TWILIGHT, The VAMPIRE DIARIES, TRUE BLOOD v DRACULA - Vampires Past and Present

If vampires once represented a fear of sexuality, what do they mean to our more liberated era? Why is the vampire such an attractive character to us?

Here's a comment:

"I may be biased as it was my suggestion that came out of the hat but I'm glad that we're looking at these books. For me, Dracula by Bram Stoker is the scarier of the vampires - I first read it when I was 18 during a really hot summer and refused to sleep with the window open at night just in case. Wasn't until I got to the end of the book that I allowed air into my bedroom. I want my vampires to scare me and Dracula definitely did – a big part of this was because he didn't actually appear that often. So much of the terror and suspense was in the perceptions of the Harkers, Lucy, Van Helsing and so on. This made it scarier for me, as a big part of terror is fear in the mind and often the reality is less scary. Not having Dracula around so much meant that he could be as scary as the imagination would let him be. And all the gothic associations add to that.
On the other hand, Edward and the Cullens are around and by getting to know them you sympathise with them and see that they are just misunderstood. And the other vampires that the Cullens meet who aren't as pleasant and vegetarian still don't have that scare factor, and secretly even when the blood hits the fan you know that everyone will be all right at the end and come through unscathed …
I like them both, but as for me vampires are meant to be scary and I want to be frightened so much I daren't open the window until I reach the end of the book, Dracula wins the fight. Having said that, I probably would prefer it if Robert Pattinson appeared on my window sill rather than Christopher Lee …"

 Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/27/twilight-dracula-vampires-reading-group

As for me, I LOVE Dracula's novel, and the characters in it (not only the Count himself, but also Renfield, Van Helsing,...). I recently re-read it after 8 years from my first read and the novel is still charming and the characters haven't lost their allure. However, it scares me to death and I have dark thoughts when driving across the woods on foggy nights - no kidding.

I haven't read Twilight, but I have watched the first two movies, which I didn't care for too much. I am currently watching The Vampire Diaries and I don't especially love it either... I guess I'll stick to the original!

What about you? Do you prefer good old-fashioned Dracula, Edward Cullen, Stefan and Damon Salvatore or none of them?