One columnist tried to answer this very question in her recent poll Poll: Is the Vampire Trend Almost Over?. Out of 91 votes 26 people answered yes and 65 answered no.

I have to say that I agree with the people who voted that no it’s not almost over. The author points out that the majority of current vampire films and television are geared towards young adult and that this fact perhaps contributes to them being of a poorer quality.

While I do agree that there is a young adult trend towards vampires in both film and books I do not agree that young adults have cornered the market. I think adults will have some things to look forward to in the coming year and have in fact already been treated to a couple of gems.

March of this year saw the DVD release of the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In, a tale of a young boy who falls in love with a vampire. But make no mistake, this film is not a Twilight wanna be. It is a dark and disturbing exploration of abuse, androgyny and the pre-teen brutality of boys. Despite all of that the relationship between the two main characters, Oskar and Eli, is both touching and bittersweet and the film has earned itself an extremely devout cult following. A following that is very dismayed about the upcoming USA remake Let Me In. Scheduled to be released sometime in 2010 the film stars Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Will the American version stay true to the original vision or will we get a watered down mundane interpretation? We’ll just have to wait and see.

This year also saw the release of the South Korean vampire flick Thirst. This highly praised film is a blood-soaked, sometimes humorous, and very sexy exploration of the sins and desires of the flesh as told through the eyes of a priest turned vampire.

But are foreign countries the only ones churning out adult vampire films? As of January 2010 the answer to that will be a resounding no with the release of the much anticipated Daybreakers starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill. It’s a futuristic vampire film in which vamps outnumber humans and their blood supply is dwindling. I , for one, am very much looking forward to it.

So what do you think? Are vampires heading for the grave or do they still have a little life left in them?