20 Greatest Vampires

11. Klaus Kinski's Dracula

Vampires haven't always been sex symbols. In Nosferatu the Vampyre, Werner Herzog's 1979 reworking of F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent film, Kinski radiated pathos and self-loathing as a rodentlike Count Dracula (a stark contrast to Murnau's character, who was merely a walking cadaver). Kinski amped up the creep factor by shaving his head and spackling himself in white makeup. Critics still regard him as the most human rendering of Stoker's creation.

12. Zoey Redbird
FROM P.C. AND KRISTIN CAST'S HOUSE OF NIGHT SERIES

Through five YA best-sellers, teenage heroine Zoey has matured into the most gifted and beautifully tattooed rebel that the coed Tulsa vampyre finishing school House of Night has ever seen. Battling evil that ranges from your standard Mean Girl to a seductive fallen angel, as well as higher-than-Hogwarts hormone levels, she's learned the power of free will and friendship — and the joy of having a gay man in her circle.

13. Jean-Claude
FROM LAURELL K. HAMILTON'S ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER SERIES

Technically, the Master of the City of St. Louis — who still rocks a lace-trimmed shirt and leather pants after centuries and 17 novels — first blackmailed Anita Blake into dating him by threatening to kill her werewolf boyfriend. But ultimately theirs is a relationship based on his respect for her free will (Anita resisted him until a heavily earmarked bathtub scene in the sixth book, The Killing Dance) and their mutual openness to the male-skewed menage a trois. Hello, Asher (book 11, Cerulean Sins)!

14. David
FROM 1987'S THE LOST BOYS

The '80s were a natural fit for vampires — after all, what's more punk rock than refusing to die? As David, Kiefer Sutherland sported a platinum Billy Idol mullet and black new-wave overcoat — perfect attire for terrorizing beach parties, dangling from railway bridges, or menacing Coreys on the boardwalk. His vamp-gang leader flashed a style just attainable enough to inspire parent-upsetting trends. See what happens when you watch too much MTV? You start drinking blood!

15. Miriam Blaylock and Sarah Roberts
FROM 1983'S THE HUNGER

Tony Scott's directorial debut didn't win many raves from critics, but the appeal of actresses Catherine Deneuve (Miriam) and Susan Sarandon (Sarah), when combined with the star wattage of David Bowie (who also played a vampire, natch), and a killer song by Bauhaus called ''Bela Lugosi's Dead,'' helped the picture build a fan base. The steamy face-sucking scene between the two women is a cinematic moment as immortal as the vampires they play on screen.

READERS' POLL
Who's the hottest new vampire?

42% Eric
Alexander Skarsgard, True Blood

35% Edward
Robert Pattinson, Twilight

10% Bill
Stephen Moyer, True Blood

8% Damon*
Ian Somerhalder, The Vampire Diaries

3% Mitchell
Aidan Turner, Being Human

2% Stefan*
Paul Wesley, The Vampire Diaries

*The Vampire Diaries premieres on The CW on Sept. 10

Who do you think is the hottest vampire of all time? Vote at EW.COM/SEXYVAMPIRES

16. Blade
FROM BLADE TRILOGY

Blade is a complex dude: He's both a vampire and a vampire hunter. But thanks to Wesley Snipes' take on the Marvel character, he's also 100 percent badass. With his long black leather coat, chopsocky moves, and signature double-edged sword with an acid-etched titanium blade, Snipes' most indelible performance singlehandedly rescued the black-vampire genre from Blacula minstrelsy.

17. Eli
FROM 2008'S LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

In the Swedish sleeper hit, Lina Leandersson plays Eli, a vampire in the body of a 12-year-old girl. As she befriends a neighborhood boy, Eli poignantly battles a foe worse than angry mobs or cross-wielding hunters: the loneliness of being undead in a living world.

18. Countess Bathory
FROM 1971'S DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS

Countess Bathory (Delphine Seyrig) looks like Dietrich and kills like Dracula. With her flawless style and timeless beauty — who needs Botox when you've got the blood of 800 virgins? — Seyrig's vampire is one of the undead's most glamorous.

19. Selene
FROM THE UNDERWORLD TRILOGY

Most of the vampires on this list can bare fangs and suck blood, but how many of them can also rock a curve-hugging leather ensemble while blasting guns? Vamp warrior Selene, embodied by a pale, pouty, eerily still Kate Beckinsale, has been pumping silver bullets into archenemy Lycans for centuries, with style. Who cares if the Underworld movies themselves make very little sense?

20. Caleb and Mae
FROM 1987'S NEAR DARK

The vampires in Kathryn Bigelow's neo-Western-cum-horror flick are far from your stereotypical bloodsuckers. They're more like a vicious, pistol-packing biker gang. Time magazine film critic Richard Corliss recently called Near Dark ''the all-time teenage vampire love story.'' (Though we know a few million Twilighters who might disagree.)

Honorable Mentions
How could we neglect these fanged friends?

GRANDPA MUNSTER
His centuries-old comic instincts supplied constant punchlines.

COUNT VON COUNT
Sesame Street's resident ghoul thirsts only for numbers.

ELVIRA
The beehived blood-sucker has a knack for B-film broadcasting.

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
The star of its musical-within-a-movie stole the (puppet) show.

WRITTEN AND REPORTED BY: Christina Amoroso, Mandi Bierly, Clark Collis, Jeff Jensen, Beth Johnson, Jeff Labrecque, Adam Markovitz, Chris Nashawaty, Whitney Pastorek, Josh Rottenberg, Nicole Sperling, Christine Spines, Tim Stack, Benjamin Svetkey, Ken Tucker, Adam B. Vary, Simon Vozick-Levinson, Kate Ward, and David Yi