Warning: Vampire books and movies can often deal with quite adult themes. The ones chosen here are generally aimed at age 13 or below - but a few reviews might mention well-known movies that have higher age ratings. Always check the age rating of a film before watching other clips, and even with PG-13 and below make sure you stay within your own personal tolerance for the horror genre.
As you read and watch clips, think about the way vampires are portrayed. What similarieties and differences do they have? What features do they all share? How could you use these ideas to create an original vampire story of your own?
The Twilight series is a popular teen fiction book and movie series. While some people read it as an exciting fantasy love story, it has also been widely criticised for normalising and romanticising what in real life (if there were no vampires involved!) could be described as an abusive realtionship. However you regard Bella & Edward's relationship, given their particular cicumstances, it is worth taking this opportunity to step back and consider what is normal and healthy in a relationship so that you can apply it to your own. This article gives a clear discussion of the issues (obsession, low-self-esteem, controlling behaviours, gaslighting, isolating from friends and family & violence).
Putting that aside and coming back to vampires...this first video gives a quick overview of key features of vampires in these books [6min]:
If you want more information, this longer video breaks down the characteristics of all the Twilight vampires [17min]
A very short book trailer for this super, atmospheric vampire story by Marcus Sedgewick that takes vampires back to their Eastern European roots.
Super video on creating illustrations for this book [4min]
Broad overview of movie & first few books in series. Contains some spoilers [6min]
The Darren Shan vampire culture explained. This one's quite long so you might wannt to skip through it! [27min]