"It was Sheridan Le Fanu's sapphic short story 'Carmilla' (written 25 years before Dracula) that spawned the trend of decadent, female vampires. Notable additions to the genre include Black Sunday (1960), Blood and Roses (1960) and Alucarda (1977) – a faithful adaptation of Le Fanu's tale that turns the blood, sex and melodrama up to 11. There's also Daughters of Darkness (1971), which blends the Carmilla plot with the legend of 16th-century Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory, a mass murderer who allegedly bathed in her virginal victims' blood in a bid for eternal youth.
By the 2000s, the vampire had evolved into a decidedly multifaceted beast. Parasitic monster, suave seducer, serial killer, sapphic babe, drug addict, AIDS victim, camp icon, comedian – few mythical creatures have evolved with such variety."
