A friend of mine said to me a few years back that he was sick of 'glampires'. I assumed that he was referring to the overly romanticised representation of vampires that is flavour of the month. The kind of pretty, lovelorn boy vampires that feature so heavily in the Dark Fantasy sub genre, and in one particularly popular teen series of novels and films.  

If this was what he meant, I would have agreed with him wholeheartedly. I have had a life long romance with the undead. The current, watered down, version that is so popular annoys me beyond belief. I wish that they could be reclaimed by the horror genre as a figure of fear. 

However, when I pressed my friend on his meaning, he proceeded to tell me that the gothic tropes of the vampire had become cliched, and he wanted to see a vampire story without them. I again would have agreed if he had been referring to the abomination that was the 'Queen of the Damned' adaptation . That film was aimed squarely at the post numetal generation of goths. The ones who thought that all you had to do was listen to heavy music, put on heavy eyeliner and wear a long back leather coat. These people probably couldn't tell you anything of the Germanic, barbarian tribe that gave us the term gothic, or what it meant in terms of being first an architectural, then literary and then musical genre. They have probably never even heard of The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, or The Mission.

Yet my friend still wasn't through, his theory was that every vampire film ever made was, to a lesser or greater degree, gothic in nature. That was where the conversation ended, however I started thinking on that discussion again recently. It got me wondering if it was in fact possible to remove the gothic from the vampire entirely?

After some pondering I don't think it is possible. Vampires are, by their very nature, gothic creatures. I do not mean in a fashion sense. It would be unusual, but not impossible to present a vampire without the long dark coats, pale skin and so on. What is inescapable is that vampires are creature who survive death by feeding on the blood of the living. They represent life out of death, if that is not a gothic concept I'm not sure what is. 

Our cultural notion of the vampire comes from Bram Stoker and his novel 'Dracula', a book itself written in the gothic tradition. This means that our very understanding of the vampire as a figure is laced with gothic under currents. To some degree every vampire that has come since 'Dracula' owes that fictional Count some debt. 

Therefore the only way I can see of truly removing the gothic from the vampire is to take it further back, to the animalistic creatures of Eastern European folklore. These earlier forms of vampire, like the Romanian Strigoi, are far removed from the suave and seductive undead presented from Stoker onward. The only problem is that in many ways these legends are closer to the werewolf or zombie tradition than that of the vampire. 

Interestingly a more recent film that tried this approach was the wonderful indie movie 'Stakeland'. This beautifully shot and atmospheric tale centres on survivors in a post apocalyptic world that has been overrun by animalistic, seemingly mindless vampires. It plays out like a horror version of 'The Road'. In many ways it succeeds in removing the gothic from the vampire story, and is as far away from the sparkly glampires as you can get. However, the film makes the landscape an integral character in the movie. It is a powerful and threatening presence throughout the film. In this respect it reminded me of the representation of the moors in 'Wuthering Heights', a classic gothic novel if ever there was one.

So in conclusion, in my humble opinion, it is impossible to remove the gothic from the vampire story. Vampires are in their nature, and the rules that we all know, gothic creatures. The only way you could do it, would take vampires so far from what they are they would be unrecognisable.