ABSTRACT
Female vampires can be read as the embodiment of the in-between: they are dead and alive, past and present, identified with excessive female sensuality but also with masculine sexual appetite and strength. The discussion of works by Sheridan Lefanu, Bram Stoker, or Mary Elisabeth Braddon, among others, lay the foundations to understand the common places of female vampiric narratives and how they respond to a reactionary time and context. Later, the chapter addresses such films as Let The Right One In (2008), Byzantium (2012), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), together with other contemporary references. These rewritings celebrate the vampire’s otherness, and highlight the resilience to be found in these liminal characters.
