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Long before Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt bared their teeth in "Interview with a Vampire," the creatures of the night have been the "rock star"-type sex symbols of the horror genre. In this two-hour A&E special, we'll explore the vampire's lasting impact on pop culture over more than a century.
This 2-hour A&E Special Presentation: Vampires gives viewers a chilling close up of the modern world of vampires. There's the young couple who relishes their vampire lifestyle and each other's blood. And Michelle who practices a bloodless vampirism that involves taking the physical energy from willing donors. She extols the spiritual side of her lifestyle, and guides viewers into her hidden world - a vibrant and vital society with its own rules, conventions, language and customs - as diverse as our own.
Is being a vampire really all about blood and death, or is it about living life to its fullest? Why do some vampires seek blood, while others sustain themselves on the "life-force" of others? In a small town in Canada viewers meet 42-year-old grandmother, Lady CG, who shops at Wal-Mart, enjoys gardening and regularly gathers fellow vampires around a campfire to talk about local politics, personal issues, and safe sources of blood. Viewers also meet Don Henrie, perhaps the most public face of Vampirism. He explains why he wears fangs, sleeps in a coffin and what the ritual of drinking blood means to him.
This A&E Special Presentation: Vampires asks, "If Vampires are all around us, where do they come from?" Modern day vampires practice something deeply rooted in the human spirit and history. The link between blood, life, and death can be found in ancient cultures around the globe. Viewers visit Dracula's birthplace, the ruins of his mountain castle, and his burial tomb. They also visit a small town in Romania where last year panicked villagers, thinking they had a vampire in their midst, dug up corpses and drove stakes through their hearts. Viewers also learn about the bond of intimacy between vampires - sometimes sex, sometimes ritual. One vampire says that once you have tasted another's blood you are bound to them forever. The drinking of human blood is the pinnacle of what most people consider to be true vampirism. Viewers see a demonstration of human bloodletting-and drinking.
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