 The legend of the vampire was cemented in the film industry when Dracula was reincarnated for a new generation with the celebrated Hammer Horror series of films , starring Christopher Lee as the Count . The successful 1958 Dracula starring Lee was followed by seven sequels . Lee returned as Dracula in all but two of these and became well known in the role . By the 1970s , vampires in films had diversified with works such as Count Yorga , Vampire ( 1970 ) , an African Count in 1972 's Blacula , the BBC 's Count Dracula featuring French actor Louis Jourdan as Dracula and Frank Finlay as Abraham Van Helsing , and a Nosferatu @-@ like vampire in 1979 's Salem 's Lot , and a remake of Nosferatu itself , titled Nosferatu the Vampyre with Klaus Kinski the same year . Several films featured female , often lesbian , vampire antagonists such as Hammer Horror 's The Vampire Lovers ( 1970 ) based on Carmilla , though the plotlines still revolved around a central evil vampire character . 
