The Christian Vampire Problem

A mini-essay situating Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction in the surprisingly Christian mythology of the vampire.
This video essay is part of the Tales from the Essay Library: Horror collaboration, where a group of video essayists create work based on each other’s horror movie recommendations. Follow along with the full playlist here: • Tales from the Essay L...
The Essay Library is a discord server for video essay creators and viewers, which anyone can join: / discord
Next up: ‪@HizzyHay‬ on “Ghostwatch”: • Ghostwatch and The Sta...
The Addiction was recommended to me by ‪@kikikrazed‬
Resources used for this video:
The Metamorphoses of the Vampire (2011) by Erik Butler
The Addiction (1995; dir. Abel Ferrara)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920; dir. Robert Wiene)
Nosferatu (1922; dir. FW Murnau)
Dracula (1931; dir. Tod Browning)
Twilight (2008; dir. Catherine Hardwicke)

[@Afterthoughts]

Love that the first time most people in my generation probably heard the name "Nosferatu" was from that Spongebob episode

[@maxteeth]

i love that they were like "let's put this reference to a movie none of the audience has heard of" and thus singlehandedly brought nosferatu back into the public consciousness

[@jojodelacroix]

Jokes on you. Everyone knows nosferatu was brought back into relevance via its inclusion as a tome in fire emblem games that drained the life from your foe on hit. Gosh.

[@Anarchomancer]

I love that vampires went from being christian objects of fear and loathing of judaism, immigrants, gay people and the new woman, and now they're a revolutionary allegory for outsiders, queer and trans people, and anti capitalism. Its heartening to remember that recuperation can work both ways.

[@itsmytoast666]

Huh, what? What is this last line, "recuperation can work both ways"? Your comment reads aloof. We Jews are, and always have been, outsiders. This is why you can make your claim that "Vampires are stand-ins for [x, y, z outsider group]." It's just another "creative type" taking a once-Jewish allegory and making it mean what they wish.

[@radepiljov7969]

Sorry about my bad englsih because I am from Serbia where word Vampire came from. Origins of vampires are very suprisingly strange and very different then what Americans think of it. Ancient pagan Serbs(slavs) were burned they deads , but when they become christians they must buried they dead , and that was the problem for pagan religion and culture . So , if you buried dead men and not burn him , his soul is wondering and he wake up from grave to punish people who didn't burn him. Another role of vampire in later centuries is sexual. When single woman(mostly widows) get illegitimate child she never said "Yes i f some dude" , she was saying that her dead husband or some dead man from village come in night and f her , and that is the reason why church and christians demonize vampires as some evil blood sucking bean who f "the poor widows". Tragic and bizarre thing was that children who are made by woman and vampire were "Boneless" , and they are mostly died on birth. But reality was that mother killed baby because if she let baby live village will very soon know the true. But in early middle ages(11.century) in Serbia(vampir) and Russia(upir) , vampire sometimes was personal name , but in reality that mean he was the bastard son.

[@maxteeth]

thank you for this additional historical context! the vampire definitely took on a life (or...un-death) of its own once it reached western Europe and that's what I'm focusing on in this video, but it's very interesting to hear more about the pre-Christian theology and culture that went into it. Especially the part about bastards, because i think even in Europe there is definitely this idea of vampires as sexual and representing changes in sexual morality.

[@dominictemple]

Insistence on maintaining traditional hierarchies are a symbol of vampires you say? When was the last time anyone saw Jordan Peterson in direct sunlight? 🤨

[@jadenkelly316]

xD lol

[@internetcouch]

I wanna hear more about how The Count influenced the modern perception of the vampire, as well as what cultural taboos he was violating.

[@maxteeth]

very tempted to make another vampire video now, so you might get your wish! if not maybe i'll ramble about it in vc sometime

[@alisaurus4224]

A mostly-forgotten part of vampire lore was that you could thwart them by leaving loose grain on your doorsteps, or throw it behind you, and the vampire would be compelled to stop and count the individual kernels. This gave time for you to escape or the sun to rise. The Count in Sesame Street is a pun on this counting compulsion and the European noble title of count.

[@cynicalCheesecake]

I was just thinking about this as the new Interview with a Vampire show has been coming out. The original is very decidedly about vampires as a metaphor for atheism, but as of yet there hasn't been much about religion (or atheism) in the new adaptation, though it's only two episodes in. It's interesting as well that the bulk of the later 20th century depictions of vampires are influenced by Anne Rice's atheist vampires. After reading her books, Twilight feels very much like "Anne Rice by someone who only heard about it secondhand", with more than a splash or Mormonism added as well.

[@alisaurus4224]

Twilight’s Mormonism is much more than a splash. Perhaps a marinade?

[@kikikrazed]

What an incredible deep dive into this topic. I'm so glad I gave you this film to talk about! Love the direction you took it in

[@maxteeth]

thank you for the rec kiki! it was a real stroke of luck for me because i've been looking for an excuse to rant about edward cullen

[@breedlejuice8691]

Hey I’m glad I chose to take a chance on a small creator

[@itsmytoast666]

It's also not the best informed.

[@fish-d6488]

im sure someone else has recommended these, but i highly recommend reading the really bizarre middle books of anne rice's vampire chronicles if you want some very, very bizarrely-paced novels that are explicitly and entirely concerned with the concept of the christian vampire, *especially* Memnoch the Devil. i'm not gonna say it's a good book, but it is a really fascinating glimpse into rice dragging her horny fruity famous vampire characters kicking and screaming into her unlapsing catholicism (and, eventually, her subsequent return to atheism late in life, wherein she retcons the whole book. wild!)

[@strixytom]

Imagine you meet a Serbian and his abs start sparkling.

[@Indietrix]

this is great. as vampire stories have been adapted to the modern age, i feel like the religious angle has dropped off; have you seen Midnight Mass? It's like fully focused on that angle which makes it weirdly refreshing.

[@maxteeth]

i haven't seen it yet but kiki mentioned that about it too, so i think i'll need to give it a watch!

[@kikikrazed]

yes!!!

[@dsmillusion]

I was watching this video, but couldnt help but notice the fright i got at 2:59 with mungus jumpscare im quaking in my boots as we speek

[@eternal7912]

Here I am just trying to write something original about a Christian woman who gets turned into a vampire in modern Brooklyn. I think I have something special, but there are always doubts to be had, especially hearing the similarities the Addiction has to my story (though they seem to only be on the surface).

[@JimmyRonan1992]

The Christian/Redeemed Vampire is awesome/my favorite ❤

[@uroboros_8563]

I am glad KZbin recommended me this video. Loved your video ❤️✨

[@pezor]

yay! loved it, thanks!

[@gf-official]

OHH MAX YOU POSTED IT

[@wscotgrey]

Late to this video, but any discussion about beating the effects of vampirism shouldn’t miss Near Dark. In that the religious is substituted by Americana.

[@c3r6s9]

this is a fantastic intro to the concept, but it's more than a little frustrating that you don't really touch on antisemitism. jewish caricatures and myths like blood libel are inseparable from the history of vampires. there is a reason nosferatu looked the way he did, and brought rats and plague with him (a departure from its source material) in a movie made in 1930s germany. christians aren't just afraid of sexual desire, gender nonconformity, etc. they are, and always have been, afraid of the jewish people.

[@maxteeth]

there are a lot of things i couldn’t directly acknowledge here due to a 5-minute time constraint, but, yes, although the inception of the vampire myth was separate from the much older blood libel, antisemitism has since mingled with the vampire myth in an ugly way. part of what complicates the depiction of Orlok in Nosferatu, i think, is that (like Stoker’s Dracula) he represents an orientalist amalgam of eastern cultures and religions, through a visual language which was then redeployed in Nazi propaganda films to specifically target jewish people. that is to say, Nosferatu, while undoubtedly influenced by the antisemitism of early 20th century northern Europe, appears much more antisemitic in retrospect than it did in its own time because the contemporary German right took its allegory and ran with it for their own ends. thank you very much for the feedback, and if i ever revisit the topic of vampires i’ll definitely make a point of touching on this aspect more directly.

[@PeachShortcake_]

I am *obsessed* with your channel, wow. You are ridiculously talented! I look forward to more content from you and watching your channel grow, bc you definitely deserve more views & subs!!

[@2_ratsplz]

Gnarly, nice vid man

[@izzyliberti]

hell yeah Max ya did it again!! now go charge ya phone

[@Mollikar]

I liked The Addiction but it was sort of like 1983s The Hunger, not enough instant gratification for the average viewer.

[@YonahaMedia]

Where could I participate in a horror telephone 😍

[@maxteeth]

forgot to include it at first but this was organized through a video essay discord server i am in. the link to join is in the description now

[@YonahaMedia]

@@maxteeth thank you! love the video btw

[@CyberGrapeUK]

The vampires were cute though 😳

[@maxteeth]

😳

[@tophergrallison]

Whaaaat? What are these words you’re using? Vampires aren’t about any of that. They’re all about super speed, and being real strong. Zooming all around and POW! They’re like evil Jesus.

[@maxteeth]

jesus was of course the OG of super speed and being real strong

[@tophergrallison]

@@maxteeth false. Jesus was a fishermen.

[@nkozi]

😱😱😱

[@ThunderTaker1215]

If you would make a Patreon account, I would subscribe

[@FlorianFullStop]

your writing is very "addictive"; really "sucks" you in