Spoiler alerts

This may be one of the dullest vampire and werewolf movies ever made.

The success of the Twilight series is baffling. Its sparkly romantic vampires lack passion, and simply come across as soppy.

The films have made actor Robert Pattinson into a teenage heartthrob so a film in which he is largely absent may be something of a mistake. His noble no biting necks before marriage stance leads him to abandon lover and heroine Bella (Kristen Stewart) and leave town.

Bella gets morose and depressed, and seeks consolation in danger, cavorting with a biker gang and cliff jumping, but she is being watched by an old friend of Edward’s, Jacob Black, one of a band of werewolves who see it as their duty to protect humans from vampires and decide Bella needs their security measures.

The giant wolf effects are well handled but the wolves taking Buffy type kung fu kicks from vampires look silly. Another ludicrous touch is Edward’s Obi Wan Kenobi like warnings to Bella to avoid various dangers, right before she ignores him and endangers herself anyway.

Suspecting wrongly that Bella is dead, Edward seeks his own death at the hands of vampire elders, forcing Bella to race to his rescue.

This could have been a tense drama and has potential for lots of action, but it’s a very talky story where characters impress enemies with declarations of love and friendship. Pattison’s wooden acting makes him genuinely look like an animated corpse but these vampires spend so much time walking round in daylight it feels decidedly unlike a vampire movie throughout.

Arthur Chappell

16 Years Later: 
Screams could be heard through out the dark, musky forest as the parents of the vampire’s victim called out for their little girl. They had heard a loud thump from their six year old daughter’s room earlier that night. When they went to check on her, they found the vampire bending over the child, ready to feed from her. Its fangs just inches from her small throat. Upon seeing the parents, the vampire scooped up the sleeping child and jumped out of the window, and dashed into the forest. 
The vampire was newly turned and was crazed with blood lust. Normally a fledgling vampire’s sire would not let a Newly Turned just simply run around unwatched; however, this Newly Turned seemed not to care about what it did, only thing on its mind was to get away from its pursuers and feed in peace. 
Once the vampire figured it was safely away from the child’s parents, it set the girl down and looked around. Something else seemed wrong and out of place about the surrounding area, but the vampire could not figure it out. Figuring that it best hurry, feed, and get out of the area as soon as possible, it bent down towards the sleeping girl with its fangs bared. Just as it was about to pierce the girl’s skin, it heard a whistling sound, like something flying through the air. The vampire did not have time to look up or make a sound before its head came off its shoulders and fell to the ground with a soft thud, the surrounding moss absorbing most of the sound. 
Its killer jumped down from a nearby tree just as the girl’s parents came into view. “Your daughter is safe,” the hunter said as the father picked up his daughter and held her close. 
“Thank you so much!” the mother said in relief, seeing that her daughter was indeed safe. 
“I am glad I was passing by.” The hunter’s figure was feminine. She wore a mask that covered most of her face. Her silver hair was back in a short pony tail. She cleaned off the weapon she used, a silver fan, and set to work cleaning up the area before the vampire managed to revive itself. Even as a young vampire, she knew that it would take just a few days before it was roaming the world again. Since it already broke the laws, she could not let it do that. 
“Do you have a place to stay?” the mother asked as she watched the female hunter dispose of the vampire’s body by burning it; the hunter had cleared an area that would not cause a forest fire. For a while, the hunter did not respond, being too busy on her job to focus on anything else. 
Once she was done, she turned to the young couple. “No, I never have time,” she responded. 
“Would you like to stay the night with us? All we can offer you is a cozy bed and food,” the father added. His wife handed him her jacket, noticing that their daughter was shivering. 
“That would be nice. Thank you.” She followed the couple back to their home. 

It was a nice little place, with a beautiful flower garden in the front and a stream flowing on the side of the place. She stood in awe at it, noting the craftsmanship and landscaping. “That is beautiful,” she responded. 

“Thank you. Come inside. I’ll get you something to eat.” The mother held the door open so that her husband can get their daughter in and waited for the hunter to come in before closing it and latching it shut. After securing the door, she went around and secured the rest of the house, not wanting another Underworld being to come in and attack any other member of her family.

While she was doing that, the father set his daughter down on a hand built forest green couch and turned to the hunter. “I’m Brad Williams,” he said, extending his hand to the hunter. He was about twenty-five year old, with long dark brown hair that he wore in a pony tail. His wife, the hunter noted, was a smaller woman compared to herself, with a petite figure and long red hair. The young child she just saved appeared to be no older than about five or six with a mop of light brown curls. She laid on the couch curled into a small little ball with her thumb in her mouth. “That is my wife, Tina, and our daughter Korrin.” 
“Natasha Silvers,” the hunter replied, removing her mask and accepting his hand in a shake. 
“It’s nice to meet you, Natasha,” Brad said as his wife walked up, said her thanks and greetings, and then went into the kitchen to get them all something to eat. Brad sat down on the couch next to his sleeping girl. Natasha took the seat next to a blazing fire. “So, are you a licensed hunter of the…” 
“No,” she replied, cutting him off. “I work alone. Though I do hunt those that break the laws, I do it more to prevent more families from being torn than for the job. But I am also doing it, in hopes of finding clues to the location of my older brother that was turned five years ago.” She looked into the fire, remembering the events of the dreadful day she found out about her brother’s turning. 

Natasha, when she was seventeen, was constantly training in the ways of magic and physical combat. After what happened to her years before, she had been taken in by a druid, whose mission was to hunt down and banish all evil from the world, but he was getting old she he took her under his wing in hopes to pass his knowledge onto her. 
Though he could only teach her magic combat, he called in masters of other forms of combat to help him train and prepare her. She was a quick study; always staying a step or two in front of her instructors as she mastered magic, stealth, weapons combat, herbalism, and many forms of martial arts. 
Once night, after finishing her days training, she stood out on a small island that sat in the middle of Lake Syne. The lake itself was not far from her home, so she came to it often at night simply to relax and look up at the stars, admiring the view. On the other side of the lake was a massive forest that was said to be overrun by beasts and monsters, but looking out upon it, it was hard to tell that such beauty could hold such ugliness. 
She kneels down close to the water and looked at her reflection as the moon danced across the surface. She was hoping to see some of the rare fish that only appeared when the moon was out and shining on the water’s surface. As she leaned closer she did not see one of the fish, but a shadow from over head. Startled, she looked up and back, nearly falling into the water. What she saw was a tall man with blood all over his shirt and neck. His long black hair was matted with it as well. 
She quickly stood up and pulled out twin daggers. She stood in a battle stance, waiting for this man to try to attack her. She knew that he had just been bitten, but where was the vampire that bit him? she wondered as she held the daggers close to her, but pointing outwards in case he should rush her. She kept her ears open, in case he was just a trap. He took a step forward, holding his left hand out. 
“Please, I don’t mean you any harm. I am just trying to find someone. My little sister. I need to talk to her,” he stated as he slowly moved towards her. 
“Why? Did your sire tell you to make this ‘little sister’ your first meal?” she challenged. At that, he stopped advancing and put his hand down. 
“No, after I found out what she did to me, I knew I could not stay there anymore, so I fled. Please, I am looking for my sister, Natasha Silvers, do you know her?” he asked. Natasha’s eyes grew very wide in surprise that she nearly dropped the knives as well as her guard. 
It did not take her long to recover and she threw one of the knives, just missing the man’s head. “How do you know that name? Who are you?” she demanded. 
“I’m her older brother, Kyle. Judging from your reaction, you must have…” At that moment, Natasha broke out into tears. All these years she thought he was dead and now she finds him alive, well undead. 
“Kyle, all these years…” she managed to get out before he knew that he stood before his sister. 
“Natasha? Wow, you have gotten big? But there is something I really need for you to do for me, Tash,” he said holding onto her shoulders. 
“What?” she asked, after getting herself together. 
“I need for you to kill me.” He saw the shock in her eyes, but continued before she could reply. “I have been a slave to The Dark Lady, for twelve years now. I don’t know what she is called other than that. Last night she came into my chambers and turned me. I don’t know how much longer I have until I am completely turned. I then escaped when I saw her leave and came looking for you. I don’t know why it was so easy to escape her this night. But I just ask this one thing of you. Please kill me before I become a monster upon this earth.” He continued to plead with her, but Natasha was too overwhelmed with the fact that her brother had been alive all this time, a slave to the very thing that killed their parents years before. 
“I’m sorry, Kyle. I can not do it,” she said, with her head down. She knew that she should, but she could not bring herself to do it, not when she was finally reunited with him after so long. 
Kyle sighed and turned away. ”I understand, but I want you to continue your training and when you are ready, hunt me down. In the mean time, I will travel the world looking for a way to avenge our parents.” He then disappeared into the shadows and Natasha was alone in the darkness… 

“Miss Silvers? Are you okay?” a voice called. Natasha blinked a few times and found herself back in the small cottage of the young couple whose daughter she rescued from a vampire. She looked over at her host, Brad, and noticed that he had a worried look on his face. 
“Yes I am fine. Just old memories resurfacing,” she reassured him. 
“Well, that’s good to know. Well I mean, not that the memories are good, but that you are okay,” he stuttered, trying to make it come out right. Just then Tina called them to dinner. 

After the meal, Tina led Natasha to the guest’s room and bid her good night. The room was not very big, with a single window that was boarded up, a single person bed with a wool blanket and feather pillow. The hardwood floors felt cold to her feet as she removed her shoes. There was a dresser and other items on the other side, it seemed this family used this room for extra storage when it was not being slept in. Once she was alone, Natasha placed her pack on the bed, opened it, and pulled out a small orb. Instantly a face of a rather old man appeared within the orb. “Natasha?” the man asked as he squinted his eyes to try to see her better. She said nothing and simply nodded. “Ah, well, I am glad to see you. There is some thing very disturbing going on.” 
“Other than the vampires?” she asked. 
“Indeed, the forces of nature seem to be out of alignment and I would like for you to see what’s going on. I would do it myself, but I am not as young as I used to be, but I will assist you in any way I can.” The man in the orb was a highly respected druid and like all other druids he revered nature, often becoming involved in efforts to sustain a balanced ecology, as well as an animist, believing that everything in nature possesses a soul or spirit.
“Kegan, in what way is nature out of alignment? What do you mean?” 
The druid was silent for a moment before continuing. “Some dark force is controlling the mythical creatures of the world and causing them to do things they normally would not do.” 
“So you want me to hunt down this dark force before it is too late? How is this connected to my brother?” she asked, she normally only excepted missions that would bring her closer to finding either her brother or her brother’s sire. 
“There may be a chance that your brother might want to use this to his advantage to over throw his sire,” Kegan stated. It was Natasha’s turn to stay silent for a bit. 
“And if that happens, he could end up being an even bigger threat then he already is…” 
“Exactly my point. Now, get some rest, you’ll need it.” Just then the orb went black and Natasha stuck it back into her pack, got prepared for bed and went to sleep. 

Early the next morning the ill child’s parents knelled next to her as her fever continued to rise. They looked at each other worriedly, unsure what to do. All the local doctor’s could not seem to be able to help her and her parents were giving up hope. Her sickness seemed to get worse by the day and already they had to change her sheets three times because they would get soaked with sweat. 
Just then the window to the room opened and the child’s parents were blinded by a bright light. When it dissipated, a white bird stood at the foot of the girl’s bed. The parents recognized it as being a Caladrius; a mythical bird that can predict if a sick person will live or die. There was hope yet. They held each others hand waiting for what the Caladrius was going to do. 
The bird looked at the young couple and around the room, but never once did it look upon the young girl. It hopped down from the foot of the bed and onto the bed itself, eyeing the parents of the ill child the whole time. As it reached the torso area, the bird turned around, facing the window again and sat down on the girl. 
The young couple gasped, for they knew that if a Caladrius turns away from an ill person, the person is doomed to die from the illness. They pleaded with the bird to turn and face their daughter, but the bird did not move, however it launched itself into the air and flew out the window, leaving the young couple to mourn for their daughter as she struggled to breathe. 

The bird landed on a slender arm and cooed as the figure pet it. “Good job, my pet. I will now have another soul to add to my collection.” It grinned as it heard the cries of the child’s parents. “Not much longer now,” it added. The figure stood at the edge of the forest that the small cottage was near. There were no other houses for miles and the surrounding farm held many types of farm animals. 
The figure looked up at the chimney for a moment, watching the smoke rise, knowing that soon there would be no detectable human life in that little cottage. It leaned against a nearby tree as it continued to watch the smoke rise, noting that it had the aroma of cooking chili. 
Moments later it heard something coming at it through the air, looking that way, it say a dagger heading right towards it. Ducking, it managed to avoid the blow, only to be ensnared by a bolas; ‘a throwing made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs.3’ As it fell, it call out to the caladrius, commanding it to protect it from its attacker. 
The caladrius launched itself up into the trees where it knew its master’s attacker was hiding. It attacked with beak and claws, growing more monstrous with each strike until it was impossible to tell what it was, other than a monster bird. 
The attacker knew it had to move quickly before its target could escape. Spraying the caladrius with some sleeping gas, it watched as it shrunk back to its normal size before placing it inside a cage and hung it on a nearby branch. Jumping down, the attacker landed just inches from the figure it had ensnared. 

“Enslaving the creatures of Myth to do your dirty work, have you no shame?” Natasha asked the demon as its feminine exterior dissolved, leaving an ugly, skinless being with its head in its torso area and a large tongue type thing hanging where the head should have been. “And did you also know it was a crime to be that freak’n ugly!? Seems as though someone did not simply beat you with an ugly stick, you bathed in the Lake of Ugly to add to the effect.” 
The demon looked up at her and laughed. “It doesn’t matter what you say, soon the soul of that child will be mine and I shall grow in power!” it gloated. 
“Yah yah, uh huh! If you say so,” she taunted. She then jabbed the Saint’s Dagger into the demon’s right eye, which was just below its heart. Its screams tore through the forest. “Now, tell me, who else is trying to control those of the Myth? And give me a straight answer or it will be more than just your right eye that will feel the blades sting. Oh, and don’t think you are going to get that child’s soul, because…” she pulled out several throwing stars, turned just slightly and threw them at the cage that the caladrius was trapped in. The cage fell, releasing the bird, which flew into the window of the cottage and removed the illness from the child. “…the child is not going to be dieing any time soon and most defiantly not by your hands.” 
The demon watched as the caladrius flew out of the child’s room, carrying the illness in its claws. “But…How? It was under my control! How did you break my spell?” the demon demanded as the bird flew off and the sounds of overjoyed parents filled the forest. 
“Simple. I just simply woke it up. Now answer my question. Who is behind all of this? Who else is controlling the Myth creatures and beings? Tell me and I promise your death will be swift.” 
The demon knew that this girl was dangerous, it also knew that it had to try to warn the others, but how? “The Valley of Twilight is where you want to do,” it advised. 
“The Valley of Twilight is vampire territory. Are you saying that it’s the vampires that are behind this?” 
“The vampires know nothing of the true value of the valley. It’s a huge inter-dimensional gateway from this world to the realm of demons. You might as well kill me now. You are not going to win. One puny human could not hope to stop the opening of the portal.” Just then the demon grabbed a hold of the dagger in Natasha’s hands and before she could react, plunged it into its heart. The demon soon dissolved and sinked into the ground, poisoning the surrounding area. 
As fast as she could, Natasha healed the area before the poison found spread too far. Luckily it did not reach the small house. With this new information, Natasha set out again to try to gather more about this portal and of the ‘true’ nature of the Valley of Twilight.

Vampires are legendary or folkloric beings who survive by feeding on the life spirit usually in the form of blood of breathing creatures, Although vampirism has been recorded in many cultures, the term vampire was not popularised until the early 18th century, after an flood of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were common, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by dissimilar names, such as vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania.

The idea of vampirism has existed for millions of years, cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to present vampires.

With the onset of Christianity in Greece, and other parts of Europe, the vampire began to take on unquestionably Christian quality. The vampire was viewed as a corpse who retained a semblance of life and could leave its grave-much in the same way that Jesus had risen after his death and burial and appeared before his followers. In the middle Ages, the Christian Church reinterpreted vampires from their earlier folk existence into minions of Satan. This amplified level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.

In 1931, Welsh psychoanalyst Ernest Jones noted that vampires are symbolic of several unconscious drives and defence mechanisms. Emotions such as love, guilt, and hate fuel the idea of the return of the dead to the grave. Desiring a reunion with loved ones, mourners may project the idea that the recently dead must in return desire the same. From this arises the belief that folkloric vampires visit family, predominantly their closest relatives first.

A number of murderers have performed outwardly vampiric rituals upon their victims. Serial killers Peter Kürten and Richard Trenton Chase were both called “vampires” in the tabloids after they were revealed drinking the blood of the people they murdered. Likewise, in 1932, an unsolved murder case in Stockholm, Sweden was nicknamed the “Vampire murder”, because of the conditions of the victim’s death. The late 16th-century Hungarian countess and mass murderer Elizabeth Báthory became particularly notorious in later centuries’ works, which depicted her bathing in her victims’ blood in order to retain beauty or/and youth.

In 1985 biochemist David Dolphin proposed a link between the rare blood disorder porphyria and vampire folklore. Noting that the condition is treated by intravenous haem, he suggested that the consumption of large amounts of blood may result in haem being transported somehow across the stomach wall and into the bloodstream. Thus vampires were merely sufferers of porphyria seeking to replace haem and alleviate their symptoms. This idea was thrown out by science but the media drunk it up, so to speak.

AFN

“Will you stop thinking to yourself and just hurry up? We have a lot of discussion that needs to be tended to.”

The man had a aged face; wrinkles fell from the sides of his nose to the corners of his lips, and then onward down his face, the lower lines being covered by a thick but well-kept goatee. His suit was nearly glowing white, and he had a small emblem of a turtle pinned to it.  I supposed if anything I could at least follow him for a day, and come back home if I didn’t like what was happening.

“Okay, but where are we going?” I rightfully questioned.

He walked over to my closet door and opened it up.  The inside was glowing so intensely white that I couldn’t see the other side of it.  

“You first.” He said smiling.

My nerves were on edge, my heart beating through my chest.  I stepped up to the door, and walked forward blindly. When I felt myself pass through the frame I reopened my eyes and what I saw I could not believe.  

A giant hallway, black tiles on everything except the doors.  Everything was neatly trimmed white, and at the end of the corridor seemed to be a door with a much larger room on the other side of it.  As we walked I looked at the bizarre paintings of monsters even the devil wouldn’t dream of.  Old Photo’s of giant sea creatures and relics such as a tooth of a dragon were displayed by every door in the hall.  Each door had a number and a letter on it, much like hotel rooms.  

We got to the end of the door and on the other side was a small city.  I turned and looked at the building we exited; it was a hotel, named the Stran Gersp Lace Inn.  The building seemed to match that of a typical earthly rural city, except the inhabitants were much stranger.  

People with horns tearing through their foreheads walked around eating ice cream.  Teenage Vampires walked in groups and hung out at movie stores.  Ghosts and ghouls sat at shops designed specifically to materialize ghostly edibles.  This place was like a backwards Earth, and it was truly incredible.

“The people here are all the monsters there.”  The man said.

“That’s interesting. You know, I haven’t gotten your name yet.” I hinted politely.

“Oh, forgive me.” He stopped and put his hand out towards me. “I am Professor Jordan Limpnod.  I run the recruiting services for the Supernatural Underground Nation.   I make sure that people like you come to see other people like me.”

“And what exactly are we like?” I joked.

He looked at me with deep black eyes, and he said in a very serious tone,

“We’re the protectors.  We make sure that everyone in the real world doesn’t have to deal with all of our troubles.  On this side of the world, there’s a lot more to worry about than politics and media. We’ve come together to live, and fight, as a whole.”

It began to sink in how serious my situation was.  According to this guy, I’m a protector. Not only a protector, but a protector of Earth? As I followed behind him my mind juggled every thought that entered my head around.  

“Well, here we are.” The professor said.

  I looked up and saw a gigantic sign, reading S.U.N.U.V. – “Teaching and Protecting“.  The building was by far the biggest I had seen so far, seeming to stretch hundreds of feet in the air.

“What’s in here?” I asked as we walked in.

“We’re headed to get you some gear for training.”

“Training!? Training!? Already? What am I suppose to do? What can I do?” I began to panic. 

“Relax,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Remember that hellish thing you encountered earlier? Do you remember escaping it? You teleported, William.  That was your first time ever using supernatural abilities.”

“Teleported! How is that even possible?” 

“Question your teacher, not me.  Here, follow me.”

We turned a corridor and ended up in a hallway just like we walked into from my closet.  He turned to a room and began shuffling for something in his pocket.  The door read 8968, under it the professors name was engraved and painted red.  Before I could step in the professor jumped back and nearly knocked me over.

“What is it, sir!?” I questioned.

I looked over to the right and saw Professor Limpnod laying on the ground, his head down and hat over his brow.  I heard rumbling and stomping from inside the room.  I slowly peeked around the corner and saw such a hellish creature that not even the holiest of saints would bless it.  

So what can we expect? 

True Blood season four offered as witches with a side a fairy. There was more werewolves and shape shifters. The Vampires were at war again only this time it was the witches that were the undead’s concern. So what will season five bring us?

At the end of the last episode it looks like someone decided it was a good idea to dig up crazy vampire Russell. I have no guesses to who it is or why they would do that but they must really need him. Eric had better watch out Russell will be out for his blood!

What will happen to Sookie and Eric now that he has his memory back? Will they rekindle their romance? Another relationship that needs to get back on track is Pam’s and Eric’s, the can’t go through next season not speaking to each other, they go together like peanut butter and Jelly after all.

And Now for the major one. Tara got her brains blown out last year but producers tell us she’ll be back, as a vampire! Now that I can’t wait to see Tara has always been one of my favorite characters, it will be interesting to see her as one of the undead.

Those are going to be the three major story lines for next season and personally I can’t wait.

Spoiler alerts

An episode that largely follows the plot of classic Star Trek’s Arena. A very tense space battle sees the Liberator surrounded by three Federation space battle cruisers, in the charge of the formidable tactician, Travis.

Blake is reduced to trying to suicidally ram Travis’s ship to break free from the trap, but the ships are frozen in their tracks a few feet from collision. Te freezing is due to interference by two ghostly witches straight out of Macbeth, on a forest World full of the graves of ancient mighty warriors.

The witches invite Blake and Travis to fight a duel to the death in the woods, to teach them valuable lessons in war. Travis relishes the potential for bloodshed while Blake is more concerned for his ship and crew.

The crews of the vessels are left on helpless ships, watching events unfold on TV screens. However, the witches to both aid and complicate the duel as the men pursue one another through the forests take one member of each crew.

Blake’s assistant is Jenna, while Travis is given one of his mutoids as a companion. Though mentioned in an earlier episode this is the first real look at the mutoids in the series. They are genetically enhanced vampires, fed by synthetic blood in tubes they carry in their chests, which need changing daily, though they can drink fresh blood straight from human and animal veins when it is available.

There is a great touch of macabre humour when the mutoid refreshes her temporarily by feeding on the vampire bats that attack her and Blake in the woods at night.

The episode captures a rare insight into Travis’s softer side. Despite his air of indifference to his expendable mutoid forces, he strikes up a bond of affection with his mutoid pilot in the woodland chase. He knows the forgotten past she had erased from her memory when turned from human to mutoid and tries to tell her about it, only to find she is genuinely uninspired by the story.

Jenna kills the mutoid in self-defence, but Blake spares Travis, partly from his convenient and unconvincing conviction that he knows how Travis thinks and that he likes to have someone weak enough to defeat in pursuit of his crew.

The witches applaud Blake’s humanity and reasoning and set him free first, giving The liberator crew a head start on the Federation forces who give chase again once their own ships are released from the power of the witches.

Silly, and sometimes dark, not to mention derivative, with unexpectedly soft moments, especially between Travis and his mutoid friend.  

Arthur Chappell

One of the Seven’s oddest adventures and again, a detour from their planned major surprise assault on the Federation that is hunting for them.

On a remote World, some gothic, tinfoil clad vampiric figures are chanting a summons for assistance. A foetus in a glass tank of fluid accompanies them, though the foetus has the head of a full-grown man.

On The Liberator, the newly acquired crewmember, the telepathic Cally, is possessed by the alien beings and attempts to sabotage the ship. Jenna, acting as their pilot is also affected.

The ship runs into a giant spider’s web in space, which won’t let them free. The crew are communicated with by the weird vampiric beings that request some synthetic fluids to enable them to continue to survive.

Blake and later, Avon go down to the planet, to find the vampires living in a building that seems to be composed of portacabins and bouncy castles. The vampires are besieged by squealing entities looking somewhat like a cross between the Zygons from Dr. Who and The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Blake learns that the vampires and these monsters are both products of genetic experiments by the embryo-man, who is actually all six surviving telepaths from Cally’s own people. Blake only learns all this as the monsters attack and kills the vampires, as the crew return to The Liberator and finally break free from the space web.

A silly often-surreal episode full of lost opportunities. Cally wants to find her people but isn’t told of the creature in the lab. There is a hint of the conflict between the Eloi and Morlocks in the struggle between the two genetic races, and Avon sees the savagery of their conflict as representative of where the fight between rebels and Federation will lead. Overall though, the episode is just plain odd.

Arthur Chappell

And here are some of their answers:

“I enjoy all stuff vampire the most. there is something sexual and romantic about them that compels me to be drawn in to their culture. I mostly like reading vampire stuff but there has been a few good movies. werewolves are ok. I see the draw to the wild abandon that can be tempting for some. zombies do absolutly nothing for me.” – Jessica W.

“Vampires have beauty and mystery and the allure of darkness while maintaining a mostly humanlike appearance. They relate to humans but will always be on the outside and that makes their existence both sad and interesting.” – Lemon L.

“None I’m sick of the over-exposure of all of them, when I go to a book store and all I see is books about them and hard to find a real sci fi book.” – Jim R.

“That’s a pretty big question. Cause you could easily just pick one of the three and leave it at that. But, To really answer it. I would have to have a type. I mean, Are we talking Twilight Vampires, Drackula vampires, Ann Rice vampires. Jim Butcher Vampires. You, Also have to break this down for WereWolves. And, For zombies. Well that’s’ easy you ether have mindless slow ones. Or Mindless Fast ones. A intelligent Zombie is not a zombie it would be a greater undead. But honestly I have no clear answer.” – Tony K.

“Werewolves. I’ve always like the concept of just losing control like that. Weird I know but it has always appealed to me” – Ben F.

“Zombies. Because they (until recently) were not a central portion of a story line quite the way the others (vamps/wolves) are. In “The Walking Dead” while they still do not get the portrayal that I would like (uh smart Zombies anyone?), they at least still help move the story along. Yes, it isn’t a central element in that they don’t feature into every single episode or in every scene but the background part that they encompass, the danger they represent, and the way they are affecting the centeral characters is different from what I’ve seen elsewhere.

In most Zombie flicks it’s MDK (Mass Death Kill/Murder Death Kill) on a large scale with non-stop action. Always about killing and surviving the night, not really about surviving and killing only when you have to. No real story with the ‘human’ characters either. I just feel I would connect better with a movie that had a smarter Zombie. “Zone One” by Colson Whitehead is a book I’ve read last year before Halloween. Good read for Zombie lovers.” – Sorta Creative

“If I had to become one of them, I’d prefer vampire. It would allow me to retain the greatest amount of control over myself. For most terrifying to have to face: zombies. By the time they get to me, and/or I’m made aware that they actually exist, I imagine there would be a nearly unstoppable number of them. Can’t remember which show it was, but they computer modeled vamps vs zombies. The vamp punched through the head of a z and one of the experts commented, “Oh good, you killed one.” there are just sooooooo many zombies… How long could you keep up the fight?” – Bill W.

“Werewolves. Zombies are gross. And vampires have been used so much. Werewolves are usually portrayed as powerful, earthy, and group oriented. They blend in better so stories about them have more room. Vampires are restricted to night (or to sparkles which is just wrong, very wrong). Werewolves have all that energy and power. I think the cold, lonely, and self-loathing vampire image had just been beaten to death. And, again, zombies? Gross. You can use them for supporting minions but that’s about it.” – Rhonda B.

“The vampire and zombie are very overplayed, especially lately. The werewolf is probably the most versatile out of all of them. They can blend into society, have a pretty amazingly difficult way to kill them, and can be either your best ally or worst enemy. Vamps and Zombies are mostly selfish creatures, which is terrible in any situation you can imagine.” – Cr G.

“Always been a fan of werewolves. They are very loyal to their pack/ family, are living breathing creatures, though long lived not immortal and there is just something so primal and terrestial about them that strike a cord deep within human kinds psyche (Well at least with me)” – Mike V.

The world has had a fascination with Vampires from ancient times, they have been objects of fear, desire, loathing, entertainment and since the 1960’s a draw card to thousands of followers of a more in-depth nature.

Today the world is primarily focused on the entertainment vampires such as those in the smash hits “True Blood”, “The Vampire Diaries”, “Being Human”, The Twilight Saga” and the writings of Anne Rice, Stephanie Meyer and their like but beyond these, beyond the much lauded Hammer Films from Britain and beyond the Hollywood hype and box-office vampires there is a world populated by people who consider themselves to be real living vampires.

From as early as 1966 modern vampires have been following their self-ordained path when Anne de Molay (1930-2002) established the Order of Maidenfear after investigating the archetype of the vampire and drawing the conclusion that vampirism, in a psychic sense, was a very real interaction with life energy. Sharing her vision, Anne formed a group and established the Order of Maidenfear. Four years later, in 1970, The Order purchased large premises in Philadelphia that was to become House Maidenfear.

The more modern community is a movement that has grown out of a period of contemporary history that began in 1996 with the Long Black Veil & Vampyre Lounge events at the Mother Nightclub in New York City. Under the patronage of Chi Chi Valenti, one of the owners of Mother, and her partner DJ Johnny Dynell a unique themed night was established and in August of 1996 Father Sebastian, of Sabretooth Fangsmithing renown, was invited to host the event.

The original patrons of the event were, in the main, the clients of Father Sebastian and in an atmosphere of vampire ambience that promoted a strict dress code and an exclusive door policy these core of members formed the basis for a group known as “Clan Sabretooth”

One of the other notable things that came out of this period was the development and publication of “Sabretooth’s Vampyre Almanac” and “The Black Veil” code of ethics that was the set of rules for the event drawn from the etiquette of renaissance fair events and the Fetish/BDSM scene. “The Black Veil” went on to become a widely translated and widely adopted set of guidelines employed by many groups in the vampire subculture around the world.

With the advent and development of the World Wide Web the ability for more and more people to become involved in the “vampire scene” saw an explosion of on-line message boards, discussion forums and other resources for and about the world of real vampires.

Over the years the “community”, as it refers to itself, has undergone many changes and much re-defining in various interpretations. Once vampires were almost universally associated with the drinking of blood but following in the same vein as Anne de Molay’s interpretation the concept of the “Psi”, or energy vampire grew in popularity until today the strong probability exists that the so named “Psi vampires” are in the majority in the community. Know one knows for certain how big the community is, there are many differing opinions in the matter just as there are differing opinions in how to define a “modern vampire”. Estimates have ranged from 600 real self-identified vampires to as high as thirty or forty thousand worldwide. The fact is there is no “census” in the matter and it is one which remains open to debate and conjecture.

Today’s “real” vampires come in all shapes and sizes. They are clerks, drivers, mechanics, musicians, lawyers and doctors. Many of them separate the two lives to avoid personal exposure to bias and discrimination based on their personal beliefs about themselves. They are people that drink blood or who report to have the ability to extract “energy” from other people or the environment, both claim that they need to do this in order to maintain their health and fitness. There is no independent scientific observation available at this time that supports these claims but it is a strongly and deeply held belief that may be psychological, or physiological, or a combination of both. The best that can be offered by the community at this time is the chance to read and to make up your own mind. This, however, does not make it any the less real for the people in the community who self-identify as modern vampires. There are other web resources that propose different interpretations of modern vampirism, such as it being hereditary and passed on through generations, or being the product of a ‘retro-virus’ but as yet no scientific proof as to why modern vampires are the way they are and believe what they believe.

Perhaps one of the clearest and most succinct explanations of modern vampirism was written by author Sebastian DeCavalier for Socyberty’s “Paranormal”, in his article “Real Vampires?” he wrote;

“A real vampire has a soul of a vampire therefore real vampires are born and not turned. The closest thing that remotely resembles a turning would be our awakening and even that is stretching it. Our awakenings are actually more akin to personal discovery and realization and finally acceptance of who and what we have become than anything else. Do we consume blood? Yes! Some of us must gain that missing energy through the consumption of another’s blood. But before any misgivings occur, I must add that it requires less than an ounce if that to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. Others can gain this energy by taking it from the very source that generates the bodies aura. Still others gain through elemental and more nature oriented ways.”[1]

One of the great challenges faced by the community today is the quest for acceptance as a real and valid cultural group. Again, as with many other community topics, there is division amongst the members of the community as to whether such acceptance is really necessary or not. While some members, and their groups, work in the open and develop public service projects such as feeding the homeless and collecting, and distributing, necessities such as food and clothing for underprivileged families there are many others who keep to themselves and conduct their own lives and activities in a private fashion.

Another challenge is the problem of public perceptions that are fueled by reports of crimes, often violent, where the perpetrators profess to be “vampires”. It is a stigma that the community is trying hard to divorce itself from by working with researchers and professional authors to deliver their message through presentations and scholarly publications by reputable commentators who are not involved in the community except in the course of their studies.

There are many on-line representations of the community although the preponderance of message boards and discussion forums has started to decline in recent times as people move more and more toward social networking facilities such as Facebook and its like. One thing that might be noticeable to the outside observer, who happens upon one of the internet’s resources for real vampires, is that there are a great plethora of opinions, interpretations, definitions and disagreements to be read. The real vampire community today is, in its dynamic, the same as any other community group and as much as it may wish, at times, to appear otherwise it is under the same internal and external pressures and influences as any other social group. Within the “community” there are groups of ‘vested interest’, groups of ‘social interest’, groups of ‘elders’ and groups of independent members, or ‘ronin’ as they are known. Each group typically has its own agenda and its own “rules” and many of these groups are ‘members only’ affairs. On a different level there are collectives of ‘senior’ community figures such as the Voices of the Vampire Community (VVC) who ostensibly form for a particular purpose such as, “…to develop friendly relations among the various Houses, Covens, Orders, organizations, and individual leaders of the vampire community;”[2]

One commentator once observed that, “Getting a group of vampires to agree on anything is like trying to herd cats”, that saying has stuck and has been, in general, adopted by the on-line community as one method of explaining that its membership is unique and each and every member is different, it has also been invoked as a reason why the ‘community’ as a whole has exceeding difficulty in uniting behind a single message or approach to problems that it faces.

Real Vampire News has a readership that generates over one thousand page views per day on average and is read in more than one-hundred and thirty countries, this represents a very large population that are interested in the vampire subculture from something more than a popular entertainment perspective. As RVN’s owner, John Reason explains, “The main motivation for Real Vampire News is to provide news articles, short stories, explanations, and pretty much anything else pertaining to Real Vampirism.”[3]

©Real Vampire News 2012

[1] “Real Vampires?” DeCavalier, Sebastian, Socyberty – Paranormal

[2] Voices of the Vampire Community

[3] RVN – About Real Vampire News

References:

Real Vampire News

The Order of Maidenfear

Motherboards NYC

Father Sebastiaan.com

The film basically takes the incidence of “Underworld: Evolution” and added some new elements and characters.

“Underworld is now no longer so ‘under’ (below),” said the England star who starring in this sequel, Kate Beckinsale told MTV News. “People are aware of the existence of vampires and werewolves. Initially I woke up and realized he had a coma for 12 years and everything has been different. Once I knew what was happening, then I find the fact that I have a daughter aged 12 years, and it’s amazing story for my character, “he said.

Newcomers, Theo James, an English actor who plays the young vampire and a rebel named David, said, “In this story we push the boundaries a bit. You will have plenty of character and effects of greater tension. This is a 90-minute film not true-completely stopped. “

One new character, India Eisly, who plays the new princess Selene, agreed with the views of both. “This is truly nonstop action, from and back, from and returned to action, so continue.”

The director, Michael Ealy reveal something new and different in the film. “Taking pictures and filming is done in 3D and for the first time a human component,” he said. “I do not mean to give spoilers but this is the first time there is a human element in this series,” he said with a smile.

Ealy then said if there is a movie ‘Underworld’ fifth and he ended up there again, he hoped that the human characters do not last that long. “I just wanted something a little different,” he said.