One of the reason that vampires have been a staple of horror
fiction for over a century is because they are so mutable. All vampires kill humans for blood; but the
other characteristics are infinitely flexible.
Some vampires can fly (Forever Knight), some can go out in sunlight
(Moonlight), some go “poof” when they are killed (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), some
cast no reflection (Angel), some can transform into bats or wolves (too many to
name), some are sexy (Frank Langella’s Dracula) and some can control mystical
powers (Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula).
The new Syfy series Van Helsing comes at the vampire myth
through a vaguely original lens (there is so much vampire fiction that nothing
can be truly new, just different borrowed elements in a new combination). An eruption of a super-volcano has plunged
the world into a nuclear winter, and the lack of sunlight has allowed vampires
to thrive. They control the world as
feral beasts, while pockets of human fight to survive. One group of Marines, trapped in a hospital,
have been guarding a comatose woman (Kelly Overton) for three years when
vampires break in and one of them feeds on the woman, who awakens and promptly
kicks some vampire ass. The vampire who
bit her is killed, but then he comes back to life as a human, cured by the
blood of the woman who just happens to be a descendant of the famous vampire
hunter, Van Helsing.
The creator of the series is Neil LaBute, who wrote the
brutal yet acclaimed indie film In The Company of Men. He also wrote the HORRIBLE remake of The Wicker
Man with Nicolas Cage, so his street cred when it comes to horror films is
dubious at best. The idea of a world controlled
by vampires is similar to that of the 2009 Ethan Hawke film Daybreakers, in
which vampires ruled the world but were facing an ecological crisis because
humans, their food supply, were becoming an endangered species.
The acting is about what you’d expect from a Syfy series,
namely competent at best. Seeing the
unfamiliar actors go through their paces makes you appreciate how lucky Joss Whedon
was to find Sarah Michelle Geller, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter and
Nicholas Brendan for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Of course the first two episodes were busy setting up the premise and
didn’t provide a lot of opportunities for emoting.
Frankly, I don’t like my vampires feral. First of all, feral vampires are very similar
to zombies, and I generally don’t like zombies.
I think an enemy that is intelligent and can plan is scarier than a pack
of mad dogs wearing clothes. Second, vampires
that can pass for human provide for many more opportunities for plot twists;
season 3 of Penny Dreadful packed a punch when the identity of Dracula was
revealed to be a character we thought was nice.
There seem to be some intelligent vampires in Van Helsing, but except
for a reference to “old ones” an explanation will have to wait for future
episodes.
Supposedly Syfy is trying to ditch its image as the network
with all those Shaknado movies and go back to being the network who picked up
Emmy nominations for Battlestar Gallactica.
Most of their newer original shows (Killjoys, Dark Matter) and standard,
disposable science fiction with attractive casts. I watched Killjoys for two seasons, but I am
dropping it as I can no longer keep the backstory straight. Van Helsing, with its intriguing premise, is
probably a step in the right direction; if nothing else it is an improvement
over the bad Hugh Jackman movie of the same name.
But the low-budget sets and generic actors
will have to step up their game if they want to be as culturally relevant as
The Walking Dead or even iZombie, much less get Emmy nominations.
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