While I do love the idea of non-lame monsters, I am a bit confused by re-imagining old monsters when that idea has been done before with pretty good results. Are you wanting to Modify Monsters for a homebrew game or make a New Game with New Monsters?
Why not take Vampire:the Masquerade (or the whole WoD) and change the rules set...say each dot = 20% (or 10% depending if you want powerful vampires or Epic Bad A$$ vampires)...dump the stuff that is lame (angsty emo kidz) and keep the good stuff (clans, disciplines, backstory) and go from there. The rules were lame (unless you like handfuls of dice), but the creative work was pretty good.
It would seem a lot less work doing that, than re-creating an entirely new setting. The only benefit of re-imagining Vampires is to publish it as your own. If you are going to for simply a free setting...or a home brew kit bash, just chop up other games backstories...
For ghouls, use the ones Pagan Publishing did in Delta Green...
For most other "classic" monsters, there are some very good ideas in Ravenloft.
There is a lot of leeway to go from Goth to Emo to Splatterpunk with minor adjustments.
I shall now await the flames
although I do not mean to cause offense...simply opinions...which is pretty much all I am useful for most of the time anyway.
-STS