Horror

Angel & Faith #1

/ / Comics

angel-and-faith-1-coverThere are parts of Buffy Season Eight I enjoyed (the start, Faith’s arc, the final issue, and most importantly “Wolves at the Gate“), but as the season continued there’s more than a little I’d just as soon forget (super-Angel and super-Buffy, the reveal of Twilight’s identity, and the complicated and convoluted story arc which ended the series). From this first issue it looks like we’re sadly going to be mired in the post-Twilight angst for a little while longer. Sigh.

Season Nine begins, not with Buffy, but with Angel and Faith and the repercussions of the Twilight story arc and Angel’s return to form as a cursed vampire with a soul seeking redemption. After the death of Giles, Faith and Angel have teamed-up to fill his role, including saving a possessed young girl in this issue. Giles left the Watcher’s Chronicles and a hole to be filled, and Angel has a plan on what to do next.

This first issue isn’t awful, but it’s pretty disappointing. Season Nine, the first full comic season with all the characters under one publisher’s banner, begins not with a bang but a whimper. Hit-and-Miss.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Priest

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Priest
  • IMDB: link

priest-blurayIn the dystopian future ruled by the Church most of the world is a wasteland after centuries of battle between humans and vampires. The film opens with the last of these battles as the Church’s best warriors, known simply as Priests, set out to destroy the last hive of vampires. They are victorious, but only at the cost of losing one of their own (Karl Urban).

The film skips an undetermined amount of time into the future when the Priests have been disbanded and all vampires are believed dead. An attack on his brother’s home on the edge of the wasteland sends one Priest (Paul Bettany), against the Church’s orders on a hunt to rescue his niece (Lily Collins).

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Fright Night

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Fright Night (2011)
  • IMDB: link

fright-night-posterWith one or two exceptions, I’m not usually one for vampire stories. Sure I have some fondness to cheesy flicks from my childhood such as Love at First Bite and Once Bitten, but for the most part vampire movies leave me cold. So when I find one I enjoy I’m pleasantly surprised.

An exception to my disinterest to the genre is Joss Whedon‘s TV-series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. It’s probably not a coincidence that I enjoyed Buffy writer Marti Noxon‘s fresh take on 1985’s Fright Night. I’ll also freely admit it doesn’t hurt that the movie co-stars Doctor Who‘s David Tennant.

The remake streamlines the plot of the original film and kicks into high gear much earlier as high school student Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) discovers his new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is not only a vampire but responsible for the death of several of his classmates in the Las Vegas suburb including his missing friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). (A fact that is revealed to the audience, Charlie, and his friends, much earlier than in the original).

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Red State

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Red State
  • IMDB: link

red-state-posterI’ve been saying for years I wanted to see Kevin Smith try something different. With Red State, the writer/director attempts to create a horror film based loosely on the Westboro Baptist Church. It’s a departure of sorts (Smith still finds a way to slide in his usual assortment of dick jokes), and even if its not entirely successful, Red State does have its moments.

The film centers around the fictional Five Points Church led by the charismatic Reverend Abin Cooper (based on Fred Phelps and played by Michael Parks). No longer content to just protest at funerals of homosexuals, Cooper and his brethren have begun entrapping and executing those who they see as a blight on their community.

In true teen sex comedy fasion Red State begins with the lustful dreams of three teens (Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, Nicholas Braun), but, after more than a few twists and turns, ends with a shoot-out between the ATF and the Five Points Church.

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Buffy the Vampire Season Eight #40

/ / Comics

Buffy Season Eight has been an adventure. Almost twice as long as its original intended length, the story has meandered a bit on its way to giving us some great (and less than great) moments over the course of 40 issues.

The conclusion of “Last Gleaming” finds the Buffy and the Scoobies alive (with one big exception), but trapped in a world without magic. The world was saved both from a demon horde and the creation of a new reality but the line of Slayers has been severed as has any connection witches like Willow had with magic.

As final issues go this one’s not half-bad. I grew a little weary of Season Eight, especially when Twilight was revealed to be Angel and he and Buffy started going hot and heavy again. Thankfully, this final issue gives us an end free of the insanity that plagued the final ten issues of this season.

This feels like Buffy again, and sets down the events that lead to Fray as well as foreshadow the fallout which is sure to come in Season Nine (set to begin this summer).

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