FX's new vampire show "The Strain" is seemingly poised to take the top ranks following some great reviews from critics!
It's quite refreshing to see vampires as the real monsters they are not those glimmering love puppies those recent shows portray them to be. It zones in on the science behind vampirism.
The new show is based on a trilogy of novels co-written by Guillermo del Toro andChuck Hogan, which were then adapted into a comic-book series, and now a TV show on FX.
Watch the trailer above and be transported to a dark creepy night, where a passenger jet from Germany touches down at JFK - and instead of living breathing human passengers, the plane is filled with the dead!
FX's latest sci-fi drama focuses on the old mythology behind vampires and their culture. Read Hollywoodlife.com's compilation of reviews from critics.
Varierty:
FX is so steeped in brooding drama, the comicbook-y roots of "The Strain" feel mildly off brand, but also like a breath of fresh air. While there's not much new to be done with the vampire genre, director Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's adaptation of their book/graphic novel plays like perfect summer popcorn fare, filtering the threat of marauding bloodsuckers through fears of global pandemic. At times the portentous dialogue can sound hokey, but for the most part, the slick pilot and three subsequent episodes set the tone for a series with enough of a hook to get under one's skin.
Entertainment Weekly:
If your average supernerd could wave her black cape over her television and magically create the world's geekiest vampire show, it might look something like The Strain. [..] This is cult-classic, midnight-movie horror, designed in meticulous, mythology-respecting detail for comic-book readers and fangirls and -boys. [..] It doesn't need to ponder what's inside these characters' heads. It can just rip them open and show you.
Columbus Alive:
FX's new series "The Strain" is yet another vampire tale, but its conception and most of its execution make it better than the glut of the genre in recent pop culture. [..] The Strain exceeds typical vampire tales is the quality hands of del Toro (who directs a number of episodes) and the writers telling this story. The vampires here are a wonderful del Toro creation that are both gross and fascinating, and the narrative unfolds nicely over the first four episodes, creating both human moments and some exciting action/sci-fi pieces.
Newsday:
The Strain is not a comedy - remotely - but a particularly grim and gruesome rewrite of vampire physiology, in which fangs play no part, but are replaced by a proboscis, which severs the victim's carotid artery. Tiny, sentient and ravenous worms are implanted into the host, while blood is sucked out. Del Toro and Hogan's richly morbid imaginations have also supplied to this a veneer of symbolism and metaphor, while pulling elements from human past (the Holocaust) and present (9/11). Evil is out there - what are you going to do about it? Or what can you do about it?
