The Strain mini-series: based on the novel by Del Toro & Hogan
 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2654620/

Coming on the FX channel in Summer 2014.

Saw a preview for it over the weekend. Looks interesting!

Guillermo del Toro's The Strain
 

After months of various teasers FX finally released a trailer featuring actual footage from their upcoming series based on Guillermo del Toro's The Strain. It's scheduled to premiere on July 13. I've been looking forward to considering the quality of some of their other shows.

Sweet! Looks good!

SPOILER WARNING

For the most part I enjoyed the series premiere. It's nothing mind blowing but it was a solid start. The casting is pretty good but a couple of the characters felt 2-dimensional especially the goth rock star guy. David Bradley was kind of bad ass as Professor Setrakian though. Visually everything looks pretty cool. The practical effects are solid, the CGI looks good and the gore is brutal. The scene where The Master drank that guy's blood then smashed his head in was pretty crazy. I'm excited about the rest of the season.

Missed the premiere last night, hoping I'll be able to catch it On Demand.

Watched it last night, I liked it!

SPOILER WARNING

Episode 2 "The Box" was pretty slow with a lot of characterization and it introduces the exterminator character Vasiliy Fet. The only actual horror was during the last 15 minutes though. Still the end of the episode was gruesome.

Episode 3 "Gone Smooth" The pacing was a little better in this episode than in the last. Eichorst putting his face on at the beginning of the episode was gross. Great use of a practical special effects makeup. Bolivar's transformation was also pretty graphic. Nice bit of horror at the end of the episode.

Episode 4 "It's Not for Everyone" was much better than the last few. Gruesome special effects during the autopsy scene. Seeing Sean Astin freak out was kind of funny. I like that his character came clean to Ephraim and Nora. Plus it was satisfying to see Ephraim punch him in the face. I actually enjoyed the scenes with Gus and think he's starting to be a pretty interesting character. Nice to see Jamie Hector from The Wire show up. Some excellent and tense scenes with Annie discovering Ansel's transformation. Setrakian was pretty bad-ass once again.

Episode 5 "Runaways" Interesting flashback featuring Setrakian. I hope that's something that keeps up throughout the series. The developing mentor relationship with him and Ephraim also seems promising. The scene where they confront Ansel in the shed was kind of cool. The scenes with Bolivar are easily his best so far. The sewer scene with Vasiliy Fet was also decent. The preview for next weeks episode looks like all hell breaks loose.

Yeah...it started off slow and kinda eh...but has picked up pace and gotten pretty good.
LARGELY in part, to Walder Frey...
He's just awesome at whatever he's doing.
Good backstory opening up...Nazis...it's always Nazis!

But hey, what's with seemingly EVERY alien or vampire or mutation of ANY kind...
In almost EVERY horror/sci-fi movie...
Having a GIANT, LONG, EXTENDING TYPE OF TENTACLE COMING OUT OF IT'S MOUTH???

Why?

I remember when I was looking for that tongue choking horror scene. Turns out this sort of thing is very popular in horror movies.

SPOILERS Episode 6

The pacing of this series is improving although I was hoping the eclipse would occur earlier in the episode. The Gus scenes are quickly becoming one of my favorite things about the show. The scenes with Vasiliy Fet were pretty good too. Nice to see Nora and her mother show up at Setrakian's pawn shop. Let the vampire hunting begin!

Second season is confirmed.
Supposed to be 5 seasons total.

That makes me happy. I like this show.

i'll have to give it my usual 3 show tries....if it don't grab me by 3...i'm out

I have the same policy. There's been a few shows that I just couldn't get into.

SPOILERS

Episode 7. The opening scene with the deserted bar was kind of creepy and the subsequent attack scene was gruesome. I was hoping the eclipse scenes would last a bit longer though. Glad they are continuing the flashbacks. Nazi vampires are a bit cliche but they do it here well enough. The revelation that Setrakian hand crafted The Master's coffin was interesting. I thought the build up to the confrontation between Eichhorst and Setrakian in the subway was also pretty good. Wan't expecting that ending!

This show actually has gotten better as it went along but it didn't start out strong.

Good to know. I dropped out a few weeks ago and must catch up.

It is getting better but I still don't know about it. I guess there are so few episodes in a season that they figured why not renew it. I'm not sure I like the twist with the one family either. Have to see how that turns out. I guess I need to know how these vampires were defeated in the first place. As even Blade would have problems defeating a bunch of them on his own.

SPOILERS

Episode 8: "Creatures of the Night" Nice to see Vasiliy Fet finally meet up with Ephraim's group, plus Dutch Velders too. Setrakian was bad-ass once again during the gas station scenes. Epic Rick Baker cameo! Can't say I felt bad about Sean Astin's character being infected. The gas station ceiling caving in looked pretty cool. I was hoping to see more of Mr. Quinlan in this episode. I hadn't realized at the time but under the vampire makeup is actor Stephen McHattie.

SPOILERS

Episode 9 "The Disappeared" The flashbacks scenes continue to be good especially the scene where the Master confronts young Setrakian. Dutch Velders' emotional breakdown felt a little forced. The Gus scenes also continue to be good. The scene where Eichhorst pulls the bullet out of his own leg made me cringe. The Master's face reminded me of Max Schreck in F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu.

Last week's episode was the best yet. It's the classic, people holed up in a place episode. It's amazing how good The Strain can be when you have an episode with the good characters. Not the junk with the families or other side characters that I have zero interest in.

Last Sunday's was pretty good too. I don't like the thug storyline but I guess he'll meet up with the group too and will be a good fighter against the vampires. The reveal of the Master vampire was surprising. I thought they would hold out on that till the final episode. As long as they stop the bad family stuff I can see myself sticking with this show.

SPOILERS

Episode 10: "Loved Ones" The flashbacks showing what happened to Kelly for the most part felt unnecessary and wasted half the episode. The scenes where Vasiliy Fet and Dutch Velders go to confront Eldritch Palmer weren't much better. The highlights of the episode are Kelly attacking her neighbor and her meeting the Master which was unexpected. Eph having to shoot the boy and finding Kelly's necklace was a pretty powerful moment.

You guys are on episode ten while over here we have the first showing tonight.I have much to see.

My best advice is to stick with it. It's a bit slow in the beginning, but it's definitely worth hanging in there. Looking forward to your opinion of it.

SPOILERS

Episode 11: "The Third Rail" was better than the last. It starts off slow but picks up about half way through. The Gus scenes were pretty good. The subway scenes were slow at first but got kind of good when that vampire was electrocuted. Zach was pretty stupid leaving the pawn shop to get Anne cigarettes. It was cool to see Gus show up when he did though. Hopefully he joins the group soon. The special effects makeup used for the Master looks pretty goofy. Loved the scene where Setrakian takes the sledge hammer to the Master's coffin. Great ending.

Almost at the end of the season, been really good i think!

SPOILERS

Episode 12: "Last Rites" The Setrakian flashbacks continue to be interesting. The Gus scenes with Jamie Hector from The Wire were pretty good and I wasn't expecting Mr. Quinlan to show when he did. Bolivar finally returns during Eichhorst's attack on the pawn shop and kills Anne. Nora having to decapitate her own mother was pretty brutal. The flashback reveal that Setrakian had to kill his own family and that the infected heart in the jar belonged to his wife Miriam was excellent. Palmer finally becomes a vampire. Really looking forward to the season finale!

SPOILERS

"The Master" season 1 finale was overall pretty solid and left me wanting more. I wonder if Mr. Fitzwilliams will join up with Eph's group next season now that he doesn't work for Eldritch Palmer. It looked like Nora was about to get revenge on Bolivar for killing her mother. I hope we get to see that next season. Gus gets recruited by The Born and we find out sunlight doesn't kill The Master. I'm really looking forward to season 2!

I'm in on this show. I said it before, but once all that bad family / relationship stuff disappeared the show became very different. The relationship drama just wasn't needed with that level of detail or with the soap opera feel. Almost all those characters are gone now and the show feels better for it.

Binged through the first season in two days.
Love it.
The sentimental family/love stuff sucks but everything else makes up for it.


SPOILERS


-Setrakian said he tried to kill the master in the past.
But I don't think he meant his first attempt in the camp.
What do you think?

-After they tried to kill the master in the final episode, they were all like
"If sunlight doesn't kill him, what does?"
How about chopping his head off with a silver sword? Didn't they plan on doing that the first time they went after him in the sewers?

Season 2 teaser!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDVau1PPby8

LOVE this show!!!!!!

SPOILERS
 

Season 2 episode 1 "BK, NY" Solid start to the second season. Interesting flashback to start the episode. The full body special effects makeups used throughout were outstanding. Professor Setrakian getting kidnapped by Quinlan and meeting The Born was pretty cool. I liked the attack on the storage unit and was surprised by the fate of the bus full of blind kids. Preview for the rest of the season looks pretty good.

Loved the first season and can't wait to see the second ::smile::

You know it's already started, right? The second episode will air tomorrow night.

SPOILERS
 

Episode 2 "By Any Means" The way the blind kids walked after being transformed and the sound they made was massively creepy. Interesting flashbacks revealing that Setrakian and Palmer knew each other and showing Setrakian acquiring Sardu's cane. I'm curious to where the search for the Occido Lumen will lead. Vasiliy Fet and Dutch Velders taking out a nest of vampires with the silver grenades was awesome. Seeing Eichhorst vampire out was pretty cool too. Ephraim using that couple as guinea pigs was kind of interesting as well.

I can't get into this series. Penny Dreadful, An American Horror Story and The Whispers neither.

Might be because i don't give a shit about any of the characters. Or maybe because the mysteries are not exciting enough. I don't know.

It's more fun to wait until the season's finished and then watched it over a couple of days.

It's just because you're cranky ::stick out tongue::