Dr Stacey Abbott, Reader in Film and Television Studies, set to speak on the legacy of vampires in film and television from Dracula and beyond. 

Contrary to some popular belief, the interest surrounding vampires did not begin with the latest flash of film mania, nor is it encapsulated into a feature-friendly storyline of teenage romance. Not to detract from recent attention, but the legends surrounding the vampire world go back far beyond that of modern day and are likely to continue on for generations to come. Dr Stacey Abbott, Reader in Film and Television Studies, recently spoke on the subject at the ‘Vampires Myths of the Past and Future’ conference held at the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies in London and is set to present at the upcoming Bram Stoker Centenary Conference and Symposium in April.

Stacey teaches a class titled The Modern Vampire at the University of Roehampton and is currently co-writing a book surrounding the horror genre on television. She started out her academic journey in film studies and became very interested in the notions of modernity and vampires as she moved into her PhD in vampire cinema. Her thesis, Celluloid Vampires, was published as she began to explore all of the ways that vampires are represented in film and television crossovers like in that of American programs Buffy and Angel.

Stacey said the recent success and attention being paid to vampires in films and television shows combine the dark world and romantic fiction: “They speak to a particular audience who don’t get spoken to very often but are very supportive and can turn a film or a series into a small phenomenon. I believe the focus on vampires will continue to hit these types of highs and lows for years to come.”

Stacey will be presenting a paper titled 'Spectral Vampires - The Legacy of Stoker's Dracula in Cinema’ at the Bram Stoker Centenary Conference (12-14 April 2012) which is set to commemorate the centenary since Stoker's death and will be held at the University of Hull. “It is extremely interesting how modern cinema has picked up on elements of how vampires are represented in classic tales like Stoker’s Dracula. Particularly things like immateriality, that human vs. ghost and turning to dust type of special effects”, she said.

The conference will focus on the iconic significance of Stoker’s vampire novel Dracula and will also explore the broader context of the changing nature of Gothic productions from the late eighteenth century to the present; using Dracula as a key point in the evolution of the genre.

It will be followed by the Bram Stoker Centenary Symposium (20-21 April 2012) organised by the University of Hertfordshire, where Stacey will be presenting a paper titled ‘So Who’s Got a Case of Dark Prince Envy?: The Televisual Dracula’. The symposium boasts an innovative and exclusive programme of talks and discussions in the appropriate setting of the house of Keats, who explored forbidden vampiric pleasures in his Lamia.

For more information on the Bram Stoker Centenary Conference including how you can obtain tickets please visit here. 

For more information on the Bram Stoker Centenary Symposium please visit here.