Did Twilight really ruin vampire movies?

It's easy to forget just how popular Twilight was in the late-2000s. Stephenie Meyer's books and their accompanying film adaptations were pop culture dynamite, which also meant that they were reviled in equal measure. In common with just about any cultural phenomenon throughout history primarily enjoyed by young girls, Twilight was greeted by some as if its teen romance and sparkly vampirism heralded the death of culture itself.

Even more bizarrely, it's still happening — 17 years after the final book and 13 years after the movie saga came to an end. Robert Pattinson, who played blood-sucking heartthrob Edward Cullen, said in a new interview that people still approach him and say that the Twilight movies "ruined the vampire genre".

In response, Pattinson hit the nail on the head. “Are you still stuck on that s***?" he said. "How can you be sad about something that happened almost 20 years ago? It’s crazy.”

It's very strange that people are still so hung up on Twilight, with the pale visages of the Cullen clan evidently still living in their heads rent-free. But is there any truth in what they're saying? What impact did Twilight have on the vampire genre?

Twilight, in both its literary and cinematic form, sparked a huge wave of interest in paranormal romance tales and YA storytelling. Without Twilight, it's difficult to imagine the likes of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner becoming Hollywood blockbusters. The same is true of supernatural romance tales like Warm Bodies.

But we're here to talk specifically about the vampire genre. On the small screen, Twilight opened the door for the success of The Vampire Diaries, which ultimately ran from 2009 until 2017. Despite the enormous popularity of this series, it's likely that the same people who complained about Twilight would be unmoved by it. It's hardly old-school, terrifying vamp storytelling.

Read more: Kristen Stewart was shocked by the success of Twilight (BANG Showbiz, 2 min read)

"At the time Twilight became a major hit, it inspired other adaptations of best-selling vampire stories, such as HBO’s TV series True Blood, which had far more sexually active and blood-thirsty vampires to satisfy those who found the twinkly Twilight vampires too boring," says Dan Owen, co-host of the Vampire Videos podcast.

Outside of the supernatural romance world, we have to note that the vampire franchise was in a pretty lacklustre state at that time — at least in the mainstream. Nobody would hold up the likes of Cirque Du Freak, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the Fright Night remake, or Daybreakers as genre classics. None of that can be blamed on Twilight.

Just six months after the final Twilight film premiered, Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston provided artsy vampire romance in Only Lovers Left Alive. It was a very different take on vampire storytelling and critics showered it with praise. In 2016, it earned a spot on the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century.

Read more: Anna Kendrick explains why she ‘forgot’ she was in Twilight (The Independent, 5 min read)

Admittedly, this wasn't a massive mainstream hit, despite Hiddleston's rising star status off the back of his Marvel Cinematic Universe performances. A year later, though, something far more crowd-pleasing and accessible arrived in the shape of Taika Waititi's absurd, hilarious mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows. The film didn't pull up any trees in cinemas, but later became a cult hit on streaming platforms and spawned a six-season TV spin-off.

What We Do in the Shadows showed that the way to make vampire movies work is to lean into the increasing silliness of the genre. It's tough to make vampires scary — and that was the case long before Twilight — so why not make them funny? It's no coincidence that the most successful big screen vampire of the 2010s was Adam Sandler's animated Dracula in the Hotel Transylvania franchise.

Read more: I Didn't Think What We Do In The Shadows' Final Episode Could Deliver A Satisfying Ending, But I Was Happily Oh So Wrong (CinemaBlend, 4 min read)

Vampires maintained a strong place in our culture throughout the 2010s and, now, we're starting to see them bring the genuine scares again. The 2023 Nicolas Cage film Renfield and last year's Abigail bridged the gap between comedy and horror to great effect, while Robert Eggers' gloriously dark recent spin on Nosferatu is as purely, elementally terrifying as a big screen vampire has been in decades.

"The fact is those Twilight stories were gateway drugs for a generation of kids to become interested in vampires, and I’m sure many of them recently enjoyed Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu remake just as wholeheartedly," Owen says.

He adds: "Vampires continue to hold a special place in the public’s imagination in film and TV. Just look at recent movies like Abigail and Renfield, the incredible Interview with the Vampire series, or the upcoming Ryan Coogler movie Sinners."

Read more: Why Nosferatu and Twilight are alike, according to director Robert Eggers (Yahoo Entertainment, 3 min read)

It's safe to say, then, that Twilight hasn't ruined the vampire genre. Blood-sucking fiends are still alive and well in Hollywood, whether they're making us laugh or making us scream. Twilight might have come along in something of a fallow period for "serious" and genuinely scary vampire films, but that segment of the genre is very much back. And these days, the vampires very rarely sparkle.

All five Twilight movies are available to rent or buy now in the UK.