The Hungry Snake Woman – review

Director: Sisworo Gautama Putra

Release date: 1986

Contains spoilers

An Indonesian moment of madness from the mid-eighties, my thanks to Leila who sent me the disc of this. It stars Suzzanna (Sundelbolong) as the titular Snake Woman (referred to as a Snake Goddess) as well as a second role in the film. The Snake Woman was a reprised role from two previous films. The print on the disc was a VHS rip with English dub, I understand a Blu-Ray is available.

The film starts with women running through the jungle and a man, Joe (George Rudy), chasing them, telling them to come to him and firing a gun. He meets a uniformed woman and tells her to help Donny (Dorman Borisman) as he goes after them. They run through a river into a rocky area and into a cave, He follows and the women, once he is inside, vanish into thin air. An earth tremor opens a passageway and light shines in it. The Snake Goddess floats on a throne to him, asks why he follows her escort, whilst he asks why she looks like Suzy (also Suzzanna). She melts, becoming a snake as the credit roles.

domestic violence

So these three would seem to be characters from later (Suzy, Joe and Donny) but the context is all wrong – but hey, that’s madcap Indonesian cinema for you. So, anyway, after the credits we meet Brian (Advent Bangun) and his (very soon to be ex-)girlfriend Carlita (Nina Anwar). He is misogynistic and violent, physically abusing her, stabbing her through the hand with a screwdriver when she fights back and attempting to rape her (by the dialogue, their relationship had not been physical). She gets away and cries for help, drawing the police who chase Brian off.

Brian and the Snake Goddess

Brian walks into the jungle and comes across a half snake/half woman and her cave dwelling husband, who tell him that he can find riches and status through the Snake Goddess and she belts him with her tail, through the air and into a river. The escorts find him, taking him to the Goddess’ cave. He tries taking pieces of gold trees but, when separated, the bits become scorpions and spiders. The Snake Goddess appears and says she can give him the riches he desires for a price – over a week he must find three women, drink their blood and eat their breasts as a sacrifice to her.

dracula on the loose

We see him attack the first – a woman whose lover has nipped off for a pee. Brian has fangs (and a cape) and drinks her blood and eats her breasts as required. The next day the newspapers have an article about a dracula murdering women (an example of using dracula as a common noun). Brian’s second attack is on Suzy, and she luckily escapes. We then see a businessman who has failed to sacrifice his daughter as required by the Snake Goddess – who states that she needs the sacrifices to provide her souls as sustenance, keeping her young and immortal. So, she is also a type of vampire.

Brian with fangs

Anyway, Brian betrays her, becomes rich and the film sees him obsessing over Carlita (whose family denies him despite his new riches), she happens to know Suzy, Joe and Donny and they are drawn in – especially as Joe accidentally rescues the betrayed Goddess, who wants Brian to pay. It is all a big mismatch of ideas with the clip-clop (literally) of flying horses drawing her chariot, magically induced erotic dance, as well as other black magic moments, and an attempted burning of Carlita just because.

a victim

Now, it isn’t brilliant but it is so mad it will keep your attention. The dub is as you’d expect but the natural charm and madcap nature may well be enhanced with a better print and original language. Don’t get me wrong, it is unlikely to ever be viewed as a masterpiece but the sheer weight of ideas makes it worth your time. 3.5 out of 10 is fair but the madness is greater than the sum of its parts.

The imdb page is here.

The Witch with Flying Head – review

Director: Jen-Chieh Chang

Release date: 1982

Contains spoilers

This is an interesting, low budget Hong Kong & Taiwan originating movie, which states at the beginning that it is looking to the folklore of Java – so the creature within would be a leak, the Indonesian variant of the Thai krasue or Malay penanggalan (though the name is not actually used). The version I saw was from a VHS rip.

It begins with Yu-Zhen, a young woman, at an altar praying for blessings upon her father. Her two handmaidens stand close by. The audience sees a snake on a roof, it drops to the floor transforming into a man, Jia Chu-An (referred to as a snake demon in dialogue). He ejects a further snake from his mouth, which crosses the courtyard and up her dress! An internal organs' close-up suggests that it has got into her body and she is in agony as a result.

the leak attacks

He walks up suggesting he can save her and gives a handmaiden a bottle of medicine. Dubious at first, she does give the medicine to Yu-Zhen to relieve her agonies. Elsewhere we see two men walking the streets. A leak comes at them, the head clearly Yu-Zhen, with bottom jaw sprouting fangs and her viscera dangling beneath her – she attacks and kills the men. We then see the head fly home and integrate back into her body. Jia Chu-An then visits Yu-Zhen's family and explains that she has been poisoned but he will cure her in return for her hand in marriage. She rejects him.

attacking the rapist

She tries to commit suicide (by head butting a wooden pillar) but is stopped and the family call in monks (interestingly Buddhist monks, rather than Taoist), to no avail as her monstrous form defeats them. Unusually, she breaths fire as part of her attacks and also fires different coloured rays out of her mouth. Another suicide attempt (by hanging) and she and her handmaidens move to a distant rural area to avoid people. Unfortunately, she does attack some travellers (who, to be fair, deserved it as they were awfully rapey) but there is an intervention from an old wise man who gives her a partial cure – so she only transforms on the 15th of each month – and promises to find a permanent cure.

the old wise man

Part of the old man’s gift is a box they can magically trap her in so that she is not loose when she transforms. Meanwhile another traveller, Tang Ming-Kuan, is targeted by a female snake demon. He is warned to run from the area as she will drain his energy and then devour him. He happens, whilst pursued, across Yu Zhen’s home and the box is used to trap the snake demon, freeing him. The two fall in love and marry, but with a promise that he cannot see her on the 15th day of each month. Eventually the snake demon woman will escape and, whilst helping with her vengeance, Jai Chu-An will catch up to Yu Zhen… 

fire breathing

The film was fairly fun but needed to thicken the horror atmosphere around the melodrama. There were some bits that needed answers, such as her pregnancy (the film jumps from them being interested in each other to her giving birth, we get the drama around that and then we jump forward several years to where the child is walking and talking) – enquiring minds want to know if the womb made up part of the viscera and thus the foetus was taken flying after prey, or whether she was left in her mother’s body?

the snake demons

I mention melodrama and it is laid on thick, with Jai Chu-An perpetually letting off false sounding evil laughs. I thought the pace was a tad lacking, but this is an interesting take on the folklore, whilst the filmmakers would seem not to be totally steeped in it and this leads to some of the variations. Not the greatest HK or Taiwanese horror film, but worth watching nevertheless. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Night of the Cobra Woman – review

Director: Andrew Meyer

Release date: 1972

Contains spoilers

This was a joint US/Philippines production and I might have looked at it as a ‘Vamp or Not?’ but there is definite eating of youth within it. It’s a low budget affair and the internal lore didn’t seem too well thought through but it was entertaining enough – probably due to Marlene Clark (Ganja and Hess) as the primary lead.

Does that mean it’s a good film, oh no, not at all, but it does give us another example of a snake vampire, even if that is a tad confused due to the confused lore.

The cave entrance

It begins in the Philippines during World War Two and two nurses Lena (Marlene Clark) and Francisca (Rosemarie Gil) are out gathering herbs. They come across a cave, with cave art on its walls, and Lena wants to go in whilst Francisca refuses – saying she will keep an eye out for Japanese soldiers. Inside Lena is bitten by a cobra with a strange red marking, but the effects of the venom are strange. She falls but then seems to transform developing the same mark on her throat and her eyes becoming weird.

Lena changing

Outside a Japanese soldier (Vic Diaz, Vampire Hookers & Blood Thirst) finds Francisca and rips her uniform away before raping her. Afterwards he shoots her and leaves the area. In the cave Lena comes to, and sees the snake that she now displays a reverence for and affinity with; picking it up she leaves the cave. She sees Francisca and holds the snake over the bullet wound, which heals.

Joy Bang as Joanna

Cut forward some 27 years and Joanna (Joy Bang, Messiah of Evil) is in the Philippines with UNICEF researching snake venom. The Doctor in charge, Tezon (Vic Silayan), has assigned all the UNICEF researchers with projects. Joanna was taken by his story of a rare cobra that a woman named Lena was meant to have so, despite him saying that it was myth and years before, she goes to find her. Getting to a house believed to be Lena’s she is met by Francisca, now aged. Francisca suggests that Lena would not wish to be disturbed but Joanna waits until a hunchbacked and mute man, Lopé (also Vic Diaz), steals her feathered hat, freaking her out and causing her to run away.

Duff and Joanna

Joanna goes to the airport to pick up her boyfriend Duff (Roger Garrett) – they give a lift to a random GI, Sgt Merkle (Slash Marks) and, after dropping him off, Duff buys an eagle from a street vendor. After some (off screen) rumpy pumpy he decides to check out Lena’s place whilst Joanna goes to the lab. He gets out to the countryside but a snake (indeed Lena’s snake Malvini) bites him. Lena finds him, bending over him (and presumably sucking the venom from the wound)...

Vic Diaz as Lopé

When Duff comes round, he is in the house and Francisca is there. He discovers that Lopé is her son and was a handsome man until he slept with Lena and it corrupted his body. He asks Francisca to get a message to Joanna and ask her to come to him – and bring the eagle to keep him company. Francisca reveals, in conversation with Lopé, that she hates Lena by suggesting that the eagle will be a large enough bird to kill the snake and break Lena’s power.

fanged and shedding

So – the convoluted story is that Joanna does come and steals some milked venom, The snake is aware of this and attacks her so she releases the eagle and it kills the snake. Lena then sleeps with Duff – he seemingly uncaring that her skin on her arms has become scaly. Indeed no man seems bothered by the state of her skin when they sleep with her. The aftermath leaves Duff aged – she says she has siphoned off his youth to remain human. With its snake body gone the spirit of Malvini has entered her and is trying to make her a snake (whereas before it kept her youthful). She injects Duff with some venom, which makes him young again. So he needs venom regularly (but Joanna has stolen the sample) and she needs men.

Marlene Clark as Lena

It is interesting that, at one point, Lena does develop fangs. She also peels off the scaly skin, shedding her skin as it were as part of becoming youthful. The entire cave area looks something like a temple to a snake God and a deity is invoked in a couple of scenes. The premise of the film was interesting but not drawn in a cohesive manner, nevertheless it was worth a watch despite its limitations. One of those limitations was the dialogue, which was clunky and, for the most part, not well delivered, being too steeped in melodrama. However Marlene Clark slithered through the film with a cold grace befitting the role. 3.5 out of 10 reflects the quality but it is worth catching for fans of cheap 70s horror.

The imdb page is here.

On demand @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

But Deliver us from Evil – review

Director: Joshua Coates

Release date: 2017

Contains spoilers

Lilith (Alice Rose) has become linked to the media vampire but let us not forget that this is a fairly recent pairing, and also note that the alleged first wife of Adam (Marsahn Wilson) might be the adoption of Babylonian myth or even just a medieval elaboration to Jewish folklore.

Despite being human (she is made from the same clay as Adam but refuses to bow to the innate misogyny of man), she is then called a demon. Indeed in this she is tied into the myth of the succubus (and, indeed, the gender fluid nature that allows the succubus to become the incubus (James A. Sims)). I would also say that (possibly by accident) the filmmakers have tied this to the lamia – they give her a snake aspect that I suspect is meant to tie into the serpent in the Garden of Eden but such an aspect is immediately reminiscent of the lamia and, if you look at the work of Twitchell, there is an argument, which might be made, that the link between the lamia and the media vampire is actually longer apparent than that of Lilith.

Eric Roberts as  Leigh Warring

So, the film starts off with a biblical quote (from Isiah) that mentions Lilith and a retelling of Sodom and Gomorrah’s story with a Lilith addition. It then cuts to a show (as the credits role) hosted by Leigh Warring (Eric Roberts, Lost Girl, Halloween Hell & Sicilian Vampire), this show seems to be anti-religious or cynical thereof, though the film essentially takes a pro-Christianity position. We also hear about an evangelical ministry run by Robert J Knight (Joseph Gian) and his wife Tammy (Veronica Petrucci) – who are actually doing good in the world.

RJ Konner as detective Reid

We see Knight in a hotel, he goes into a room and a woman is waiting for him (she remains in shadow/silhouette but you wouldn’t lose the bet if you guessed it is Lilith). They end up in bed, she scratches his chest and licks the blood from her hand and then attacks. The police are called to the hotel and lead detective Mckenzie Reid (RJ Konner) is called in. The suspicion is that a specific serial killer has returned. We later discover that hunting the killer had previously cost Reid his marriage.

Jeremiah and Charles

We see social worker Charles (Franklin Ojeda Smith) trying to place Jeremiah (Grant Harvey) with temporary fosters but he is rejected as a youth with no past. This was meant to be a temporary solution before he goes to college. Later we see Jeremiah leaving his room, going outside as he thinks someone is near. He is stopped from walking out in front of a car by Charles. Jeremiah was sleepwalking and suffers from vivid visions, mostly when asleep but sometimes when awake. When he gets to college he is placed in the Jocks’ dorms and his roommate, Pete (Pooch Hall), is less than impressed with being saddled with the weird kid – especially when he has a vision of Pete’s death.

Alice Rose as Lilith

So, convoluted story aside, Lilith is back in the city and is alternatively killing men and also causing unsuspecting men to carry her offspring, that then burst from their stomach. We see this once with a business man, Todd (Dave Shaver), who collapses, is given cpr (which is aborted when a snake comes from his throat) and then something bursts from his stomach. Those around him at the time do not describe it to police, it appears, though it is clear that something exploded from within.

wings on show

Lilith sometimes appears scaled and produces fangs (and bites in a standard vampire way if they are out). We get a moment when she is winged and they are bat wings. A cross holds her back at one point (though she can enter a church/ministry). Jeremiah becomes the focus of her attention when she realises there is something about him and he, in turn, discovers that he is a descendent of the righteous man from Sodom and Gomorrah and his visions are real.

fangs

It is quite a convoluted story and one got the feeling that they were pulled in multiple directions as they built the story, with Lilith trying to hatch a macrocosmic plot but that plot was overwhelmed by microcosmic moments in the film. Probably one of the biggest problems was with Lilith and the performance thereof – actress Alice Rose tried her best, I’m sure, but simply did not have the presence to convince the viewer that she was an ancient evil looking to destroy the world and her performance lacked any nuance. Indeed, there were several performances that lacked the conviction this needed – though Grant Harvey tried his damnedest. The effects were passable for a film that was filmed on a fairly tight budget but ultimately I wasn’t convinced. 3 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

From Dusk till Dawn: The Series – season 2 – review

Director: various

First aired: 2015

Contains spoilers

It came as no surprise when this series received a second season. Beyond the heavy involvement of Robert Rodriguez in both the channel and the series/story was the fact that Season 1 was thoroughly enjoyable TV. Ok, it didn’t come to the standard of the actual movie but that certainly was a hard act to follow.

Kate and Freddie

Season 1 actually followed the movie story pretty tightly but added in new characters and also changed the fate of several characters. Santánico Pandemonium (Eiza González) became a central character and thus couldn’t die and neither, of course, could Richie Gecko (Zane Holtz, Vampires Suck). As season 2 moves forward we also discover that Sex Machine (Jake Busey) had been turned rather than died as it appeared.

the Twister

This is going to be an ongoing problem within the series as it has invested into certain characters and is reluctant to let them go. The coda rebirth of one of the primary characters at the end of this season is not something I’ll spoil but underlines the issue. There is also the question mark over the vampire nature of the “creatures” – called culebras, they are snake creatures. However humans can be turned, they drink blood (and eat the soul of the victim), they can change shape (and take on the appearance of their victims for a short while), and they are destroyed by the sun and by destruction of the heart at which point they dust. The nine Lords (God like progenitors) have a snake within them (as does Santánico) but if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks… well…

Carlos' new fangs

The series has Santánico, freed from the Titty Twister, with Richie. They are being hunted by one of the nine Lords, Malvado (Esai Morales), who sees her as his property and are on a mission to destroy him themselves (Satanico wants him dead, Richie wants his crime empire – these are not necessarily compatible desires). Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama) escapes from the mystical labyrinth beneath the Twister and restarts his machinations (and forges fangs from silver as he had to rip out his fangs to escape the labyrinth) and Ranger Gonzales (Jesse Garcia) is trying to rebuild his family life. Meanwhile Kate (Madison Davenport) is being initiated into a criminal life by Seth (D.J. Cotrona). I felt the Seth and Kate storylines were probably the weakest – Kate's motivations just didn’t seem to ring true (she has been painted so good in series that some of her in-season choices didn’t gel) and Seth’s descent into drug addiction and subsequent speedy recover just seemed badly thought through.

Jess Fahey as Uncle Eddie

New characters included Seth and Richie’s Uncle Eddie, which was a welcome but sadly short performance by Jeff Fahey, and an underused, in my opinion, but welcome return to the FDtD family for Danny Trejo not as his movie character (who had been played by another actor in season 1) but as the Regulator, a mystical almost indestructible warrior sent to hunt down and retrieve Santánico. The story itself becomes, beyond the Santánico and Malvado grudge, a search for the Well – a mystical source of ultra-powerful blood. The bonds that Richie and Seth stole at the head of season 1 hide a map to it – a concept that was perhaps a little hokey but has to be accepted to make the series hang together.

Danny Trejo as the Regulator

If I had one gripe for season 1 it was the toned down language, which jarred in places especially as the film script was written by auteur Quinten Tarantino. As this has fully diverged from the film and gone into uncharted waters, and thus is not reimagining scenes, I didn’t have the same frustration. However I felt (as indicated above) that some of the story and character motivations were a tad hard to swallow and thus I don’t think this quite matches up to the first season. That isn’t to say it was bad – it was still enjoyable TV – but the writers need to be braver with the main characters in the confirmed season 3.

6.5 out of 10

The imdb page is here.

Arise of the Snake Woman – review

Director: David Palmieri

Release date: 2013

Contains spoilers

One of the issues with reviewing films – and I’ve been at this a long time now – is that it is difficult to turn your critical faculties off and just enjoy a film for what it is. However, when a film jolts you out with plot holes, continuity issues and improbabilities aplenty then it is a worry… Perhaps not always though, such can lead to a “so bad its good” discovery. Was it the case with this… read on…

Lamia coin

The film centres itself around the legend of Lamia and we get an intertitle at the head of the film that tells us, “Lamia: (mythology) Folkloric monsters similar to vampires and succubi that feed on the blood of humans, often displaying the appearance of something snake-like.” And that was all we really needed and so the badly voiced voice-over that then expanded on this was mostly unnecessary. As this is tying into the myth, relaying the idea that Lamia feeds on children was probably extraneous but importantly we do discover that her lifeforce is in a statue and male blood can revive her. The Greek-esque music over the credits was fun.

stolen statue

We begin proper in a museum and (I can’t believe I am going to complain about this, as photography being too dark is normally the issue, but) the place was over-lit. One guard hears glass smashing – and so radios his partner to ask if he heard anything. He ends up knocked out. A robber (Brenton Jones) legs it from the scene (and the camera jiggling on his face as he ran was absolutely unnecessary) followed by a cop, Eddie Gun (Randy Oppenheimer, Blood Moon Rising), who shoots him. Let us see what happens here; the impact causes the runner to hop and yet he is still able to outrun and lose the cop. Improbable. Later we see that the entry wound (as the bullet is still inside him there is no exit wound) is on the front of his body… yet he was shot from behind… continuity!

bring on the dancing girls

He rests a moment, getting the statue out to look at and touching it with his bloodied hand – that can’t be good... He then manages to get to a strip/lapdance joint called Eden (the smallest strip club in LA, I’d wager) and enters through the backdoor. This is significant because when he is tracked by his blood to the club the trail leads to the never approached front door! In the club (after being treated to a prolonged series of pole dance moments) we discover that it is the first night for new stripper Crystal (Nina Kate). The owner, Daryl (played with sleazy gusto by Robert Rhine), is informed that one of the customers is bleeding and goes to throw him out as bouncer Joe (Wilfred Gelin) is late for work. The robber (for it is he) tells him everything and asks for help, offering to give Daryl half of the £20k he has been promised for stealing the statue – Daryl agrees and gets stripper and veterinary student Summer (Arsee Hahn) to dig the bullet out and sew him up.

cgi blood splatter

Meanwhile a snake has crawled out of the sack with the statue in (a sack just missing the word swag on it), turned into green smoke and entered star stripper Trinity (Veronica Ricci). She feels unwell but quickly develops strange eyes and the ugliest looking fangs I’ve seen in a while (and, actually, kudos for that). She immediately eats the robber. Her next meal is Joe, just in to work, and I mention it because of two things. If you have had your man bits ripped off (even off screen) you are unlikely to explain that is what has happened to you and, filmmakers, stop it with cgi blood (see screenshot) it looks rubbish and there is then (more often than not) no equivalent physical soaking of the characters in blood.

the brothers

So, let’s cut to the chase. Two brothers, Simon (Andrew J McGuinness) and Jacob (Cuyle Carvin), hired the robber. They are caught, as they search for him, by the cop. Said cop is going to arrest them until they pretend an ectoplasm detector is a bomb, get his gun and then admit they set the robbery up (as you do). His answer to that is to go for a beer at their place, listen to their story (Lamia’s spirit possessed their aunt and killed their parents) and decides to work with them – we really have hit the heights of improbable now! They tells us that the statue can be destroyed once a century (spookily the next night). Lamia can also be physically killed, and returned to the statue, in the one minute after midnight on the night revived if killed before killing a man (presumably in that minute, kills pre-midnight mustn’t count). It’s all quite bobbins really.

snake mode

Meanwhile Lamia (possessing Trinity) is killing men and turning the strippers into her snake vampire slaves (they are meant to represent the witches who served her but have no witchy powers, but do have fangs and a thirst for blood). However the girls have to ask to be turned (and do so because Trinity’s dancing is now phenomenal, apparently. I saw little difference and, to be fair, none of the dancing was that erotic). Of course dancers and vampires, with snake aspects, brings From Dusk till Dawn to mind and the end of film makeup is full on Santanico Pandemonium. I have covered the lore I think and some of the film issues, though I have to admit that the inability of a couple of characters to escape a locked room was probably not helped by them pushing the pull door!

attack

It's rubbish, it really is, and the issues in continuity and improbability just do not help. However, I have seen a damn sight worse and the cast seem to be having fun. I think a 3 out of 10 would be fair and I appreciate the fact that they went for a take on Lamia rather than going down the straight vampire line.


The imdb page is here.

V-Wars: Blood & Fire: a Chronicle of the Vampire Wars - review

Editor: Jonathan Maberry

First published: 2014

Contains spoilers

The blurb: When anyone can turn.

When every street is a war zone.

Our world will burn.

Our world will bleed.

There is nowhere to run!

It's been one year since a virus triggered junk DNA and people all over the world started changing. Becoming something else. Craving blood.

It's been 10 months since the word "vampire" stopped being something from old monster stories and Hollywood movies.

It's been six months since our world and theirs erupted into war.

It's been two months since an uneasy peace was signed.

It's been one hour says that peace was shattered.

War is here again.

The Vampire War.

The review: Regular readers will know that I thoroughly enjoyed the first V-Wars volume and also enjoyed the first V-Wars graphic novel, though admittedly less so than the prose. For those unaware of the series, V-Wars is set in a world where a virus, released from ice drilling, has activated junk DNA in certain people around the world mutating than into vampires. There are a whole range of vampires dependent on genetic background. Indeed in this volume we discover that in this world they have seen and 92 species, including 18 subtypes not in literature. Folklorist Luther Swann postulates that could leave nearly 200 species from folklore as possible new species and further hybrids are possible beyond this.

Like the first volume, this volume is made up of short stories by different authors set in the universe and interspersed between each other. The writing is tight throughout, and the stories entertaining. As somewhat of a vampire geek part of the joy is the wide variety of vampire types used, although purists who prefer their vampires Slavic may be a little disappointed. In this volume I noted the following vampire types: draugr, kyonsi, a snake vampire whose species is not named (but the character has featured in both volumes), upor, cihuateteo, mandurugo (with aswang mentioned in passing), craqueuhhe, neuntöter (which are said to be covered in pustules containing pathogens, making them a plague carrier), nelapsi (with alp mentioned in passing) and kallikantzaros.

Werewolves do feature in this, but as a creature born of the ice virus it is suggested they are a subspecies of vampire. In the V-Wars universe the humans had only come across a few werewolves including a loup garou, and were hunting a vampire killing werewolf serial killer of another variety. Swann does list folklore variants including vampire/werewolf hybrids such as the pryccolitch or the Haitian loogaroo, who were said to be witches that shed their skins at night to become vampire/werewolf hybrids. Others mentioned are the mjertovjec (said to become a vampire on death), the lobishomen and the farkaskoldus.

Whilst many vampires in the V-Wars universe are blood drinkers or flesh eaters the broader definition is a person who has an abnormal need to feed on one of several vital substances including energy. I liked the explanation of the mandurugo being thought to split in half due to their excellent chameleon-like skills, thus only revealing part of themselves to attack.

As I intimated earlier this is a superb volume, as good as the first volume. I do like the short story style breaking the book into vignettes. This could easily translate itself into episodes for a TV series or chapters in a portmanteau film. I think there is perhaps also room for dedicated single focused novels. That, of course, is a fan boy’s wish list, and for now I'll happily sit and wait for the next V-Wars volume. 9 out of 10.

V-Wars – review

Editor: Jonathon Maberry

First Published: 2013

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: They are already here.

They hide among us.

They hunt us.

They feed on us.

They ARE us.

V-Wars is the chronicle of the first Vampire War. From the savage murders committed by the patient zero of the plague to full-out battles with vampire terrorist cells, these are the stories of the most terrifying war mankind has ever faced!

The review: With a comic book currently available and a potential TV series, I thought it time I finally got around to V-Wars. The original book is a collection of shorts edited by (and contributed to by) Jonathon Maberry but the authors all had a common world and backstory to stick to. This backstory is shown to us by Maberry in a story entitled Junk. In Junk a b movie actor named Michael Fayne starts having blackouts. Fayne was patient zero for a flu virus known as ice flu (or I1V1), one that had been trapped in ice and released through global warming and that Fayne had contracted whilst filming on location in Alaska.

The blackouts occur as Fayne mutates, the virus causing junk DNA to activate and turn him into a vampire – he is caught because of the trail of decimated bodies he leaves behind but, of course, he is only the first. I would suggest that there is nothing supernatural about the vampires in V-Wars but that wouldn’t be strictly true. Whilst they are mutated individuals, and living rather than undead, they take on the vampiric form that their ancestry correlates with. We get a wurdulac, the woman being of Russian extraction, who can only feed on those she cares for and can turn victims, we get a snake vampire, we get a Jiangshi (Kyonsi) who has to do stretches each day to stop his tendons from becoming taut (the kyonsi is drawn folklore accurately; covered in white hair and has a monster face) and a Hsi-Hsue-Kuei that takes the form of a green haired ogre. Essentially every vampire type is catered for in this universe. As well as this some turn into Loup-Garou and others more traditional werewolves that are natural enemies of the vampires.

The transformations I mentioned (that do obey the law of mass and thus the mass remains constant) seem more supernatural (or praeternatural at least). When it comes to feeds we have similar. Whilst the wurdulac’s feeding seems almost a hard-wired psychological imperative, the kyonsi’s energy draining ability is again much more supernatural. The majority of vampires are blood drinkers, however, though some are flesh eaters and many have a need for human blood/flesh specifically.

Many of the stories are split into parts and the stories intermingle as we jump to just before the V-event to sometime after. We see the reaction of Government, US Homeland Security and the electorate. We see towns become lawless, or controlled by gangs. What we don’t see, I don’t believe, is all out war – but we see the start of such an event and the universe really does have legs enough to go on and on.

There isn't a bad story in the collection, and there isn’t any bad prose. It is all crisp, powerful stuff. Some of the vampires do become guilt-ridden but others revel in their condition. The only real shame of this volume is the time it has taken me to get to it. It is highly recommended and makes me really look forward to the release of the graphic trade paperback and the potential TV series. 9 out of 10.

From Dusk till Dawn: The Series – Season 1 - review

Director: Various

First Aired: 2014

Contains Spoilers

Written by and starring Quinten Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriguez, the 1996 film From Dusk Till Dawn is absolutely iconic and, whilst not universally loved, I think it a classic of the vampire genre.

It was with some trepidation, and yet optimism, that I awaited the release of this TV series based on it. Optimism because Rodriguez was behind the project (indeed he is behind the network it was made for) but the idea that the series would follow the film’s story line (for season 1) left a nagging doubt.

You - be cool

As I sat down to watch episode 1 (cleverly the series was available on several countries’ Netflix immediately after US premier - other TV series makers take note) my doubts were displaced. The first episode is the prologue of the film extended to 45 minutes and there were changes. Richie Gecko (Zane Holtz, Vampires Suck) is not just psychologically unhinged but is clearly getting telepathic communications from Santánico Pandemonium (Eiza González). Her role in the series is vastly expanded (and yes the dance does happen) and Texas Ranger Earl McGraw (Don Johnson, Nash Bridges: Superstition) still dies, at the end of the first episode, but has a partner called Freddie Gonzalez (Jesse Garcia) who will hunt the Geckos across Texas and over the border.

Don Johnson was magnificent

However let me stop here and say just how frigging good Don Johnson was in this. He outshone everyone on screen and this was perhaps a little unfortunate as we were to get to know the Geckos in this episode but their lights were dimmed compared to his. D.J. Cotrona had his work cut out as Seth Gecko because comparisons to George Clooney’s stunning portrayal were inevitable, but whilst not as good he did a very good job. Making Richie look so clean cut and boyish was a genius move that made him stand out against Tarantino’s sinister performance.

The Geckos

Despite the differences in story the basic story remains the same. Having broken Seth out of prison, Richie and Seth rob a bank and run for Mexico, leaving a wake of bodies behind them. Meanwhile a paster, Jacob Fuller (Robert Patrick, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money) has recently lost his wife (Joanna Going, Dark Shadows: the Revival) and has taken his daughter Kate (Madison Davenport) and adopted son Scott (Brandon Soo Hoo) on a trip to Texas (en route to Mexico). The details of the death and family pressures are expanded on (and Scott gets a more substantial story). Their paths cross and the Geckos use the family to get across the border.

sex machine

One change early on is that Seth’s contact, Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama), is part of the vampires and setting the brothers up. It is through him that we discover some of the lore early on. Later on a Professor of Mesoamerican legends, Professor Aiden Tanner (Jake Busey, Frost: Portrait of a Vampire), tells us much more. Tanner is also, in this, original character Sex Machine – replete with crotch gun. The vampires are not called vampires by Tanner but, for all intents and purposes, they are a snake vampire.

snake vampire

They eat someone’s life energy (or soul, Carlos claims) through the conduit of blood and can turn a victim into one of their own by injecting venom into them (with a notable exception). This eating of the soul allows them to take the form of their victims – this also causes them to look to be wearing the clothes of the victim too. Their fangs flip down like a snake’s and they have various stages of snake form. A stake to the heart (as it is the blood organ) will kill them. They are not deterred by religious iconography (or at least not in the Titty Twister as it is their temple) and so the story of Jacob’s rocked faith isn’t as important. Despite the snake aspect they can grow giant bat wings (perhaps referencing winged serpents).

burning

The sunlight aspect is odd. We see Carlos out in the day and also see his fingers begin to burn in direct sunlight but at another point we see him walking across a highway on the Mexico border with no shade and no noticeable detriment. Santánico tells a new vampire that he can’t face sunlight yet – indicating that he will be able to eventually. The vampires are themselves the slaves of the 9 Lords – these are (not-so-)mythical God’s of the underworld and the vampires are meant to provide the lord's representatives with sustenance and them with sacrifice (this is under explored for me).

Eiza González as Santanico

So, the story diverges but holds its own. The fact that a film has been stretched to a 10 episode series wasn’t problematic. I think they made a dubious choice around language though as it was severely toned down and lost part of the atmosphere of the film in doing so. Certain iconic moments fell flat – “Richie, would you do me a favour and eat my pussy for me… please” as he hallucinates over Kate became a tame request for Bikini removal and clumsy as a result. Generally the series felt a little wussy when it came to the language, therefore. Given some of the violence and later nudity (the topless dancers are still there) it was an odd choice.

bat wings

Not too much of a score detractor though. The fact was I looked forward to each episode release and whilst I don’t think it was as good as the original it was fun. Many of the story changes were good and I did start wondering how they were going to pull the divergent (between film and series) story strands together. This was good TV overall and it deserves the second season it has got. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.