Pale Skinned

The Strain (TV Series)

Gone are the days when vampires were feared creatures of the night; when vampires were killed by sunlight and a stake through the heart. Now we have sparkly vampires who, oddly enough, are able to have children (I thought vampires were dead!). This summer, however, FX and Guillermo Del Toro have taken back the bloodsuckers and provided TV audiences with a sense of dread again with their new series The Strain.

After a flight mysteriously stops communicating with JFK airports control tower, the plane lands completely dark and shut down. With no word from anyone on board, authorities fear the worst and call upon a special CDC team to investigate. What the team discovers will have repercussions felt around world.

For those of you that have the pleasure of watching Del Toro’s first go round with vampires (Blade 2), then you know he can deliver scary vampires. So when I heard FX was going to adapt Del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s (author of The Town) trilogy of vampire novels, I was ecstatic. This meant that the bloodsuckers of old were coming back to the screen (even if it was the small one). No more glitter and twisted love stories and back to what makes vampires awesome. Del Toro does create his own twist on the vampire lore by showing vampirism as more of a parasitic disease and little less supernatural. The only problem with this is it is a little reminiscent of Blade 2. Even down to the anatomy of the vampires. I was hoping that Del Toro would change it up a tad, but then again…whatever works right?

Corey Stoll (House of Cards) leads the CDC team as Dr. Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather. After Stoll’s amazing work on Netflix’s House of Cards, I was glad to see that Stoll was not going to be away from TV too long. Stoll does not disappoint here either. His drive to solve the mystery that lies among the deceased passengers and his love for his family is easily picked up by the audience. Another stand out in the cast is David Bradley (Harry Potter films) who plays Abraham Setrakian, Holocaust survivor/pawn shop owner. Bradley provides a dark edge for Setrakian who seems to be the only character that knows what is about to happen. Bradley’s creepiness can also be felt in the opening and closing voice over. The way that Bradley delivers his lines really set the tone of how the show is going to unfold. The last two actors were stand outs to me, but this cast is riddled with some good supporting actors such as Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings), Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Mía Maestro (Savages).

I thought that the premiere episode have slowed down in its pace a little, I mean we have 13 episodes to tell the story. But other than it’s pacing, I thought it was a good start to a creepy looking show. I just hope that the show tries to distance itself from comparisons to The Walking Dead (my favorite show right now). Both shows have supernatural ‘creatures’ as the main protagonist, I just hope The Strain can prove that it is a different type of show.

The Verdict: Check it out, especially if you are tired of Twilight-esque vampires