As a child my first experience with Vampires was with none other than Count von Count, like most kids who grew up in the 70′s and 80′s. The Count was meant to be a parody of Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of Count Dracula, with a counting problem. He’d count anything in sight regardless of what it is and when he is done he laughs and announces the total.

Was he scary? Not at all nor was he wasn’t a pansy like you know who that sparkles.

Prior to the Count, there was Bella Lugosi and as a kid he scared the hell out of me. His portrayal, is what a Vampire should be in my humble opinion. Scary as shite. If he came around the corner on a dark night, I’d loose control on my bowls no doubt about it. I guarantee you, you would hear my shrieks of terror worldwide. There’s just something about him that screams “RUN LIKE HELL” isn’t there?

Speaking of men who scared the crap out of me as a child, I would be remiss not to mention Vincent Price. Yes, we all know he did the narration in Thriller but here in Canada he scared me as a child in totally different way. That voice still haunts me, I hear it and goosebumps form.

We had this absolutely wonderful show in when I was a kid, though it started in the 70′s. The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. It was such a bizarre show, a castle full of the supernatural from Vampires to that creepy old Professor you didn’t want in High School.

This show is what made me love all things strange and paranormal. Whats not to love from Vincent Price, Igor and even a Midget Count (Yes I know it’s little person, but back then that’s what he was called on the show). I was lucky enough to find some of it on DVD, but tragically alot of it has been lost. In 1997 Showcase destroyed the Masters of the show at the request of the producer. Ass. If you haven’t see the show, check out some of it on YouTube.

Now I have started going backwards. I have heard much about Dark Shadows, a Gothic soap opera from the late 60′s. I even have my boyfriend in on it, ordering me the DVD’s from Zip. It’s no small feat for him either, there are 26 collections. 26?!?! We just got the first three this week, so you know what I will be doing during Christmas. There’s also been rumors of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp doing a movie of it, with filming set to begin this year. But that’s all I’ve heard and that was awhile back.

In any-case, there was a vampire in Dark Shadows (Barnabas Collins) and apparently his appearance is what made the show so popular back then. The man who played Barnabas, Jonathan Frid is still alive (85 years young) and well, living not too far from me in Hamilton, Ontario. He knew how to play a vampire and he was sensitive and scary!

Is it any wonder I am not a Twilight fan? It’s great that the vampire is once again getting his time in the sun (HA) but Twilight isn’t what created the vampire and it bothers me to no end when I hear people say Twilight started the genre in books. It didn’t. Sorry to burst that bubble. But it’s helping alot of Authors who wouldn’t have gotten the attention from the masses, the attention they deserve and for that I am thankful.

But a sparkly vampire just doesn’t do it for me. These vampires watched you sleep so they could drink you, not be creepy stalker. Geeze. I like a bit of scared senseless or laughing hysterically, with my vampires.