By: Robert Murphy
In this new age of CGI and special effects you would think
that the golden age of classic movie monsters is long gone but just because
everything is new doesn’t mean that you can't have a terrifying monster pop right
out of your screen again. This is the feeling I had when I began to watch the FX original series The Strain where a classic bloodsucking terror attacks a modern
world. Vampires! However, these aren’t exactly the fang wielding, cloak wearing
and garlic hating creatures we have seen before. No, now they appear in a new
form but they’re more terrifying than they have ever been before and they’re
trying to take over The Big Apple.
The Strain takes a
very modern approach to it’s storytelling behind the coming about of this
vampire apocalypse where the smart people believe that this outbreak is just a
plague that can be solved while the supposed “crazier” individuals see the
writing on the wall and that things are going to get bad real quick. Ephraim
Goodweather (Corey Stoll) and his team at the CDC are the first ones to
discover the beginning of what would be a disaster for New York City . The survivors and victims of a
strange dead plane turning up at an airport reveals that almost all of the
passengers on board are now dead from an unknown virus or plague that ended up
on board. The few survivors unfortunately return to their regular lives much to
the dismay of Eph as it is unclear what happened to them all and thus begins
the start of a new vampire race being born.
The vampires themselves and the makeup work behind each and
every one of them is perhaps one of the most appealing aspects you will see and
believe me, you will see it all. The series shows the few surviving members of
the plane return home as normal as can be but they are already showing signs
that they’re changing into fearsome bloodsucking creatures. The transformation
go into quite a bit of depth at this point, you will see one of the characters
head to the bathroom at one point and watch as his manhood simply plops right off.
While this is exceedingly disturbing, I did appreciate the level to which
viewers were able to see what is happening to the people who are being turned
and get up close and personal with this strange new look to the classic vampire.
It gets even better when you witness them attacking with their gigantic
stingers as well as show off some of the superhuman abilities they gain.
The way the vampires act and behave was also something
handled in quite an interesting way. Normally when you’re bitten by a vampire
you become one of them but retain your sense of humanity and what makes you the
person you are but for the most part all of the vampires here are drones
following the orders of The Master. Some of the vampires at The Master’s command
are allowed to retain their memories and self-awareness but not all of them are
as lucky, as you will see. But, despite this change in the lore these vampires
do remember one thing and that is their loved ones and this is a big point that
the story shoehorns in for you time and time again.
It makes sense that if you were a mindless blood seeking
creature that you would remember what matters most and return to your homes for
comfort. Problem is you will end up attacking your loved ones and spreading the
vampire gene even further and of course your family will get caught up in the
relief of you being alive. Despite how much the point gets driven across though
I found that this was a great way to explain how the vampire plague spreads so
quickly and effectively to the thousands of people to get turned over this
first season.
The human and emotional aspects would prove to be a double
edged sword however as the main cast of "badass" vampire hunters are far less
impressive than the glory of Van Helsing. Eph is the character who receives the
most screen time and he has quite the hero complex to him as he believes he
knows best when it comes to combating these new creatures who he refuses to
call vampires. This failing aside, The
Strain aimed to make Eph’s personal struggles far too intricate to the main
story as he loses his wife to someone he views as far inferior to his high
ranking doctor status and watches him spend time with his young son Zack (Ben
Hyland). This proved to be one of the key points for the pilot of the show and
that is fine for establishing Eph as a character and explaining what kind of a
man he is but these struggles would last for the entire season and presumably
the next as every episode just piled on more and more drama that went nowhere.
The height of this mind numbing mellow drama is perhaps the episode that was
entirely devoted to finding Eph’s ex wife Kelly (Natalie Madison-Brown) which
revealed far too early on what had happened to her making the entire episode a
waste of time.
What was a surprise from The
Strain was its ability to create great supporting characters. One of the
high ranking vampires that was prominently featured throughout the season was
Thomas Eichorst (Richard Sammel) who set much of the plans for The Master’s
return into motion. His character eerily moved about the story as he did his
masters bidding and executed every scene with a cold stare as well as a
devilish smirk smeared across his face. Eichorst also played well into the
story do to his relationship with Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) who plays
the elderly vampire hunter that has been waiting for the return of The Master
and his kind to hopefully ride the world of them for good. Abraham was
definitely more of what I was expecting of a vampire hunter and despite his age
the actor moved quite well through the action scenes with a silver sword in his
hand but he won’t be able to keep up the good fight for long. Enter Vasiliy Fet
(Kevin Durand) who started off as by far my least favorite character as his
story didn’t seem to fit with everything that was going on. Once he joins up
with Eph and Abraham however he hits his stride as the sarcastic and
emotionless vampire killer that The
Strain desperately needed.
Sadly, while The
Strain excels at its horror and created a far more brutal look to vampires
that hasn’t been seen in recent years, the rest of the story falls far too
short. Much of what happens in each episode centers too much on emotional build
up and drama that doesn’t lead anywhere. It was also hard to care about these
issues when as a main character Eph isn’t too likeable with his arrogant nature
and self righteous attitude. I do feel that there is an interesting build up
for the next season as we will see the vampires mature more and delve into a
teased aspect to a much larger vampire story with the Ancients and their hooded
commando squad but for now viewers are left with a rather lack luster tale that
has plenty of room to improve.
Good:
- A terrifying new vampire as well as the dark tone and brutal
tone they bring
- Kevin Durand and other supporting actors
Bad:
- Plenty of drama pile up that went nowhere
- Boring main character, Eph was arrogant and all around
unlikable
- Dialogue and pacing issues
Scully Rating: 5.5 out of 10
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