Vamps v Wolves

 since this is now october, my mind naturally turns to how awesome halloween  is.  the whole month, i get myself more stoked for it by watching horror films.  i love really scary ones, campy ones, funny ones, everything horror.  two of the stalwarts of the horror movie genre are vampires and werewolves.  i'm not going to document their individual histories, but rather their intertwined relationship.  i became rather intrigued with how vampires and werewolves are pitted against each other as historically antagonistic parties.  i did some serious research into how vampires and werewolves have been shown together, i probably should have been paying attention in my marketing class instead.
  in traditional dracula lore, he usually either has control over wolves/dogs or they howl when he is around, because they recognize his evil since they share a kinship as children of the night.  so there is some basis for a relationship between canines and vampires.
  the very first movie that i could find that had both werewolves and vampires was from 1944, called the return of the vampire.  in this one, the werewolf was being controlled by the vampire, so a little bit like the new underworld series.  it was not a very oppositional relationship though, the werewolf didn't try to rise up against its vampire overlord or anything like that.
  there were several other vampire/werewolf co op movies, including fright night 2, from 1989.  that one is a classic, high camp halloween movie.  there were several foreign films that pitted vamps against wolves, but non that were popular here in the states, and we are really the only ones that matter.  am i right, or am i right?
  the first real antagonistic approach to what had historically been a loving, healthy relationship between vampires and werewolves was in 2003's underworld, starring kate beckinsale.  now, i could watch this movie with the sound off, just appreciating kate in the tight latex and leather.  i mean, look at her:

  how could i not love this movie (and yes, i know that the picture is actually from the sequel)?  in this one, an age old conflict of vampires enslaving werewolves, and the ensuing fight for freedom by the wolfies, is the first conflict portrayed.  now, i have no idea if other fictional mediums have pitted the two against each other, this is about movies.  from that point, van helsing (i actually suggest watching this movie with the sound off so you can watch kate beckinsale, or better yet, don't watch it, watch underworld again) in 2004, a couple of underworld sequel/prequels, and even a blacksploitation flick called bloodz vs wolvez in 2006.  of course, the most popular(unfortunately) brand of vampires fighting werewolves is found in the twilight series movies.  now the vampire vs werewolf is so ingrained in our culture that new vampire tv shows true blood and the vampire diaries seem to naturally bring in werewolves in an antagonistic role.  i'm not sure why vampire lore has so easily been changed from the traditional draculaesque roles, but it seems to have started with a film i like, and ended up with films i don't like.  we'll see where it goes from here.  i need to watch some of these movies now, cuz it is the best time of year for horror flicks.  hooray!