Vampire legends

Vampires are one of the most celebrated figures in pop culture. Right now, the sinister blood-sucking beings are especially popular in Hollywood. Last year, Johnny Depp scared audiences with his blood-hungry fantasy character in the film "Dark Shadows," directed by Tim Burton. But the origins of vampires can be found in literature and history.

Vampires originated in the mid-15th century from what is today Romania with Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia - better known as Vlad the Impaler. He is said to have had a taste for his victims' blood, but historical fact and fiction remain difficult to separate. Nevertheless, the legend has continued to inspire artists from all over the world for centuries.

After seven years in the making, Irish author Bram Stoker published "Dracula" in 1897. Stoker has shaped the image of vampires more than any other author. Acclaimed screenwriters and directors continue to take inspiration from his novel to this day. Stoker died in 1912, leaving others to profit from his vision.

Before Bram Stoker published "Dracula," Norwegian artist Edvard Munch completed a painting in 1895 which he initially called "Love and Pain." It was only after friends of Munch's remarked that the woman appeared to be biting the man's neck that the painting was renamed "The Vampire."

The vampire myth is currently being explored in a carefully crafted exhibition at Dusseldorf's Film Museum. Many props from the 1987 US horror movie "Prince of Darkness" are being shown for the first time in Germany. Funded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, otherwise known as the Oscars, the show incldues Max Schreck's legendary "Nosferatu" from Murnau's iconic silent film.

Like the German Max Schreck, many actors have become famous playing the role of a vampire. The stories about the Hungarian-American actor Bela Lugosi who played Dracula in the 1930s are legendary. When vampire films fell out of fashion, Lugosi suffered from drug and alcohol addiction. He was even buried wearing a Dracula-style cape.

After Max Schreck, the controversial German actor Klaus Kinski played a blood-thirsty vampire in Werner Herzog's version of "Nosferatu." French actress Isabelle Adjani, pictured here alongside Kinski, was the tragic victim.

It's not just white male actors that have played vampires on the silver screen. Black, female and homosexual vampires have all appeared in film. Big firms also exploit the vampire phenomenon. Last year, car industry giant Audi staged an all-female vampire show at the end of the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

Hollywood has produced some spectacular big-budget Dracular movies. In 1994, Irish director Neil Jordan followed in the footsteps of his fellow countryman Bram Stoker with his film "Interview with a Vampire." It stared Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, but was not a huge commercial success.

In the last few years, the stars of the Twilight film franchise have enjoyed mega success. Based on the popular books by American author Stephanie Meyer, the film adaptations staring Robert Pattinson (l.), Kristin Stewart and Taylor Lautner (r.) have broken box office records. Every premiere is a lavish event.

Merchandizing products accompanying the books and films have also made their way into kids' bedrooms. Whether it's board games, costumes or plastic vampire fangs, the number of products based on the vampire cult is phenomenal, as the exhibition at the Film Museum in Dusseldorf illustrates.

Numerous artefacts from Germany and abroad can be seen until the middle of October at the exhibition. Original manuscripts, screenplays, photographs and film sequences are positioned alongside a reconstruction of Bram Stoker's study. It's appropriately painted a very bloody shade of red.