Whos your toothsome fav?

Max Schreck (left) played one for F.W. Murnau in the silent era. Bela Lugosi played one, first on Broadway, then on screen in 1931, igniting a series of Depression-defying horror items in the early sound years.

Bram Stokers or otherwise, these vampires are everywhere. Theyre on True Blood on HBO, campaigning for civil rights and equal opportunity in between neck snacks. And theres a little pop phenom called Twilight in the theaters right now, based on Stephenie Meyers best-selling series of books.

Even if the Twilight niche doesnt happen to be yoursnovelist and blogger Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez recently characterized Twilight as appealing mostly to older girls [14 to 19] and their sexually frustrated mothersthe mythology of the seductive, mournfully destructive undead has proven hardy indeed.

Think of all the Draculas and Nosferatus alone! In addition to Schreck and Lugosi, theres Willem Dafoe, who played Schreck as a vampire in Shadow of the Vampire. Klaus Kinski, in the Nosferatu remake from Werner Herzog. Frank Langella, soon to hit screens in Frost/Nixon, played Dracula on Broadway and in the movies, as Lugosi did. Gary Oldman in Bram Stokers Dracula, which was a lot more about Francis Coppolas Dracula than Stokers. Branch out a bit, and the line of bloodsuckers runs from David Niven and Nicolas Cage to Eddie Murphy to Wesley Snipes to Kate Beckinsale. And dont forget The Fearless Vampire Killers. And while Carl Dreyers Vampyr may not delve into conventional vampire iconography or narrative, it is an atmospheric wonder.

My question is simple. Whos your favorite vampire? Are you strictly a Lugosi purist (dang, I forgot Martin Landau as Lugosi in Ed Wood!) or does your bloodthirsty unholy undead taste run more toward the mall-packing wavy-haired femme magnet of the Robert Pattinson variety?