Forget the opera capes and screw the glitter. This year’s last word invampire sexinesswears a knit cap on his head and his hapless nerd heart on his sleeve. MeetReginald the Vampire, the latest offering in the vampire genre that marries humor with horror in a suburban setting, with a neon plastic aesthetic and a delightful grotesque sensibility. Based on the novel seriesFat VampirebyJohnny B. Truant, the story flies in the face of popular media’s collection of impossibly hot bloodsuckers by framing its central hero as a sort of below-average everyman whose vampiric transmogrification only adds to his problems but who discovers his hidden strengths in the process.
Developed byHarley Peyton(Dracula,Reign),Reginald the VampirestarsJacob Batalon(Spider-Man: No Way Home) as the titular creature of the night, alongsideMandela Van Peebles(Mayor of Kingstown) as vampire coworker Maurice,Em Haine(Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between) as love interest Sarah, andSavannah Basley(Wynonna Earp) as antagonist Angela. Here’s how you can watch the series.
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When and Where Can You Watch Reginald the Vampire?
Reginald the Vampirepremieres on June 23, 2025, onSyfy. No word on a streaming or physical release as of yet, unless you count the six-book series by author Johnny B. Truant.
Watch the Trailer for Reginald the Vampire
Reginald’s life is pretty drab: he works a fast food job he hates, his love interest is dating his boss, and he’s eternally struggling to find the courage to change either of those things. Precisely none of that changes when he meets a mysterious duo of lovely ladies who show an intense interest in certain parts of his anatomy, i.e. his arteries. Now in addition to his previous problems, Reginald must deal with an allergy to sunlight, spontaneously appearing fangs, and a sudden and intense lust directed at the throats of his coworkers - even the coworker he secretly fancies.
“Reggie, you’re a vampire now,” explains Maurice, the coworker who got him into this mess in the first place, adding to Reginald’s mounting sense of betrayal. Reginald is subsequently introduced to the underground vampire society he’s nowtechnicallya member of, but the naked avarice, naked bloodlust, and naked people are all a bit too rich for his blood and he’s having trouble feeling comfortable among his new peers. Complicating matters is that one of his coworkers seems to be getting into the vampire-hunting business, and Angela, the local vampire coven leader, goes from lowkey trying to get Reginald killed via a series of petty games straight out of vampireMean Girlsto just plain wanting him dead, as we hear her ranting about how unfit Reginald is to join their society. It’s all a lot of added pressure on a man - undead creature of the night - who was barely holding it together, to begin with. But he is not without allies or strengths of his own. We see him adjusting to daylight, growing closer with Maurice, and - perhaps - gaining some self-confidence.Thirsty?asks the trailer tagline.Drink up.
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What’s the Plot of Reginald the Vampire?
The story begins with Reginald unhappy with his job and his appearance, longing after a girl who he’s convinced is out of his league. His mysterious friend and coworker Maurice encourages him to shoot his shot with her anyway, but when his insecurities get the better of him, Maurice apparently decides to take more drastic measures and arranges the meeting that ultimately changes Reginald into a vampire - just like Maurice himself.
Vampirism does not, in fact, solve Reginald’s self-consciousness issues. In addition to thirsting for the blood of his coworkers, Reginald now has an entirely new social world of beautiful, vain, and murderous vampires to utterly fail to fit in with, and things only get worse when Angela, the beautiful and deadly vampire boss, decides that Reginald must be set a series of challenges to prove he deserves to be among them, challenges in which the penalty for failure means death - which may be Angela’s goal to begin with. It will take all of Reginald’s will, charm, and a little help from his friends to survive and perhaps build a slightly brighter future for himself in the process. Just nottoobright, because of the sun allergy thing.
More Shows and Movies like Reginald the Vampire to Watch Next
For another modern twist on vampire mythology,What We Do in the Shadowsis still the defining work. Whether it’s the 2014 movie helmed byTaika WaititiandJemaine Clement, who also star in the film, or the latter creator’s 2019 spinoff series of the same name, this intimate look into the lives of 21st-century creatures of the night is by turns touching and outright hilarious. Both the movie and the show follow a mockumentary format, showing these centuries-old creatures of the night struggling with mundanities like paying the rent and learning modern technology. The movie can be found for free on Kanopy and the series is available for streaming on Hulu.
Watch the Show on Hulu
BeforeSarah Michelle Gellar, there wasKristy Swanson. 1992’sBuffy the Vampire Slayer, directed byFran Rubel Kuzui, is the original horror comedy about a super-strong, vampire-slaying cheerleader. Swanson is an unstoppable force as Buffy, never losing her brash teenage attitude even as she loses friends, a boyfriend, and the safety of her shallow world to an onslaught of (delightfully campy) bloodsucking fiends. Eventually, she sheds her snobbish superficiality in favor of a new outlook and a new relationship with social outcast Pike.
Going even further back, 1987’sThe Lost Boysis a must-see for fans of black comedy or vampire horror and a direct influence on later works likeBuffy the Vampire SlayerandWhat We Do in the Shadows. The film starsJason Patricas Michael, a teenage boy newly transplanted to California, who falls in with a “bad crowd” of teenage vampires and finds himself transformed into one of them. Complicating matters is that his little brother’s new friends include a duo of vampire hunters.
