Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht

As opening shots go, footage of dead, decomposed babies and children, their faces contorted into richtuses of terror and howls of pain is probably one of the clearest projections for the tone of the ensuing film that I've ever come across. Couple this with slow motion shots of bats flying in the dark (used repeatedly throughout the entire film whenever director Werner Herzog takes his fancy, regardless of it's relevance to the plot) and a woman (Isabelle Adjani) waking up screaming to said bat flying around her window and you're left with no uncertainty that this isn't quite your average vampire film.

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror

There are at least six variations on the Dracula myth on the List, and probably hundreds that aren't. I'm ashamed to admit that the only other vampire movies I'd seen prior to this (other than Les Vampires, which doesn't really count) are a half watched Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Twilight, which I did not choose to watch and am still trying to scrub from my retinas. And yet, though my life has been surprisingly devoid of vampire fiction (I've never even seen an episode of Buffy, or an instalment of the Underworld or Blade films), I'm still well versed in the vampire mythology, as indeed is everyone else. It seems one is almost born knowing that vampire's transform into bats, suck your blood and can be vanquished with a stake in the heart, exposure to sunlight or too much garlic on their pizza.