OpEd: How to make Vampires Scary Again

Stephen King, who has to be the single most widely published horror novelist in the world by this point, kicks off the month right by offering some bald truth on how to make vampires scary again in his introduction to his original comic book American Vampire (out this week). King established himself as an authority on vampire fiction with the release of the 1975 horror classic Salem's Lot, but last year, he openly expressed disdain for Stephenie Meyer, saying that she 'can't write worth a darn.' So it comes as no surprise that the piece makes a few not-so-subtle digs at Twilight.

Here’s what vampires shouldn’t be: pallid detectives who drink
Bloody Marys and only work at night; lovelorn southern gentlemen;
anorexic teenage girls; boy-toys with big dewy eyes.

What should they be?

Killers, honey. Stone killers who never get enough of that tasty
Type-A. Bad boys and girls. Hunters. In other words, Midnight
America. Red white and blue, accent on the red. Those vamps got
hijacked by a lot of soft-focus romance. That’s why I was so excited
when Scott Snyder—a writer I knew from his excellent book of short
stories, Voodoo Heart—mentioned to me in an email that he was in
talks with the folks at Vertigo about doing a vampire comic series.
His take was unique, his enthusiasm infectious.

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