How come vampires and demons count as sci fi?

On another forum this subject came up and one member, instead of explaining it, just copy & pasted this definition of science fiction:

A literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background.

This is fine and all but I still don't see how any of this answers my question. Vampires and demons are more like occult, paranormal and/or horror, right? But what makes them science fiction? Please explain.
 
It probably depends on how you cast the vampires or demons. If you cast them as aliens or genetically altered humans then you should be able to pass it off as Sci fi.

I don't know if everyone else agrees with this definition but it is at least the way I see it.
 
Could simply say that fantasy is a sub genre of scifi? Scifi being 'speculative fiction' covers everything under the sun that is not current or past events/technology/races? And I think we can safely assume that vampires and werewolves are fiction and do not and have never existed on our planet :smiley:
 
It probably depends on how you cast the vampires or demons. If you cast them as aliens or genetically altered humans then you should be able to pass it off as Sci fi.

I'm talking about the soulless creature of the night type of vampire and the straight from hell type of demon.

Could simply say that fantasy is a sub genre of scifi? Scifi being 'speculative fiction' covers everything under the sun that is not current or past events/technology/races? And I think we can safely assume that vampires and werewolves are fiction and do not and have never existed on our planet :smiley:

As far as fiction and fantasy go they're fine but where does science come in? Unless the story involves scientific proof of vampires, they shouldn't be scifi IMO.
 
As far as fiction and fantasy go they're fine but where does science come in? Unless the story involves scientific proof of vampires, they shouldn't be scifi IMO.
It all depends upon what the definition of vampire is. There is the traditional fantasy 'bitten by a bat' explanation but some works have explored vampires as being the result of other factors such as a genetic mutation disease (eg: I am Legend) or even exterterrestial (eg: Lifeforce). I think those alternate origins would fall more under the 'science' label instead of fantasy.
 
A new film has come out in the cinemas called Daybreakers, directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig that may shed some light on what is being discussed in this thread.

I have copied the plot summary from IMDB for everyone to get the idea of the story:

In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.
 
I just remembered an argument point which is clearer in some ways than "speculative fiction" and was used to describe anything in laymans terms to describe anything under the scifi umbrella:

"out there"

So anything that is "out there" is scifi. Vampires and Werewolves included! There just isn't any other category it belongs in really. An alternate world, much like our own, with only one small intrinsic difference, would be classed as "out there". Putting that one simple difference in reclassifies something from fiction, to science fiction.
 
Can vampires, demons & werewolves survive in space?
For the vampires, see Lifeforce! For demons, you have your choice of movies but Event Horizons comes to mind plus going back further there is Hellraiser: Bloodline (aka: Pinhead in Space). As for werewolves.... um.... uh.... hhhhmmmm.... dang it, I'm coming up with nothing for that one.
 
Vampires and demons should be put in the fantasy category , in my humble opinion, since fantasy goes without the speculation. In fantasy it's very common to just explain everything with "It's a different universe" and of course the trump card for everything "it works with magic". In the same line of thought - vampires (the regular deal , no genetic alteration or alien life forms) should pass as fantasy.
 
Could simply say that fantasy is a sub genre of scifi? Scifi being 'speculative fiction' covers everything under the sun that is not current or past events/technology/races? And I think we can safely assume that vampires and werewolves are fiction and do not and have never existed on our planet :smiley:

This.....

and that many people who like sci-fi also like fantasy.
 
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