In the world of horror fiction, the “monster” the most overtly associated with sexuality and eroticism is the vampire. The blood-sucking exchange between the vampire and the victim is often presented as a type of stand-in for “traditional” sexual encounters, seeing as both create a bond or a unity between two individuals. The goal of this essay is to analyze, and in doing so compare, both Dracula and I Am Legend as two key works of fiction in the tradition of viewing the vampire through an erotic lens. Both works play on the concept that vampires are a type of unity of contraries for the victims, or more succinctly the main characters are simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by the vampire(s). In I Am Legend this is the key concept for
