Growing Up Geek - Why I Love Vampires
I've been a fan of vampires for an incredibly long time. I was into vampires before liking them was the "cool" thing to do, and before I really even knew what they were. These days vampires are all over the place. There's a ton of movies and TV shows that have flooded the market over the years that are based on these demons of the night.
My first exposure to vampires came when I was around 2 years old. A group of family and friends rented out an old creepy stage theater, and set out on a journey to produce a production of Dracula. Strange things took place during the production that were hilarious and terrifying, and one day I will share that story, but today is not that day. I will say though that the theater that it took place in was supposedly haunted, and that the production turned out to be what's been described to me as a "beautiful disaster." It was during that production that I became fascinated with this Dracula character.
My dad played Dracula, and I have memories of him rehearsing his lines and dressing up in costume. I remember visiting him at the playhouse, and walking through the creepy corridors that led to main theater. One of my favorite parts about going there was I got all the free 3 Musketeer candy bars that I wanted out of a fridge they had there.
I may have only been almost three years old, but I was around this stuff so much that I got to know the story of Dracula really well, and it just kind of stuck with me. I never lost that interest, and my curiosity about vampires just grew. As I got older, I would read everything I could and watch all the movies that my parents would let me watch about vampires. I was always discovering new things about them, and I just thought that they were the coolest creatures.
I've included a couple of pictures of me to prove just how far back my history goes with with this stuff. The one above is of me as a toddler sporting some awesome teeth. The one at the top is of me on Halloween, years later, all decked out as a crazy looking vampire type demon. This is one of my favorite and most memorable Halloween costumes ever. This was a very different and innovative vampire look at the time that my dad dreamed up. I was terrifying other kids while trick 'r treating, and I even recall adults being a little shocked by the look. You could tell that they never saw a vampire quite like that before. I soaked up the attention, and loved it. I've always liked taking my costumes and stories to dark and different places.
This is just a little background on why I get so excited about movies and TV shows about vampires. And I'm talking about real vampires here, not that Twilight shit that gave vampires a bad name. I'm more into the scary hardcore stuff, and I know I've seen almost every movie that has ever been made that revolves around these insane creatures. What was your first encounter with a vampire?