Honourable mention: Justice League

Before I begin, let’s get one thing straight. I really like the DC Universe movies. I get that many don’t, but I do. I like the dark edge, I enjoy the movies and, unlike many, I like the oeuvre created by Zack Snyder and that includes this 2017 film. Of course, notably, Snyder was unable to complete the film and Josh Whedon was drafted in – honestly, I’d like to see it pure Snyder.

So now you are wondering how I managed to crowbar vampires in? Well, take a seat and I’ll explain... but first, for completeness. This follows Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and, at the start, Superman (Henry Cavill, Blood Creek) is dead. Batman (Ben Affleck) is aware that something is coming and wants to pull a team of metahumans together. He has found Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and is aware of the existence of the Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher).

captured parademon

Almost from the head of the film we see our vampiric element in the form of parademons. We see Batman lure one, using a burglar as bait as they are attracted to fear. The things fly and have sharp pointed teeth. He tussles with one of them in the air and manages to catch it by netting it against brickwork. The captured parademon explodes, leaving a pattern in its remains of three boxes. As things develop we discover that the parademons are the minions of film baddie Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) – OK Steppenwolf was thinly drawn as a bad guy but the film only needed a foil, the point was getting the heroes together.

turning

When we get the backstory we are told that these minions feed on fear – so emotion eating energy vampires – we are also told that when Steppenwolf kills an enemy they come back as a parademon and see a warrior killed and turning. This, of course, makes them less the demon of their name and more undead. Further evidence as to the direction the filmmakers were going in is given later on when Gotham police get reports of them describing one as a vampire and another as a giant bat (of course that connects Batman into the description).

described as a vampire

You might then wonder why an Honourable Mention, rather than classing the film as a vampire film and reviewing it? Mostly because, whilst a part of the film they feel background. This is probably down to the fact that they are simply minions and also that the focus of the film is the forming of the league through adversity and the nature of that adversity is mostly unimportant. Nevertheless, they would seem to be a type of vampire, essentially in fleeting visitation. The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK