For as long as their have been vampires in stories and popular culture, there have also been those who would see the undead destroyed. Vampire hunters have come in many shapes and sizes over the decades, from kick-ass men of action, to small, blonde women with superpowers, to demonic beings who may end up being just as dangerous as the very creatures they’re hunting. Then, of course, there is the greatest vampire hunter of them all. You can keep Blade and Buffy for yourself. If vampires did show up in my town, I’d want Professor Abraham Van Helsing, learned scholar, vampire expert and the arch enemy of Count Dracula himself, fighting in my corner first and foremost.

Bram Stoker’s second most famous creation (you can argue that, but you’d be wrong) may not have been the first vampire hunter the world had ever heard of, but he certainly set the template for every one which would come after. You’ll be hard pressed to find a vampire story these days which doesn’t have its very own Van Helsing figure. What else is Whistler to Blade than a modern version of Van Helsing, and in the universe of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon gave us an entire group of Van Helsings who worked with the Slayer in the Council of Watchers.

Surprisingly, given the number of times Dracula has appeared on screen, there haven’t been anywhere near as many actors to have portrayed the good professor, and of the ones who have, a great many of them have been awful. Christopher Plummer may be a very fine actor indeed, but his turn in Dracula 2001 was… Well, he was clearly just there for the money. Thankfully, there have also been a couple of great Van Helsings, including your favourite, Peter Cushing. Next year will also see Dario Argento bringing us Dracula 3D, featuring Rutger Hauer as Van Helsing. I like Rutger Hauer, and have a feeling that, even if the film is total crap, had I written this a year later, he would have found his way onto the list.

However, I didn’t, and so, since we have to begin somewhere…

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Um... I'm supposed to write some kind of preamble to these things, but how do I do that when it's just a continuation of what I wrote on Friday? Ooh! Let's pretend it's a TV show!

Previously on Behind the Masks - Dracula...

People voted Gary Oldman and Christopher Lee as the best Dracula of all time. They were wrong about Oldman, 'cos he wasn't very good, in point of fact. The top ten currently stands like this:-

10. Gary Oldman
9. John Carradine
8. John Forbes-Robertson
7. Peter Stormare
6. Rudolf Martin

But who made the top five? And will Spider-Man and Iceman rescue Firestar? Find out... Right now!

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