History Main / FeralVampires

Subtrope of OurVampiresAreDifferent and often of HillbillyHorrors. See also OurZombiesAreDifferent.

* {{Chinese Vampire}}s are typically shown as being unthinking, animalistic brutes. JustifiedTrope as they were traditionally seen as the result of a corpse transportation spell gone wrong.

* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', as one would expect from a game that tries to encompass all vampire archetypes, has two takes on this, the Brujah and Gangrel clans -- a clan of {{Bomb Throwing Anarchist|s}} {{Warrior Poet}}s and wilderness-dwelling {{Voluntary Shapeshift|ing}}ers, respectively.

Well, this is not that trope.

This is a CyclicTrope- before vampires were stereotyped as [[VampiresAreRich rich]], [[WickedCultured suave]] and [[VampiresAreSexGods erotic]], they were seen as bestial shambling corpses who could barely pass for human. LooksLikeOrlok is also a throwback to this perception of vampires.

Subtrope of OurVampiresAreDifferent and often of HillbillyHorrors.

''"Though they once walked and talked as lords amongst the chattel, these curse-born Vampires have devolved into ravening predators desperate for the taste of blood. They prowl the battlefield in packs, ready to pounce upon the least sign of weakness and tear a hole in the enemy ranks with crimson claw and bloody fang."''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has the Strigoi, a vampiric bloodline who cross this over with OurGhoulsAreCreepier. They are mindless monsters living in lightless caverns and crypts and ruling over the ghouls who share the crypts with them.

* The feral Vampyres in ''VideoGame/RuneScape''. Creatures than can be found in the Haunted Woods of [[{{Uberwald}} Morytania]] and in the God Wars Dungeon.

* ''VideoGame/JudgeDreddDreddVsDeath'': Vampires are EliteMooks, but are still no more intelligent than the zombies

[[folder:Films: Live-Action]]

* ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'': Vampires have taken over the world, and a shortage of humans for blood has led to rising numbers of animalistic vampires.
* Similarly to ''Film/NearDark'' mentioned below, ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'' and its DirectToVideo sequels are set in the Titty Twister bar, a remote trucker bar used as a front for a vampire clan.

* ''Film/TheLostBoys'' is as important as ''Film/NearDark'' to the emergence of this trope. The film centers on two brothers who encounter vampires (and amateur vampire hunters) after moving to a beach town in California. The title of the film refers both to the long list of missing people in the town (the vampires' victims) and to the gang of vampires themselves, who, like Peter Pan's followers, revel in their eternal youth and the inability of any (mortal) authority figure to actually control them and their wild, predatory impulses.

* Subverted in ''Literature/IAmLegend''. After surviving the collapse of civilization due to a virus which reanimated those who died as vampires, protagonist Neville believes the vampires to be AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters. After being captured by them, he discovers that they are intelligent beings, many of whom have been working to rebuild society among themselves after adjusting to the physical changes inflicted on them. The titular line follows his realization that he's become ''their'' equivalent of this trope -- a terrifying and remorseless monster who slaughters dozens as they sleep.
* While CommonKnowledge dictates that vampires in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' are AlwaysLawfulGood, a large portion of the vampires are nomads, feral savages with few concerns beyond themselves and their next meal.

** While vampires in [=D&D=] are mostly intelligent and civilized, not everyone they turn becomes a true vampire. Some become vampire spawn, which are much less intelligent and cunning and far more feral (but completely under the control of the vampire who turned them).
* As one would expect from a game that tries to encompass all vampire archetypes, ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' has two takes on this, the Brujah and Gangrel clans- a clan of {{Bomb Throwing Anarchist|s}} {{Warrior Poet}}s and wilderness-dwelling {{Voluntary Shapeshift|ing}}ers, respectively.
* ''Masquerade's'' SpiritualSuccessor, ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'', also features the Gangrel (with the renamed Bruja as a bloodline of them). In addition, the game provides the Oberlochs, a Gangrel bloodline, a clan of inbred mine-owning rural vampires who suffer from ageing even as vampires. Expect to see reenactments of the "sucking on bloody fingers" scene from ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre''.

* Subverted in ''Literature/IAmLegend''. Protagonist Neville believes the vampires to be AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters. After being captured by them, he discovers that they are intelligent beings who see him as their equivalent of a vampire -- a remorseless monster who slaughters dozens in their sleep.

* ''Film/TheLostBoys'' is as important as ''Film/NearDark'' to the emergence of this trope. The film is about the disappearance of two boys in a remote California town, and it quickly transpires that they have been transformed by a vampire biker gang.

* Subverted in ''Literature/IAmLegend''. Protagonist Neville believes the vampires to be AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters. After being captured by the, he discovers that they are intelligent beings who see him as their equivalent of a vampire- a conscienceless monster who slaughters dozens in their sleep.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': When vampirized, Mind Flayers devolve into mindless monstrosities, roaming the Underdark for the blood and brains they crave.

* ''Film/NearDark'' is the TropeMaker, born of its director's attempts to create a Western in a market with no demand for one. The film concerns a family of filthy white trash vampires who live out in the Oklahoma backwoods and prey on travellers. Unlike most example of this, the main vampirised character is sympathetic and grapples with his humanity and his hunger for blood.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has the Strigoi, a vampiric bloodline who cross this over with OurGhoulsAreCreepier. They are mindless monsters, live in lightless caverns and crypts and ruling over the ghouls who share the crypts with them.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has the Strigoi, a vampiric bloodline who cross this over with OurGhoulsAreCreepier. They are mindless monsters live in lightless caverns and crypts and ruling over the ghouls who share the crypts with them.