Vampire Villains: Ranking the Top 5

Vampire Villains are Bloodthirsty Baddies

Death comes for everyone. You grow old and weak until the day you die, with no guarantee of what will happen to your consciousness. Some people would do anything to escape that fate: sign pacts with dark powers, drink mortal blood, and rise from their grave as a monster. Strigoi. Vrykolakas. Nosferatu. A vampire.

Vampires ruled pop culture in the early 20th century, but they’ve been defanged. The nightmares became brooding lovers and reluctant heroes, if not mooks to be mowed down by action stars. These five bloodsuckers remind us why our ancestors barred their doors and clutched holy symbols. So who are the Top 5 Vampire Villains? Let’s find out.

Our only exclusion is Count Dracula. We’ve counted down his top five portrayals, so the Vampire King has magnanimously bowed out of this race.

Honorable Mention: Himiko Toga

Series: My Hero Academia
Voiced By: Leah Clark, Misato Fukuen

Vampires and serial killers are very similar. They want your insides on the outside, ambush victims in the dead of night, and usually can’t be identified at a glance. This slasher can’t get any closer to being a vampire without an aversion to garlic bread.

Himiko Toga was four when she decided blood was beautiful. Her transformation Quirk demanded blood to work, and she often brought home dead animals. Himiko’s parents forced her to repress her biological bloodlust and act like a normal girl. She snapped in middle school and stabbed her crush to feed on his blood. 

Himiko became a serial killer who viewed transforming into victims as the most intimate way of loving them. She was recruited by the League of Villains and found allies in her fellow outcasts. Himiko fell in love with hero students Deku and Uravity after seeing them covered in blood and hunted them relentlessly.

Ambush predator sums up Himiko Toga. She is inhumanly stealthy and can evade danger-sensing Quirks because stabbing people is her love language. Himiko’s Transform Quirk lets her assume other appearances by drinking blood and can even copy Quirks if she loves that person. Her strongest attack borrows blood from League duplicator Twice to create a limitless, pesudo-vampire army of herself dubbed The Sad Man’s Death Parade.

#5 Sylas Briarwood

Series: Critical Role
Voiced By: Matthew Mercer

Dungeons and Dragons vampires are a dime a dozen, but one has risen above his fellow bloodsuckers to destroy a city and and bring about a god of undeath.

Lord Sylas Briarwood was an aristocrat who died from a mysterious disease. His wife Delilah made a pact with the lich god Vecna to resurrect him in exchange for their servitude. Vecna’s ritual raised Sylas as a vampire.

The Briarwoods were ordered to conquer the city of Whitestone and perform a ritual to allow Vecna into their world. They killed the ruling De Rolo family except for puppet ruler Cassandra and her brother Percy, who had escaped. The Briarwoods spent years preparing the ritual while Percy joined Vox Machina and grew stronger, eventually returning to kill the Briarwoods. Vecna resurrected the Briarwoods, but Delilah was killed again and Sylas was incinerated by holy sunlight during a kamikaze attack.

Sylas is deadly at close range. He has the usual vampire abilities and can mesmerize enemies. Sylas wields Craven Edge, a sentient cursed greatsword that saps its victim’s strength. He also wears the Brooch of Living Essence, preventing magic from recognizing him as undead.

#4 Vampire Villain: Dio Brando

Series: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Voiced By: Patrick Seitz, Norio Wakamoto, Takehito Koyasu

Vampire villains suck, but this one takes it to the next level. He went roaring past villain to become a 100% evil bastard.

Dio Brando was the son of an abusive thief. He was taken in by the kindly Joestar family and made them regret it by beating up his adopted brother Jonathan, molesting Jonathan’s girlfriend, and burning the family dog alive. His name is Dio, but he’s the devil.

Dio faked remorse as part of a plan to kill his adopted father George Joestar and steal Jonathan’s inheritance. His plan was discovered and Dio used his last resort, a cursed mask that Jonathan had discovered. Wearing it transformed Dio into a vampire. He killed George and began a reign of terror. Jonathan could only stop him with help from his new allies: Baron Zeppeli, Tonpetty, and Robert E.O. Speedwagon. 

(Wait, did I mention that everyone in this series is named after classic rock?)

The hunters decapitated Dio, but he clung to life by hijacking Jonathan’s body. His vampire powers took a backseat in favor of the Joestar family’s secret power: Stands. Dio’s Stand “The World” is an invisible bodyguard with superhuman strength, durability, and the power to stop time. With The World at his fingertips and vampiric immortality, opposing Dio became useless, useless, useless.

#3 Carmilla

Series: Carmilla
Played By: Natasha Negovanlis, Annette Vadim, Gloria Holden 

Count Dracula is the most famous vampire, but he wasn’t the first with a name. That went to Varney the Vampire. But there was one vampire villain between them who established all the tropes while creating the idea of lesbian vampires.

Carmilla was a mysterious woman who was injured in a carriage accident. Kindly aristocrat Laura brought Carmilla to her castle and nursed her back to health. They became close friends during Carmilla’s convalescence, but oddities piled up. Carmilla was constantly exhausted, unbecomingly forward with her host, despised God, and reminded Laura of a childhood nightmare.

A family friend revealed the truth, Carmilla had killed his daughter and was really a vampire named Countess Mircalla Karnstein. She had fed on women for two hundred years and wanted to turn Laura into a vampire. Laura’s family tracked down Carmilla’s grave and dismembered her body to ensure she stayed dead. The ending hints that Carmilla may have faked her death and continues to keep an eye on Laura.

Carmilla’s secret weapon is that vampires were still obscure in her time. No one knew the rules, weaknesses, or could recognize the neon flashing warning signs. Carmilla has superhuman strength, stealth and can walk through sunlight because that trope didn’t exist yet.

#2 Vampire Villain: Abigail

Series: Abigail
Played By: Alisha Weir

Vampire children are the scariest vampires. You wouldn’t think a tiny dancer has the strength to rip apart men twice her size, would you? But this vampire villain can do so stylishly.

Abigail was an aspiring ballerina who was kidnapped by a group of criminals. They planned to ransom her back to her father, unaware that he was notorious crime boss Kristoff Lazar. The Lazar family assassin Valdez began picking off the kidnappers while Abigail turned them against each other. They eventually realized the truth. Valdez was Abigail and she was secretly a vampire.

Abigail toyed with the kidnappers by shrugging off traditional weaknesses, taunting them with her little girl act, and performing ballet moves mid-chase. She also revealed that each of them had wronged her family and she wanted them to suffer. Abigail killed most of the criminals, but reluctantly saved sympathetic kidnapper Joey in exchange for her help foiling an assassination attempt.

Being underestimated is Abigail’s greatest weapon. She looks like a little girl and can trick foes into thinking that she’s less dangerous. She has super strength, healing, flight, and can puppeteer thralls after biting them. Nothing quite like making your kidnapper burn herself by dancing into sunlight.

#1 Myotismon

Series: Digimon
Voiced By: Richard Epcar, Ryuzaburo Otomo

Humans aren’t the only creatures that can become a vampire. Animals, gods, aliens, and other beings can rise from the grave, but this might be the first vampiric computer program.

Myotismon is a warlord from the Digital World who discovered a way to enter Earth. He invaded with an army of fellow Digimon, searching for the final Digidestined who was prophesied to kill him. Myotismon fed on human women’s blood to supplement his diet of Digimon data. His generals betrayed him to save the Digidestined, giving them the ability to kill him.

Death wasn’t the end. He rose again as VenomMyotismon, a Godzilla-sized demonic vampire. The Digidestined fulfilled another prophecy, seemingly killing him for good. Myotismon’s soul survived and possessed a human to set up his final resurrection. He returned as the all-powerful Malomyotismon in the sequel, requiring an army of Digidestined and every Digimon ally they could summon to finally destroy him.

Myotismon has the standard vampire powers, but is weak in sunlight and against holy magic. He can create whips from blood or use Grisly Wing to summon a swarm of murderous bats. Myotismon’s stronger forms only increased his sadism as he tortured minions and enemies alike.

Which vampire are you afraid is under your bed? Is there one scarier than these? Let us inside and tell us in the comments.

Photo by Bernard Walsh/Universal Pictures – © 2023 Universal Studios

Jared Bounacos

Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.