I don't get why people dislike Buffy so much, it was only two vampires and less than five demons that acted, well, civil, and does no one remember (or do they not understand or just not care) that Angel had a soul, and at the end of the series so did Spike, and that's why they weren't all "RAHHHH KILL"? Also I disagree with the above comments in that the sun being deadly to them is part of what vampires are and taking that (and pretty much every other thing considered an identifying feature of vampires) and only leaving the blood drinking is just as bad if, say, they died from the sun but didn't drink blood or any of the other things we think of vampires as doing/being, or if could only die from a stake to the heart and slept in coffins during the day but didn't drink blood or die from sunlight or any of the other things. It's true that the vampire "model" if you will has been twisted before and legends of people/creatures that had similar but not the same strengths and weaknesses come from all over the world, but if you call them vampires people are going to expect them to at least sleep during the day, drink blood, and stay out of the sun. That got kind of ranty... I don't think it ruined them because they're an iconic figure, I mean as I said we have similar myths and legends from all over the world, it obviously resonates with people on a pretty basic level, and people (or at least most of them) have this desire deep down to occasionally be scared (or see things that most people would consider scary), so the blood-drinking, night-walking, vaguely apathetic, strangely charismatic, and pointy-stick-garlic-and-religious-symbol-concerned vampire will never go away. The same principles apply for zombies, although the rise of trusting self-control and of technologies-- and discovery of diseases-- that mimic the zombie state [http://www.cracked.com/article_15643_5-scientific-reasons-zombie-apocalypse-could-actually-happen.html] have changed how most people from now will look at zombies.
