I am often asked why vampires are so closely linked to the Gothic scene. It's not something I've run across very much on the gothic web sites. But I think it has a lot to do with plays based on Bram Stoker's book, and especially Anne Rice.
Everyone associates the Goth scene with exotic black clothing and the darker side of life. In the early 1920's, plays transformed Stoker's vampire from an unsavory character with bad breath into a suave and sexy creature in a black formal suit and cape. Bela Lugosi refined this image with the addition of his exotic Hungarian accent, good looks, and almost hypnotic stare. His name became almost synonymous with that of Count Dracula.
Then in 1976, Anne Rice wrote "Interview with the Vampire". Her book took the vampire into new territory it had never entered before. Prior to Anne Rice, almost all vampire stories were told from the viewpoint of the humans who encountered and had to defeat the vampire. The vampire
was usually a two dimensional evil character that no one could really identify with. Suddenly Anne Rice's book changed all that. The vampires, not the humans, were the central characters. The vampires' loves and hates, hopes and fears, were a larger than life, darker than life, reflection of the human condition. Reading "Interview with the Vampire" is like eating a deluxe dark chocolate dessert so full of calories they are practically crawling off the plate. In other words, perfect for the Gothic scene.
The vampire expresses the darker side of life better, and with more élan than any other creature. It is possessed of style, power, and sexuality. When it comes to alternative lifestyles, nothing can match the vampire. And Lestat, the vampire protagonist of Rice's second book "The Vampire Lestat" is the vampire's vampire. He is stylish, powerful, sexy, and lives not one but two, alternative lifestyles: bloodsucker and rock star. How could the Gothic community NOT embrace the concept of the vampire?