FX's The Strain

Wow, this one is getting rave reviews from all my favorite television critics, which isn't the norm for creepy suspense / horror programs. Anybody else excited about this one, premiering Sunday with an episode directed by Guillermo del Toro?

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Yeah, I've been eagerly waiting for this this since pre-production was announced. I really enjoyed all 3 books.

 

I loved the books and was disappointed that it was just a trilogy so I'm looking forward to getting back into that world through the TV series.

 

So far this one's creepy, I've jumped at least once. Love these kind of movies..

 

Hmmm, another show about vampires and viruses...no thanks!

 

I haven't seen the show in its entirety, but I read the first novel. This is definitely not your typical vampire story.

 

not bad.....

 

Pretty good and effectively creepy in spots - I'll stick around for at least the next episode - but I rolled my eyes at some of the clichés. The protagonist with the relationship problems, the strange old guy who knows what's going on but no one will take seriously because he won't cut to the chase and just say what he knows (and thus prevent the show from being strung out into a series from just a movie)...

 

Pretty good premier. The SFX are decent - really like the idea of the worm thingies. One scene that bugged me:

Spoiler

The violence was way over the top on the killing of the air traffic controller guy by the big bad. Crushing his head once would have been sufficient, but beating it to a literal pulp was unnecessary. Plus, unlike a similar recent kill in Game Of Thrones, it was shown on camera in its entirety leaving nothing to the imagination. Played out like it was done that way simply because it could be done that way.

Other than that, the premise seems interesting. I've never read the books, so some of the ideas presented so far are fresh and interesting.

 

That didn't bother me at all. Thought it was creepy and atmospheric.

Maybe a cliche but they handled it in a unique fashion.

Unexplained moment:

Spoiler

why did everyone stay in their seats when the creature sucked the life out of them? Unless the ammonia somehow overwhelmed them and it was released to knock them out.

 

I agree! I audio-booked them. Good series...

 

Just watched the first episode. I thought it was mostly excellent. Sure, some things were meme-tastic. But overall quite engrossing.

 

All the old antique's in the pawnshop of the old man reminded me of the one in Torro's first movie "Cronos".

 

Excellent show. If you're staying away because of the glut of vampire/virus plots, I'd recommend at least giving this one a shot. The parasite angle is there to introduce Del Torro's consistent anti-fascist theme that spans a lot of his work. I read someone noted the similarity between this plot and Nosferatu. Nosferatu was about the Plague, and I like the modification made here in which the rats were replaced by capillary worms. Love it so far. Hope it stays consistently good.

[Moderator note: Brief political commentary deleted]

 

I avoid vampire shows like...the plague. But this really doesn't feel like my concept of a vampire show.

Now, who knows. Maybe in episode two, the little girl says stuff like "I vant...to suck...your blood..." Or they call in special agent Kolchak. But for now, it's good...

 

Enjoyed the first epi, the creature backing the heck out at amazing speed after the head crush was pretty scary. I.would.not.mess.

 

I could handle all the cliches up until the point where the father who's daughter was on the plan smacked the disease specialist guy. It was so schlocky and uncalled for that I seriously couldn't watch the show after that. It would be like smacking a firefighter for trying to put out the fire in your house. The guy he smacked had absolutely nothing to do with the initial incident--he was just there to evaluate it and frankly he was being very cooperative with the press. It was like the script might as well have read: insert generic, irrational family member who lashes out at the first person he sees in order to create the impression of real drama. If I was on that writing team I would have been fired for the aggressive manner in which I would've fought for that scene to hit the cutting room floor.

 

Yes, but imagine if the CDC guy had responded by stating "Milk? I coulda had a V8!" Not looking like such a stupid plot device now, eh?

 

The Movie Day Breakers anybody remember it?
It seems the premise is based on this movie not the books
as someone noted,.
As for vampire movies and tv shows
My last vampire show was Angel.

 

I call it "Outbreak" meets Nazi-zombie-vampires!

 

This seemed like something that should be on SyFy. Not quite as bad as Sharknado but still fairly dreadful. I'll watch another episode or two to give it a chance but I'm not real confident.

 

While Del Toro's novel of the same name was no great shakes as literature, I thought he did a good job of keeping me interested.

 

Not quite as bad as Sharknado?

Oh come on.

 

Ok, fine. It was as bad as Sharknado then.