Lost Girl – season 2 – review

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Director: various

First aired: 2011-2012

Contains spoilers

Everyone’s favourite succubus, Bo (Anna Silk), is back and for those who have not read my review of season 1, I’ll repeat that although she is a succubus (and a fae, making her a natural creature rather than something either demonic or undead), she is certainly also an energy vampire hence being reviewed on TMtV.

The season doesn’t feature a standard vampire (the first season had a fleeting visitation within it) but like the first season does feature a vampire-like/genre interesting creature in one of the stories.

Anthony Lemke as Ryan Lambert

Bo is still unaligned (choosing neither dark nor light faction of the fae) and her love life is as complex as ever. Werewolf Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried, Underworld Awakening & the Death of Alice Blue) sacrificed his love for Bo to help her at the end of season 1 and so is keeping his distance, she is having an affair with human doctor Lauren (Zoie Palmer) but the doctor has a secret with regards her relationship and also falls for a dark fae, a loki named Ryan Lambert (Anthony Lemke) – in this universe loki are a species of fae and the God aspect was just PR on their behalf, but they are tricksters.

Raoul Trujillo as the Garuda

Her professional life is complicated also with a new Ash – the leader of the light fae – in the form of Lachlan (Vincent Walsh), a man who seems to have little tolerance for the unaligned succubus. She is also being stalked by the Nain Rouge (Hayley Nault), a fae that watches tragic events and knows that Bo is at the heart of a threat to all fae. That threat is from a creature called the Garuda (Raoul Trujillo, True Blood Season 1 & House of Frankenstein), a creature that is older than the fae and feeds on their conflict (which is quite vampiric itself, come to think of it, but one wonders what he fed on before the fae came to be).

the mare feeds

I mentioned a vampire like creature and this was a Mare (Kristina Pesic). Made famous in the painting the Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, the mare gives her name to the word nightmare. A creature that would hag-ride victims and feed off their energy whilst giving them nightmares we see her attack Bo in her sleep, an act that makes a psychic link between the mare and her victim. The victim then suffers nightmares and the mare feeds off their fear.

one of the better effects

The series itself had a cheap feeling about it, I’m afraid, something about the quality of the actual filming, the lack of special effects (there were some, and some later on where quite good, but all in all the creatures as humans negated the need for much in the way of effects) and the low body count on screen (large crowds of creatures were mentioned but unseen and the sets felt empty at times). I can’t say I noticed this as much in the first series and it was a shame as the stories are engaging.

Anna Silk as Bo

Of course, the stories being engaging are the main thing and whilst this won’t win awards it does entertain (me at least). I think, therefore, that this deserves it’s 6 out of 10. Thanks to Sarah who got me the boxset for Christmas.

The imdb page is here.

New Vampire Cinema – review

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Author: Ken Gelder

First published: 2012

The Blurb: New Vampire Cinema lifts the coffin lid on forty contemporary vampire films, from 1992 to the present day, charting the evolution of a genre that is, rather like its subject, at once exhausted and vibrant, inauthentic and 'original', insubstantial and self-sustaining.

Ken Gelder's fascinating study begins by looking at Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula and Fran Rubel Kuzui's Buffy the Vampire Slayer – films that seemed for a moment to take vampire cinema in completely opposite directions.

New Vampire Cinema then examines what happened afterwards, across a remarkable range of reiterations of the vampire that take it far beyond its original Transylvanian setting: the suburbs of Sweden (Let the Right One In), the forests of North America (the Twilight films), New York City (Nadja, The Addiction), Mexico (Cronos, From Dusk Till Dawn), Japan (Blood: The Last Vampire, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust), South Korea (Thirst), New Zealand (Perfect Creature), Australia (Daybreakers), and elsewhere. In a series of exhilarating readings, Gelder determines what is at stake when the cinematic vampire and the modern world are made to encounter one another – where the new, the remake and the sequel find the vampire struggling to survive the past, the present and, in some cases, the distant future.

The review: A perfect Valentine’s gift? For some maybe not, but for me it was and I must begin this review with a thank you to my long-suffering better half.

Gelder’s volume is a scholarly look at some of the seminal vampire movies of the last twenty years (complaints that Twilight could be included in such a study should be stowed away, whether you like it or not the franchise has, by force of sheer popularity, shoved its way into the public awareness and has influenced – by action or reaction – the entire genre).

I enjoyed Gelder’s writing style and appreciated his thoughts and theories. Not that I agreed with his every point but they were thoughtful, well-argued and I respected each one. There was one point of accuracy that struck me so strongly as I read it that I knew I’d have to mention it. Gelder suggests, when talking about Thirst, that “The vampire suicide is something quite new, going utterly against the grain of the popular cliché that these creatures want to ‘live forever’.” Not so, Varney repeatedly tried to commit suicide as he did not wish to go on between 1845-1847 in Varney the Vampire. or, the Feast of Blood finally ending the saga with a voluntary dive into Mount Vesuvius. The idea of vampiric suicide has resurfaced on occasion since then. This point aside, the only argument I could have with Gelder would be on the basis of opinion.

Gelder included one unusual film, Irma Vep. This film concerns a fictional remake of Louis Feuillade’s 1915 serial Les Vampires. Whilst I give the original serial an Honourable Mention, for reasons explained in that article, I have never considered looking at Irma Vep. In fairness Gelder suggests “Irma Vep is not quite a vampire film; we might say that it puts itself into proximity with vampire films, that it cites them, summons them and draws them in (and keeps them at bay).” Needless to say, I am going to have to look at the film for the blog at some point now.

A great book for the scholar of the media vampire and necessary for any self-respecting vampire library. 9 out of 10.

Houston means that I'm one step closer to sleep

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Coming at you from Houston, TX...where I'm officially beginning my busy weekend.  We just got done playing some Rock Band, and right now Michael's playing Condemned 2.  Pretty scary.  Tonight we plan to go to the Hard Rock Cafe and then play Halo 3 online where we'll make people wish they'd never been born.  Actually I've never played Halo 3 online.  But they'll still wish they'd never been born.  In the morning we depart at 8AM to drive two hours and get in line to see one of my favorite bands, switchfoot.  One of the best bands ever as well as one of the best live shows around.  Anyway, we're going to stick around long enough to meet them and hand them a demo (you never know after our relient k experience).  So, long story short, we'll be pushing 1 or 2AM before we're out of there.  Then, we get in the car and drive 3 hours straight back to east texas just in time for me to get ready, get in my truck and drive two hours to dallas to fill in playing at church for a friend of mine.  I have to be there by 8:30AM.  The service starts at 10 and ends at 11.  Then, I'm going to meet a new friend for lunch.  Hopefully I'll get in bed by around 7PM and sleep until about 9AM.  Then, I'll get up and mow a yard or two.  Tuesday I don't plan on doing one thing.  
Also, red velvet cake is one of the best things ever invented, provided there's cream cheese frosting.
Tune In Tomorrow Album believe it or not is coming along.  still in the middle of the final push.  This business is and expensive one to be in...been writing lots of new music as well so there won't be too much pressure on the next album.
Here's to thinking people actually care about my day to day life...
-Dillon

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to blogging

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I blog when I have nothing to blog about and last weekend something happened worth blogging about and I haven't done it yet. Well, better late.

So, like I said before, we went to see Switchfoot in beaumont, tx this last weekend. We got to beaumont at about 10:30 and found that the venue was a small outdoor lot with a stage where people were setting up sound. We got where they told us the line started which was pretty much side stage. Well, around 11:00 a tour bus showed up and parked right in front of us. Several people walked in and out of it until finally, lead singer Jon Foreman walked out. We were the only people in line so we were pretty excited not to have to fight for his attention. He was on the phone so he finished up his conversation and headed over to shake our hands and say hi. He asked us what there was to do in beaumont and we sadly told him we weren't from there. He decided to walk around the block to look for some antique shops but not before we handed him a demo and told him how much his music means to us, for which he was grateful.

Then, guitarist Drew Shirley steps off and says hi as well. He mentioned something about his Grandparents living in beaumont. Anyway, a little later he came back and asked if we new our way around beamont, to which we said no. He then explained that he wanted to rent a car to go see his grandma but he could only rent one for 2 days at a time which wouldn't work. He then asked, if he could find directions, if we could give him a ride. So, pretty much Nathan drove Drew around beaumont for a while with me and michael in the back seat. When you've been listening to a band for so long, something like that is kind of surreal. Anyway, we got to talk to him about tune in tomorrow as well as michael's solo project and we told him that we had given Jon a demo. He said he'd give it a lisen as well as hook us up with free shirts. He also got Michael's $20 acoustic guitar signed by the band. Pretty cool. Not to mention we were front row for one of the best live shows music has to offer.

So surprisingly we got out of there around nine because the show started early. That put me home by 1AM leaving time to get a few hours of sleep. Then I got up at five, left at six, and got to a church in dallas at 8:30 to help with worship. Then I met my new friend for lunch which was outstanding. The lunch and the new friend. The drive home from dallas was rough, but other than that an amazing weekend.

The funny thing about it is that I prayed before we left that we'd be in the right place at the right time. pretty crazy.

-Dillon

Nobody likes you when you're 23

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Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone!  I'm currently in arkansas doing some different things including hanging out with good friends and taking pictures of stuff for the TinT record cover.  I'm currently downloading the masters of the record.  Pretty exciting.  
I had a hard time deciding the title of this post.  It was between the Blink-182 lyric that I used and "Here at 23 it's the same old me" from the Relient K song "Maintain Consciousness".  Not sure exactly what ended up being the deciding factor, but hopefully the one I chose doesn't end up being true.  
See ya.
-Dillon, 23

El Charro de las Calaveras – review

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Director: Alfredo Salazar

Release date: 1965

Contains spoilers

Oh the joy, and that is not sarcastic. From director Alfredo Salazar comes one of the most hokey moments of Mexican cinema El Charro de las Calaveras or the Rider of the Skulls (Dagoberto Rodríguez).

The film centred on the masked hero, the rider, a man whose parents were killed by bandits and so donned a mask (because justice has no face), stitched three skulls to his shirt (to represent the three bandits, who he killed I think) and took on evil wherever he could find it. The film itself is split into three almost unrelated shorts.

the werewolf

The first sees the rider arrive at a hacienda haunted by a werewolf. The wolf makeup is as hilarious as you’d expect. Strangely, for the transformation effects, he goes from human form to a skeleton and then from skeleton to wolfman form (and vice versa). By the end of the segment the wolfman is killed as is his wife and so rider adopts their child, a young boy called Perico and their servant – the film’s unfunny comic relief – Cleofas (Pascual García Peña). He even shows them the face that lurks under the mask. In the next two segments Cleofas is still with him but Perico has gone to school and has been replaced by another young boy called Juanito.

the vampire

Part three is a headless horseman tale and so it is the vampire in part two that we are concerned with. It begins with a bat that turns into a Papier-mâché headed vampire that attacks a man and then flies back to his coffin in an abandoned house. Heading towards San Andros, where this took place, are the Rider and his companions as he has heard of strange goings on there.

Maria

A farmer and his daughter, Maria, sit by the deathbed of her mother. The farmer needs to get a doctor but Maria complains that it is night and thus dangerous. He goes anyway and has not gotten far when the vampire jumps out of a tree, causing the horse to throw the farmer. When Maria sees the rider-less horse run back she chases into the night and straight into the vampire. She faints.

the Rider of the Skulls

The vampire decides she is gorgeous and will turn her into a vampire but the Rider and his companions are coming so he hides. The vampire jumps them (Cleofas exclaims that his blood is no good as he is anaemic). As the companions get Maria away, the Rider and the vampire fight. The vampire gets the upper hand but the cock crows. The next night he gets to Maria and turns her, taking her to a cemetery so she can die and be reborn as a vampire and the Rider has two vampires to deal with…

on horse

This is camp fun. The effects are awful, including rubber bats flitting in a way only a wire could produce and the awful vampire head. A staked vampire turns into a bat and dies and his victims become human again (despite the film explicitly stating that to turn a victim has to have died). The stories are just about functional and the music mariachi. Despite the Western look, the dating is contemporary with cars in the last story.

Is it a good film? No and 3 out of 10 is awfully generous but, despite how rubbish it is, it is still fun and joyful in that really bad movie way. The DVD has no subtitles but there are fan subs on the net.

The imdb page is here.

Dead Spots – review

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Author: Melissa F Olson

First published: 2012

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Scarlett Bernard knows about personal space: step within ten feet of her, and any supernatural spells or demonic forces are instantly defused—vampires and werewolves become human again, and witches can’t get out so much as a “hocus pocus.” This special skill makes her a null and very valuable to Los Angeles’s three most powerful magical communities, who utilize her ability to scrub crime scenes clean of all traces of the paranormal to keep humanity, and the LAPD, in the dark.

But one night Scarlett’s late arrival to a grisly murder scene reveals her agenda and ends with LAPD’s Jesse Cruz tracking her down to strike a deal: he’ll keep quiet about the undead underworld if she helps solve the case. Their pact doesn’t sit well with Dash, the city’s chief bloodsucker, who fears his whole vampire empire is at stake. And when clues start to point to Scarlett, it’ll take more than her unique powers to catch the real killer and clear her name.

The Review: Dead Spots is an urban fantasy and one that, for the most part, eschews the blurring with paranormal romance – a fact for which I am grateful.

Set in Los Angeles, it is a city where two worlds sit side by side – our world and the Old World. The Old World is made up of (urban) witches, werewolves and vampires and is hidden, for the most part, from human view.

That is where Scarlett comes in. She is a null and she dampens Old World magic. The vampires become human, vulnerable and begin to age, wolves transform back into their human selves and spells are nothing more than mumbled words. She is employed to help hide supernatural accidents and crimes – kind of a paranormal woman in black.

The idea of the null is good but not entirely original – such a creature exists in the steampunk world of the parasol protectorate. The main difference here is that Scarlett has a field, whereas in the other series the effect is by touch. Of course this world is less fantastical.

The vampire lore was pretty much standard, vampires are dead during the day (I was unsure by the end if they would also burn in sunlight be suspect that is the case) and destruction of the heart will kill them. Silver and garlic are simply minor irritants and holy artefacts have no effect. Their hair and nails continue to grow and they have eye mojo. For some reason turns are becoming less and less certain, but ingestion of vampire blood is necessary. Sometimes a vampire will be turned with an automatic boost to their power, most develop power as they age.

What I liked about this – beyond the fact that Olson’s primary character is absolutely flawed and damaged – is in the style of the writing. Most urban fantasy is written first person and it does become a tad wearisome. Whilst Olson does have first person, from Scarlett’s point of view, she also has chapters in third person, following LA Cop Jesse, and this added a dimension often lost in this particular sub-genre.

There isn’t really a massive good or evil element to this, more shades of grey, which was refreshing also. I think that making vampire head honcho Dashiell’s original persona John Polidori and suggesting that a vampiric Clare Clairmont gave Stoker the information for Dracula was perhaps a little hokey, but that was just a coda thing. This is a solid volume and might prove a nice entry into the arena of urban fantasy. 7 out of 10.

A cut down version of this review first appeared on Amazon UK.