was born 1957 in Attnang-Puchheim. He is a professor at the Institue for Theater Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna. In the course of working on his habilitation “Icons under Pressure: Hitchcock, the Marx Brothers and Dracula. On the Archeology of Pop Culture”, Köppl studied hand written notes by Bram Stocker in US-American archives and discovered several interesting facts on the origins of vampire legends. He was also the vampire expert for the award-winning television documentary “Die Vampirprinzessin” (the Vampire Princess).
They are stuck somewhere between this life and the hereafter, roaming through the night and biting pretty women’s necks. Fantasies and fears manifest themselves in the figure of the vampire, who became world-famous in novels and films, but also appears in TV advertisements, political campaigns and psychoanalysis.
The vampirologist Rainer M. Köppl tells us about a fear-filled hysteria between superstition and enlightenment. He describes how vampires first found refuge in romantically idealized literature, were reborn in 20th century film and have become more successful than ever at the dawn of the 21st century. Using vivid examples, the author illustrates the perfection of form and function in the figure of the vampire: as a mirror for our fantasies of sex, violence, fear, blood, death, eternal love and immortality.
