“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make!” says Bela Lugosi’s iconic titular character in 1931’s Dracula. About 100 years later, the children have only grown bigger in the context of vampire films. They now make more than just music. They have a resonant voice, and what they say is bloody important. Take director Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, for example. Starring Michael B Jordan in a dual role, in addition to serving as a celebration of blues music, the film uses the vampire genre as an allegorical bedrock to make important points about the racial tension between white supremacists and African-Americans. In Coogler’s world, the vampires represent white supremacists in all their oppressive and bloodthirsty glory. Somewhere, the film also suggests that becoming a vampire helps the oppressed attain liberation from the dehumanising effects of racism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the fact that Stack (Jordan) and Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) become lovers without any fear of a backlash from a racist community as they become vampires. At the start of the film, Stack explains to Mary that he once left her behind without saying a word for fear of the same backlash emerging from their racial differences. As the powerful malevolent entities, meanwhile, they no longer have to face the wrath of the racists.
Interestingly, writer-director Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight also puts forth a similar idea, albeit in the context of arranged marriage in India and not as a conventional vampire film. Blending absurdist humour and outlandish gags, the film follows a young woman who is newly married to a man who does not care for her any longer, despite her multiple pleas for him to change. Uma (Radhika Apte in an electrifying performance) has little idea about how to run a family, and her husband Gopal (a wonderfully understated Ashok Pathak) is a drunkard with no time to pay attention to her life. She is the product of the patriarchal setup that pigeonholes women into performing only certain domestic chores, something Uma does not know and dislikes vehemently. Why should a woman even be the only one responsible for running a household, especially when her man spends most of the time drinking and smoking and does little to provide for the family? In fact, when Uma is suffering, one of the few things he tells her is, ‘Do you want to have a smoke with me?’ Eventually, things reach a point where Uma cannot take it any longer, and the film seems to suggest that she gains vampiric capabilities. There are constant references to Uma feeding on birds and goats, and they eventually become a part of her subconscious. For Uma, it is like being a vampire-like figure is better for her health and ‘peace of mind’ (however little that may be) than staying dormant as someone’s wife. Only, here, unlike in Sinners, the protagonist does not have any fangs.
Speaking of which, in the context of Indian cinema, arguably, the spectacle of the year has to be Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, starring Kalyani Priyadarshan as an iteration of Kalliyankattu Neeli. The beauty of Lokah is that it subverts the traditional folklore element where Neeli is an evil vampire. As with Sinners, Chandra’s transformation from a marginalised community into a vampire with a lot more agency relieves her from the shackles of society, especially its dehumanisation based on caste. Despite being powerful, however, Chandra must maintain a low profile to keep the world from discovering who she truly is and to survive in a world that fears her. When malevolent forces come to know about Chandra’s existence, they go after her and those close to her.
The film subverts not only the conventional Kalliyankattu Neeli trope but also the gender dynamics in superhero films. For example, when Sunny (Naslen) discovers the truth about Chandra, he faints. The film portrays him as the psychologically weaker character, even as she remains the stoic protector. The film also delves into the complicated relationship that Chandra has with her immortality. While her immortality is a powerful gift, it also keeps her a lonely vagabond as the generations pass, something which the lyrics in the ‘Kiliye Kiliye’ song beautifully encapsulate. Lokah has also become a once-in-a-generation film in terms of its box office performance in Malayalam cinema, having become an industry hit with a gross collection of over 300 crore from theatres worldwide.
Perhaps the only parameters with which Thamma, the year’s other vampire film, enters this list are the facts that it has become one of the highest-grossing films of 2025 and that it offers some mindless entertainment. According to the industry tracker Sacnilk’s data, the film, starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, has grossed around 190 crore from theatres worldwide. While Thamma also explores themes of immortality and loneliness, the destructive power of vampirism and the healing power of love, the film is undeniably trashy. Nevertheless, its VFX work is commendable, and it boasts some fun and engaging performances, especially by Ayushmann and Nawazuddin. While the film is no match for the other entries in this list, we cannot overlook its commercial success either. It signifies that the old cinematic genre is as popular as in the days of the fearsome Count Dracula. If anything, it has only aged like fine wine.
