With another post inspired by a feature in Entertainment Weekly, indeed, back to back posts, readers may wonder about my magazine reading habits, or think that I am on the payroll for EW. Neither situation should be of concern, but it is interesting that the magazine has now featured aspects of horror in two consecutive issues. Issue #1059 from August 7, 2009 features a cover focus on vampires which includes responses to questions on the current crop of romantic vampire treatments by five female vampire fiction authors, including Stephenie Meyer, Melissa De La Cruz, Laurell K. Hamilton, Anne Rice, and P. C. Cast.

The feature also includes a listing of the “20 Greatest Vampires,” where, surprisingly given the largely female reading audience for EW, and that the vampire feature focuses on the romantic aspect of the contemporary upsurge in vampires, Christopher Lee comes in at number two, Bela Lugosi comes in at number three, and Keifer Sutherland from The Lost Boys comes in at number fourteen. Blade portrayed by Wesley Snipes also makes the list at number sixteen, as does Angel by David Boreanaz coming in at number seven. Many of the other picks are not surprising given the perspective of the magazine’s readers and focus, but the absence of Frank Langella’s 1972 portrayal of Dracula is given the strong romantic focus of the film. Noticeably absent from the list for vampire and horror fans in general are Chris Sarandon’s character Jerry Dandridge from Fright Night, an interesting film from the 1980s that includes elements of both romance and horror, the vampiric family from Near Dark, as well as 30 Days of Night. 

In a sidebar that one would only see in an entertainment magazine is a chart titled “Vampire Hair: The Kindest Cuts.” Here other surprises await as Christopher Lee comes in at the “Scarily Good” end of the chart, followed closely by William Marshal from Blacula, and Sutherland’s David in third, and Gary Oldman in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula holding the final slot for “Scarily Bad.”

A sneak peak for this issue can be found here.