Movies that'll make your heart stop

‘Tis Bloodsuckers week here in McAllen.

Fresh from today's feature on mosquitoes, Monitor intern Lynnea Olivarez is moving on to a story on fever ticks.

In honor of her dedication to creatures who sip the original iron supplement beverage, here are my nominations for the Top 7 Blood-Sucking Movies of All Time.

What do you think?  Anything missing? (And don't say Nosferatu. Too obvious.)

>> Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Ridiculed in its time, this 1992 Kristi Swanson/Luke Perry comedy eventually gave birth to the more self-serious television series of the same name.  But any movie in which the heroine says her life goals are to "move to Europe, marry Christian Slater, and die" is a gem. And Paul Rubens - i.e. Pee Wee Herman - is among the strange cast of semi-stars (Donald Sutherland, David Arquette), performing the world's longest and least convincing death scene.

>> My Best Friend is a Vampire

It's obscure, but if you can find a copy, this is a sweet and hilarious 1988 flick starring a pre-"Dead Poets Society" Robert Sean Leonard (now Dr. Wilson on TV's House).

>> Twilight

Sure, it hasn't come out yet.  But we can safely say that a movie based on the wildly popular Stephanie Meyers book series will be at least decent.

>> The Lost Boys

A genius genre classic. A quite young Kiefer Sutherland stars as the leader of a creepy cadre of sexy teenage vampires preying on the new family in town. Jason Patric tries to walk the line between social success (including getting to date hot vampire Star) and becoming a full-time murdering psycho vampire. Corey Feldman is a vampire hunter who hopes to vanquish the immortal version of Jack Bauer (good luck with that).

>> Blade: Trinity

The funniest, though probably not the best, of the Blade movies. Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel arrive to prop up the more tired franchise players and everyone kills a bunch of super-Vamps.  It's good, bloody fun.

>> Interview with the Vampire

This is obligatory. I actually hated this movie, but it was at least better than Queen of the Damned, and it features an incredibly small Kirsten Dunst as a manipulative china doll of a vamp.

>> I Am Legend

Will Smith as Will Smith, biological researcher, trying to cure the very vampirism he let loose on the world in the guise of a cure for cancer.