The news is enough to make Brad Pitt anemic: He's not the sexiest bloodsucker to hit the big screen. According to a new poll from the U.S.-based theatre information website Moviefone, Pitt placed second to Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson in a public vote that asked respondents to name the sexiest male and female vampires of all time.

Pitt fell far behind Pattinson's 112,794 votes for sexiest pale male with a mere 96,307 votes, while Salma Hayek, who appeared in Robert Rodriguez's kitschy From Dusk Till Dawn, pulled in 264,718 votes to edge out number two gal Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), who placed far above the rest of the competition with a healthy 243,763 votes. Other contenders for sexiest vampire included Antonio Banderas (No. 4), Tom Cruise (No. 8), George Hamilton (No. 14) and Aaliyah (No. 4).

The results, compiled from more than 1.8 million respondents, point to a significant generational divide when it comes to vampire flicks as older, established Draculas -- most notably Bela Lugosi -- failed to make the cut. Not even Susan Sarandon and David Bowie, who co-starred opposite Catherine Deneuve in Tony Scott's sexy vampire flick The Hunger (1983) found a top notch to nibble on in Moviefone's survey. Only Deneuve made the list, pulling in a mere 22,954 votes for what remains one of the sexiest vampire performances of all time.

At the very least, the survey proves just how important sex-appeal is to the vampire formula, which is generally considered a powerful metaphor for the sexual act itself since it involves an exchange of bodily fluids and a form of penetration.

Interestingly, the new breed of male vampire is a lot friendlier than the forbidden and lethal partners of the past -- which may explain the popularity of "nice vampires" like Pattinson, Pitt, Banderas, Wesley Snipes and Tom Cruise over Christopher Lee or Lugosi.

Mean female vampires apparently get better sex-appeal scores than nice ones, proving the timeless attraction to the femme fatale archetype as nasty Hayek topped the superhero Beckinsale. Comic vampires seem to fare the worst, if Jennifer Beals's appearance opposite Nicolas Cage in 1989's Vampire's Kiss is any indication. Beals came in dead last, after lesser-known German vamp Yvonne Monlaur who, starred in 1960's Brides of Dracula.