Vampires have always been popular in the media, but now it seems like the blood-sucking creatures are everywhere you turn! To make sure young eyes aren't peeping at overly scary scenes, we've provided a list of age-appropriate vampire books, TV shows, and movies. Now everyone in the family can get a bite of the action! Also, enjoy our quiz on the king of all vampires, Dracula.
For more vampire inspiration, check out The Best Vampire and Witch Names for Halloween Babies.
Movie: The Little Vampires
Ages: 8+
Rated: PG
This movie is based on the popular book and tells the story of Tony, a lonely kid, who befriends a young vampire. The two become best friends, and Tony is faced with the responsibility of saving the vampire race.
Warning: The movie includes mature vampire images, such as dead bodies and stakes through the heart. For not-so-scary Halloween movies, check out this list.
Book: Vampire Island
Ages: 9+
Written by Adele Griffin, the book follows a family of middle-school vampires trying to live an average life. Leaving their old ways behind, these three "vegetarian" vampires attempt to live a normal life in New York City.
Book and Movie: Twilight series
Ages: 13+
Rated: PG-13
Written by Stephenie Meyer, this saga is about the romance between a beautiful vampire and a human girl. Follow the intense romance between Bella and Edward as they are thrown into chaos to keep Bella safe. With a dash of werewolves, super powers, and a lot of drama, the four books and the movie are a display of faithful and unconditional love.
Warning: There are make-out scenes; one with Bella in her underwear stops abruptly. There are also disturbing scenes of blood, biting, and the destruction of a vampire body.
Book: The Reformed Vampire Support Group
Ages: 13+
Catherine Jinks puts a unique twist on vampirism in her book. These bloodsuckers are sickly and spend most of their time attending AA-style meetings. When one of their members is staked, they must come together to uncover the slayer before he strikes again.
Warning: Book contains some violence and swearing.
TV and Movie: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Ages: 13+
DVD Rated: PG-13
Both the 1992 movie and the TV series from 1997 follow Buffy Summers, a regular teenage girl chosen to hunt vampires, demons, and forces of evil. The TV series picks up after the movie, when Buffy transfers to Sunnydale High.
Warning: The movie is less serious and almost cartoon-like when compared to the TV series, which has a different cast. There is mild language and the violence is almost entirely bloodless in the movie, while the TV series has a darker and more serious tone.
TV and Book: The Vampire Diaries
Ages: 14+
The Vampire Diaries is a series of young-adult novels by L.J. Smith, which were adapted into a television show on the CW network. Edgier than Twilight, the novel and TV show follow a high school girl who is torn between two vampire brothers.
Warning: The subject of underage drinking is presented, along with talk of casual sex and some not-too-gory violence.
Book and Movie: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Ages: 16+
Rated: R
Did you know that our larger-than-life 16th president was also a vampire hunter? At least that's what author and screenplay-writer Seth Grahame-Smith imagines in his 2011 book and 2012 movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Critics describe the frightening and thrilling novel and film as a delicious mix of history and horror.
Warning: As you might imagine, scenes of the Civil War mingling with images of vampire slaying make for one scary movie, so both the book and movie are for older teens' eyes only.
Movie: The Lost Boys
Ages: 16+
Rated: R
This popular '80s vampire flick is still a teen favorite. When two brothers move with their mother to California, they begin to experience strange events that threaten their family. It turns out the local gang of teenagers is a pack of vampires.
Warning: The movie has gory and graphic scenes scattered throughout, along with references to killing innocent people.
Movie: Interview with the Vampire
Ages: 16+
Rated: R
This movie was adapted from the novel from The Vampire Chronicles series, written by the vampire queen, Anne Rice. Follow the intriguing story as a vampire tells an epic story of love, betrayal, death, loneliness, and other events of his 200 year life as a vampire.
Warning: This is a violent and bloody movie where death and murder are the main themes.
Book: Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story
Ages: 16+
This light and humorous vampire novel follows a young man who falls in love with a newly-created vampire named Jody. Together in this offbeat comic novel, the two stumble upon a string of mysterious murders that may be linked to Jody's creator. The uncanny humor and bizarre stories continue in the sequel, You Suck: A Love Story.
Warning: The books contain lewd language, references to drugs, the undead, and sexual innuendos.
Book and Movie: Let The Right One In
Ages: 16+
Rated: R
This beautifully shot Swedish film is adapted from the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The story revolves around the relationship between a 12-year-old boy, Oskar, and a 200-year-old vampire child, Eli. The two become quick friends and help each other out with bullying and loneliness.
Warning: Topics such as drugs, theft, pedophilia, prostitution, and murder are addressed in the book as well as in the movie.
TV and Book: True Blood and The Southern Vampire Mysteries
Ages: Not for kids!
True Blood is an HBO original series loosely based on Charlaine Harris' The Southern Vampire Mysteries (The Sookie Stackhouse Novels). Vampires have mainstreamed in the world and can live off of synthetically made blood instead of humans' blood. The book and show follow Sookie Stackhouse, a barmaid in Bon Temps, Louisiana, and her adventures with her vampire boyfriend.
Warning: The books are not for children due to language and graphic sexual content, which means the HBO series is even racier!
