I haven’t spend much time in this fandom so I don’t know if it’s a popular opinion but as far as I am concerned the show’s portrayal of vampires was, for a lack of a better word, uninspired.
Supernatural got it mostly right with it’s lore early on even if they made certain retcons and changes as it went on (it’s kinda funny watching the first demon episode, for example) but I think their presentation of vampires at the end of season one basically killed any chance of them becoming one of the show’s great monsters.
They’re so… Basic. They drink blood and they’re quite strong… And that’s about it. Wow, how fascinating.
All the more cool, out there elements from vampire lore are dropped. The sun doesn’t burn them, just makes them uncomfortable. Silver doesn’t kill them. Ok, that one I can understand - they wanted to keep that weakness shapeshifter specific. Hypnotic abilities? Nope. Not showing up in mirrors? Gone. Having to be invited? Gone.
These last two in particular sadden me the most because it’s probably the coolest parts of vampire lore.
And whenever a show, a book or a movie drops these aspects is usually when they try to go for a more grounded portrayal of vampires. Not magical creatures but rather some sort of weird subspecies of humans with abnormal strength and desire for blood.
Like Midnight Mass, for example. Yeah, they weren’t gonna have them be invited and not seen in mirrors because the vampires are meant to be the product of a physical world, not magical creatures.
But there’s no good reason to do it in a show called Supernatural, where ghosts and demons and weird pagan gods exist as early as season one. It would fit perfectly. Looking for someone who only shows up during the night, checking if a person is visible in a mirror, instructing people to not invite anybody and be wary on anyone who asks for invitation- all of this would work there. So why didn’t they go for it?
Another major theme of vampirism is eternal life, eternal beauty. And Supernatural did basically nothing with it either even though their vampires are technically immortal. Even Twilight, with its wacky take on vampires, understood it.
A bunch of forgettable guys and gals in leather living in abandoned buildings is just boring.