but they can also be created by a malevolent spirit a corpse or by being bitten by a vampire. Belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even of people believed to be vampires. Description and common attributes. Vampire (1895) byIt is difficult to make a single, definitive description of the folkloric vampire, though there are several elements common to many European legends. Vampires were usually reported as bloated in appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour; these characteristics were often attributed to the recent drinking of blood. Blood was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one was seen in its or coffin and its left eye was often open.

It would be clad in the linen shroud it was buried in, and its teeth, hair, and nails may have grown somewhat, though in general were not a feature. Although vampires were generally described as undead, some folk tales spoke of them as living beings. Creating vampires. Illustration of a vampire from 's (1934)The causes of vampiric generation were many and varied in original folklore. In and traditions, any corpse that was jumped over by an animal, particularly a dog or a cat, was feared to become one of the undead.

A body with a wound that had not been treated with boiling water was also at risk. In, vampires were said to have once been witches or people who had rebelled against the while they were alive.Cultural practices often arose that were intended to prevent a recently deceased loved one from turning into an undead revenant.

Burying a corpse upside-down was widespread, as was placing earthly objects, such as or, near the grave to satisfy any demons entering the body or to appease the dead so that it would not wish to arise from its coffin. This method resembles the practice of placing an to pay the toll to cross the in the underworld. It has been argued that instead, the coin was intended to ward off any evil spirits from entering the body, and this may have influenced later vampire folklore. This tradition persisted in modern Greek folklore about the, in which a wax cross and piece of pottery with the inscription ' conquers' were placed on the corpse to prevent the body from becoming a vampire.Other methods commonly practised in Europe included severing the or placing seeds, or sand on the ground at the grave site of a presumed vampire; this was intended to keep the vampire occupied all night by counting the fallen grains, indicating an association of vampires with.

Similar Chinese narratives state that if a vampiric being came across a sack of, it would have to count every grain; this is a theme encountered in, as well as in South American tales of witches and other sorts of evil or mischievous spirits or beings.In Albanian folklore, the is the hybrid child of the karkanxholl (a creature with an iron shirt) or the lugat (a water-dwelling or monster). The dhampir sprung of a karkanxholl has the unique ability to discern the karkanxholl; from this derives the expression the dhampir knows the lugat. The lugat cannot be seen, he can only be killed by the dhampir, who himself is usually the son of a lugat. In different regions, animals can be revenants as lugats; also, living people during their sleep.

Dhampiraj is also an Albanian surname. Identifying vampiresMany rituals were used to identify a vampire. One method of finding a vampire's grave involved leading a virgin boy through a graveyard or church grounds on a virgin stallion—the horse would supposedly balk at the grave in question. Generally a black horse was required, though in Albania it should be white.

Holes appearing in the earth over a grave were taken as a sign of vampirism.Corpses thought to be vampires were generally described as having a healthier appearance than expected, plump and showing little or no signs of decomposition. In some cases, when suspected graves were opened, villagers even described the corpse as having fresh blood from a victim all over its face. Evidence that a vampire was active in a given locality included death of cattle, sheep, relatives or neighbours. Folkloric vampires could also make their presence felt by engaging in minor -styled activity, such as hurling stones on roofs or moving household objects, and on people in their sleep. Garlic, Bibles, crucifixes, rosaries, holy water, and mirrors have all been seen in various folkloric traditions as or identifying vampires.—items able to ward off revenants—are common in vampire folklore.

Is a common example, a branch of and are said to harm vampires, and in Europe, sprinkling on the roof of a house was said to keep them away. Other apotropaics include sacred items, for example a,.

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Vampires are said to be unable to walk on, such as that of churches or temples, or cross running water.Although not traditionally regarded as an apotropaic, have been used to ward off vampires when placed, facing outwards, on a door (in some cultures, vampires do not have a reflection and sometimes do not cast a shadow, perhaps as a manifestation of the vampire's lack of a ). This attribute is not universal (the Greek vrykolakas/tympanios was capable of both reflection and shadow), but was used by Bram Stoker in Dracula and has remained popular with subsequent authors and filmmakers.Some traditions also hold that a vampire cannot enter a house unless invited by the owner; after the first invitation they can come and go as they please. Though folkloric vampires were believed to be more active at night, they were not generally considered vulnerable to. Methods of destruction.

800-year-old skeleton found in Bulgaria stabbed through the chest with an iron rod.drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed bits of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears and between the fingers at the time of burial. They also placed hawthorn in the corpse's sock or drove a hawthorn stake through the legs.

In a 16th-century burial near, a brick forced into the mouth of a female corpse has been interpreted as a vampire-slaying ritual by the archaeologists who discovered it in 2006. In, over 100 skeletons with metal objects, such as bits, embedded in the torso have been discovered.Further measures included pouring boiling water over the grave or complete incineration of the body. In the Balkans, a vampire could also be killed by being shot or drowned, by repeating the funeral service, by sprinkling on the body,. In Romania, garlic could be placed in the mouth, and as recently as the 19th century, the precaution of shooting a bullet through the was taken. For resistant cases, the body was and the pieces burned, mixed with water, and administered to family members as a cure. In of Germany, a was placed in the mouth of suspected vampires.

Ancient beliefs. (1892), by., England.Tales of supernatural beings consuming the blood or flesh of the living have been found in nearly every culture around the world for many centuries. The term vampire did not exist in ancient times.

And similar activities were attributed to or who would eat flesh and drink blood; even the was considered synonymous with the vampire.Almost every nation has associated blood drinking with some kind of revenant or demon, or in some cases a deity. In India, for example, tales of, ghoulish beings that inhabit corpses, have been compiled in the; a prominent story in the tells of King and his nightly quests to capture an elusive one., the returned spirits of evil-doers or those who died insane, also bear vampiric attributes.The were one of the first civilizations to have tales of blood-drinking demons: creatures attempting to drink blood from men were depicted on excavated shards. Ancient and had tales of the mythical, synonymous with and giving rise to ( לילית) and her daughters the from. Lilitu was considered a demon and was often depicted as subsisting on the blood of babies, and, female shapeshifting, blood-drinking demons, were said to roam the night among the population, seeking victims.

According to, estries were creatures created in the twilight hours before. An injured estrie could be healed by eating bread and salt given to her by her attacker.described the, the, and the. Over time the first two terms became general words to describe witches and demons respectively. Empusa was the daughter of the goddess and was described as a demonic, -footed creature.

She feasted on blood by transforming into a young woman and seduced men as they slept before drinking their blood. The Lamia preyed on young children in their beds at night, sucking their blood, as did the gelloudes. Like the Lamia, the striges feasted on children, but also preyed on adults. They were described as having the bodies of crows or birds in general, and were later incorporated into Roman mythology as strix, a kind of nocturnal bird that fed on human flesh and blood. Medieval and later European folklore. Title page of treatise on the chewing and smacking of the dead in graves (1734), a book on vampirology by.From 1679, Philippe Rohr devotes an essay to the dead who chew their shrouds in their graves, a subject resumed by Otto in 1732, and then by in 1734. The subject was based on the observation that when digging up graves, it was discovered that some corpses had at some point either devoured the interior fabric of their coffin or their own limbs.

Ranft described in his treatise of a tradition in some parts of Germany, that to prevent the dead from masticating they placed a mound of dirt under their chin in the coffin, placed a piece of money and a stone in the mouth, or tied a handkerchief tightly around the throat. In 1732 an anonymous writer writing as 'the doctor Weimar' discusses the non-putrefaction of these creatures, from a theological point of view. In 1733, Johann Christoph Harenberg wrote a general treatise on vampirism and the cites local cases.

Theologians and clergymen also address the topic.Some theological disputes arose. The non-decay of vampires' bodies could recall the incorruption of the bodies of the saints of the Catholic Church. A paragraph on vampires was included in the second edition (1749) of De servorum Dei beatificatione et sanctorum canonizatione, On the of the servants of God and on of the blessed, written by Prospero Lambertini. In his opinion, while the of the bodies of saints was the effect of a divine intervention, all the phenomena attributed to vampires were purely natural or the fruit of 'imagination, terror and fear'.

In other words, vampires did not exist. Engraving of from 1750, a French theologian and scholar, published a comprehensive treatise in 1751 titled which investigated the existence of vampires, demons, and spectres. Calmet conducted extensive research and amassed judicial reports of vampiric incidents and extensively researched theological and mythological accounts as well, using the scientific method in his analysis to come up with methods for determining the validity for cases of this nature. As he stated in his treatise:They see, it is said, men who have been dead for several months, come back to earth, talk, walk, infest villages, ill use both men and beasts, suck the blood of their near relations, make them ill, and finally cause their death; so that people can only save themselves from their dangerous visits and their hauntings by exhuming them, impaling them, cutting off their heads, tearing out the heart, or burning them. These revenants are called by the name of oupires or vampires, that is to say,; and such particulars are related of them, so singular, so detailed, and invested with such probable circumstances and such judicial information, that one can hardly refuse to credit the belief which is held in those countries, that these revenants come out of their tombs and produce those effects which are proclaimed of them.Calmet had numerous readers, including both a critical and numerous supportive who interpreted the treatise as claiming that vampires existed. In the, Voltaire wrote:These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs, after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked waned, grew pale, and fell into; while the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite.

It was in Poland, Hungary, Austria, and, that the dead made this good cheer.The controversy in Austria only ceased when Empress sent her personal physician, to investigate the claims of vampiric entities. He concluded that vampires did not exist and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of graves and desecration of bodies, sounding the end of the vampire epidemics. Other European countries followed suit. Despite this condemnation, the vampire lived on in artistic works and in local folklore. Non-European beliefsBeings having many of the attributes of European vampires appear in the folklore of Africa, Asia, North and South America, and India. Classified as vampires, all share the thirst for blood.

AfricaVarious regions of Africa have folktales featuring beings with vampiric abilities: in the people tell of the iron-toothed and tree-dwelling, and the of the, which can take the form of a and hunts children. The eastern region has the, which can take the form of a large taloned bird and can summon thunder and lightning, and the people of tell of the ramanga, an outlaw or living vampire who drinks the blood and eats the nail clippings of nobles.

The AmericasThe is an example of how a vampire belief can result from a combination of beliefs, here a mixture of French and African Vodu. The term Loogaroo possibly comes from the French (meaning 'werewolf') and is common in the. The stories of the Loogaroo are widespread through the and in the United States. Similar female monsters are the of, and the and of, while the of southern have the bloodsucking snake known as the. Hung backwards behind or near a door was thought to ward off vampiric beings in South American folklore.

Described tales of the, skull-faced spirits of those who died in childbirth who stole children and entered into sexual liaisons with the living, driving them mad.During the late 18th and 19th centuries the belief in vampires was, particularly in and eastern. There are many documented cases of families disinterring loved ones and removing their hearts in the belief that the deceased was a vampire who was responsible for sickness and death in the family, although the term 'vampire' was never used to describe the dead. The deadly disease, or 'consumption' as it was known at the time, was believed to be caused by nightly visitations on the part of a dead family member who had died of consumption themselves. The most famous, and most recently recorded, case of suspected vampirism is that of nineteen-year-old, who died in in 1892. Her father, assisted by the family physician, removed her from her tomb two months after her death, cut out her heart and burned it to ashes.

AsiaVampires have appeared in since the late 1950s; the folklore behind it is western in origin. The is a being whose head and neck detach from its body to fly about seeking human prey at night. Legends of female vampiric beings who can detach parts of their upper body also occur in the,. There are two main vampiric creatures in the Philippines: the ('blood-sucker') and the ('self-segmenter'). The mandurugo is a variety of the that takes the form of an attractive girl by day, and develops wings and a long, hollow, threadlike tongue by night.

The tongue is used to suck up blood from a sleeping victim. The manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge batlike wings and prey on unsuspecting, sleeping pregnant women in their homes. They use an elongated proboscislike tongue to suck from these pregnant women. They also prefer to eat entrails (specifically the and the ) and the phlegm of sick people.The Malaysian is a woman who obtained her beauty through the active use of or other unnatural means, and is most commonly described in local folklore to be dark or demonic in nature. She is able to detach her fanged head which flies around in the night looking for blood, typically from pregnant women. Malaysians hung jeruju (thistles) around the doors and windows of houses, hoping the Penanggalan would not enter for fear of catching its intestines on the thorns.

The is a similar being from of Indonesia. A or Matianak in Indonesia, or or in Malaysia, is a woman who and became undead, seeking revenge and terrorising villages. She appeared as an attractive woman with long black hair that covered a hole in the back of her neck, with which she sucked the blood of children. Filling the hole with her hair would drive her off. Corpses had their mouths filled with glass beads, eggs under each armpit, and needles in their palms to prevent them from becoming langsuir. This description would also fit the., sometimes called 'Chinese vampires' by Westerners, are reanimated corpses that hop around, killing living creatures to absorb life essence from their victims.

They are said to be created when a person's soul (魄 ) fails to leave the deceased's body. Jiangshi are usually represented as mindless creatures with no independent thought.

This monster has greenish-white furry skin, perhaps derived from fungus or growing on corpses. Jiangshi legends have inspired a and literature in Hong Kong and East Asia. Films like and were released during the jiangshi cinematic boom of the 1980s and 1990s. Modern beliefsIn modern fiction, the vampire tends to be depicted as a suave, charismatic. Despite the general disbelief in vampiric entities, occasional sightings of vampires are reported.

Vampire hunting societies still exist, but they are largely formed for social reasons. Allegations of vampire attacks swept through during late 2002 and early 2003, with mobs stoning one person to death and attacking at least four others, including Governor, based on the belief that the government was colluding with vampires.In early 1970 local press spread rumours that a vampire haunted in London. Amateur flocked in large numbers to the cemetery. Several books have been written about the case, notably by Sean Manchester, a local man who was among the first to suggest the existence of the ' and who later claimed to have and destroyed a whole nest of vampires in the area.

In January 2005, rumours circulated that an attacker had bitten a number of people in, England, fuelling concerns about a vampire roaming the streets. Local police stated that no such crime had been reported and that the case appears to be an. In magazine from 1885, depicting the as the 'Irish Vampire' preying on a sleeping woman.The reinvention of the vampire myth in the modern era is not without political overtones. The aristocratic Count Dracula, alone in his castle apart from a few demented retainers, appearing only at night to feed on his peasantry, is symbolic of the parasitic. In his entry for 'Vampires' in the Dictionnaire philosophique (1764), Voltaire notices how the mid-18th century coincided with the decline of the folkloric belief in the existence of vampires but that now 'there were stock-jobbers, brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood of the people in broad daylight; but they were not dead, though corrupted. These true suckers lived not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces'.Marx defined capital as 'dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks'., in his, gives this political interpretation an extra ironic twist when protagonist, a middle-class solicitor, becomes the next vampire; in this way the capitalist becomes the next parasitic class.

PsychopathologyA number of murderers have performed seemingly vampiric rituals upon their victims. And were both called 'vampires' in the after they were discovered drinking the blood of the people they murdered. Similarly, in 1932, an unsolved murder case in, Sweden was nicknamed the ', because of the circumstances of the victim's death. The late-16th-century Hungarian countess and mass murderess became particularly infamous in later centuries' works, which depicted her bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth.

Modern vampire subcultures. A in Peru.Although many cultures have stories about them, have only recently become an integral part of the traditional vampire lore. Vampire bats were integrated into vampire folklore after they were discovered on the South American mainland in the 16th century. There are no vampire bats in Europe, but and have long been associated with the supernatural and omens, mainly because of their nocturnal habits, and in modern English tradition, a bat means 'Awareness of the powers of darkness and chaos'.The three species of vampire bats are all to Latin America, and there is no evidence to suggest that they had any relatives within human memory. It is therefore impossible that the folkloric vampire represents a distorted presentation or memory of the vampire bat. The bats were named after the folkloric vampire rather than vice versa; the records their folkloric use in English from 1734 and the zoological not until 1774. The vampire bat's bite is usually not harmful to a person, but the bat has been known to actively feed on humans and large prey such as cattle and often leaves the trademark, two-prong bite mark on its victim's skin.The literary transforms into a bat several times in the novel, and vampire bats themselves are mentioned twice in it.

The 1927 stage production of Dracula followed the novel in having Dracula turn into a bat, as did the, where would transform into a bat. The bat transformation scene was used again by in 1943's.

In modern fiction. See also:The vampire is now a fixture in popular fiction. Such fiction began with 18th-century poetry and continued with 19th-century short stories, the first and most influential of which was 's ' (1819), featuring the vampire.

Lord Ruthven's exploits were further explored in a series of vampire plays in which he was the. The vampire theme continued in serial publications such as (1847) and culminated in the pre-eminent vampire novel in history: by, published in 1897.Over time, some attributes now regarded as integral became incorporated into the vampire's profile: fangs and vulnerability to sunlight appeared over the course of the 19th century, with Varney the Vampire and Count Dracula both bearing protruding teeth, and (1922) fearing daylight. The cloak appeared in stage productions of the 1920s, with a high collar introduced by playwright to help Dracula 'vanish' on stage. Lord Ruthven and Varney were able to be healed by moonlight, although no account of this is known in traditional folklore.

Implied though not often explicitly documented in folklore, is one attribute which features heavily in vampire film and literature. Much is made of the price of eternal life, namely the incessant need for blood of former equals. By, illustrated by, 1872.was a popular landmark mid- story by and, which first appeared from 1845 to 1847 in a series of pamphlets generally referred to as because of their inexpensive price and typically gruesome contents. The story was published in book form in 1847 and runs to 868 double-columned pages. It has a distinctly suspenseful style, using vivid imagery to describe the horrifying exploits of Varney.

Another important addition to the genre was 's story (1871). Like Varney before her, the vampiress Carmilla is portrayed in a somewhat sympathetic light as the compulsion of her condition is highlighted.No effort to depict vampires in popular fiction was as influential or as definitive as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). Its portrayal of vampirism as a disease of contagious demonic possession, with its undertones of sex, blood and death, struck a chord in Europe where and were common.

The vampiric traits described in Stoker's work merged with and dominated folkloric tradition, eventually evolving into the modern fictional vampire.Drawing on past works such as The Vampyre and Carmilla, Stoker began to research his new book in the late 19th century, reading works such as The Land Beyond the Forest (1888) by and other books about Transylvania and vampires. In London, a colleague mentioned to him the story of, the 'real-life Dracula', and Stoker immediately incorporated this story into his book. The first chapter of the book was omitted when it was published in 1897, but it was released in 1914 as '. Many experts believe, this deleted opening was based on the Austrian princess.The latter part of the 20th century saw the rise of multi-volume vampire epics.

The first of these was Gothic romance writer 's series (1966–71), loosely based on the contemporary American TV series. It also set the trend for seeing vampires as poetic rather than as the more traditional embodiment of evil. This formula was followed in novelist Anne Rice's highly popular and influential (1976–2003).The 21st century brought more examples of vampire fiction, such as 's series, and other highly popular vampire books which appeal to teenagers and young adults. Such vampiric novels and allied vampiric and vampiric stories are a remarkably popular and ever-expanding contemporary publishing phenomenon. ', 's erotic series, and 's series, portray the vampire in a variety of new perspectives, some of them unrelated to the original legends. Vampires in the (2005–2008) by ignore the effects of garlic and crosses and are not harmed by sunlight, although it does reveal their supernatural status.

Further deviates from traditional vampires in her (2007–present), basing the novels on Romanian lore with two races of vampires, one good and one evil, as well as half-vampires. Film and television. As portrayed by in 1931's.The legend of the vampire continued through the film industry when Dracula was reincarnated in the pertinent series of films, starring as the Count. The successful 1958 starring Lee was followed by seven sequels. Lee returned as Dracula in all but two of these and became well known in the role.

By the 1970s, vampires in films had diversified with works such as (1970), an African Count in 1972's, the BBC's featuring French actor as Dracula and as, and a Nosferatu-like vampire in 1979's, and a remake of Nosferatu itself, titled with the same year. Several films featured the characterization of a female, often lesbian, vampire such as Hammer Horror's (1970), based on Carmilla, though the plotlines still revolved around a central evil vampire character. 1960s television's Dark Shadows, with 's vampire character.The, on American television from 1966 to 1971 and produced by, featured the vampire character, portrayed by Canadian actor, which proved partly responsible for making the series one of the most popular of its type, amassing a total of 1,225 episodes in its nearly five-year run. The pilot for the later Dan Curtis 1972 television series revolved around reporter Carl Kolchak hunting a vampire on the. Later films showed more diversity in plotline, with some focusing on the vampire-hunter, such as in the ' films and the film. Buffy, released in 1992, foreshadowed a vampiric presence on television, with its adaptation to a long-running hit and its spin-off. Still others showed the vampire as a protagonist, such as 1983's, 1994's and its indirect sequel of sorts, and the 2007 series.

The 1992 film became the then-highest grossing vampire film ever.In his documentary 'Vampire Princess' (2007) the investigative Austrian author and director discovered in 2007 the historical inspiration for Bram Stoker's legendary Dracula character (see also Literature - Bram Stoker: Dracula's Guest ): ' Many experts believe, the deleted opening was actually based on a woman. Archaeologists, historians, and forensic scientists revisit the days of vampire hysteria in the eighteenth-century Czech Republic and re-open the unholy grave of dark princess. They uncover her story, once buried and long forgotten, now raised from the dead.' This increase of interest in vampiric plotlines led to the vampire being depicted in films such as and, the Russian and a TV miniseries remake of, both from 2004. The series premiered on in 2007, featuring a character portrayed as Henry Fitzroy, an illegitimate-son-of-turned-vampire, in modern-day, with a female former Toronto detective in the starring role. A 2008 series from HBO, entitled, gives a take on the vampire theme.In 2008 the series became popular in Britain.

It featured an unconventional trio of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who are sharing a flat in. Another popular vampire-related show is CW's. The continuing popularity of the vampire theme has been ascribed to a combination of two factors: the representation of and the perennial dread of mortality.