LogFAQs > #934588617

Zeus posted...

In the case of zombies, our conception is almost entirely a Hollywood invention bearing little resemblance to the original concept. It makes the liberties taken with werewolves and vampires seem small by comparison.

Almost everything we think we know about zombies comes from George Romero or Dan O'Bannon. Unless you're classy, in which case most of what you know about zombies comes from Serpent and the Rainbow instead.

It's not much better for the other two, though. Most vampire "lore" comes straight from Dracula or its direct successors, and I already mentioned how most werewolf lore stems almost entirely from The Wolf Man (prior to that, werewolves were mostly just considered witches who could shapeshift into animals via demon magic).

Vampires are probably the ones who still have at least some of their original trappings as part of the general stereotype, and there are always the horror hipsters who will dig deep back in the well and pull out folklore to season their fiction with (like going with the "can't cross running water" or "has to stop and count things" weaknesses - which, as I often like to point out, means The Count from Sesame Street is actually one of the most accurate depictions of vampires in modern media). But even there, there've been so damned many variations, and they tend to differ so much across various mythologies, that it's hard to point to a single archetype and say "THIS is the real vampire".

Except the sparkling. That's definitely not a thing vampires do, ever.
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