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Author Topic: The Strain  (Read 997 times)

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Offline fridfreak

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The Strain
« on: July 15, 2009, 12:18:42 AM »
My bookclub decided to read The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan.  Guillermo did Pan's Labyrinth and HellBoy I and II to name a few movies he has written and directed.  In any case, he was on Charlie Rose on PBS a couple of weeks ago talking of his fascination with monsters, vampires, comic heroes..things or charactors that require imagination to create.  In this book, The Strain, (although I am only on pg 88 and there are 401 pgs.) the premise is that a vampire strain of a virus is going to infect NYC or so far that is what the NY Times review stated.  I'm not that far into the book yet only that its kinda scary right now.    One of the characters carries a cane with a silver wolf's head that is a family crest and one of the characters mentions that he feels he is in a Dan Curtis TV horror show from the early 70's.  Although the quote he used i am sure is from the movie HODS.  Has anyone already read the Strain?  Any similarities with DS?
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Long live the vampire and his love (Barnabas and Maggie)

Offline MagnusTrask

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Re: The Strain
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2009, 01:38:11 AM »
I believe DS was the first to bring vampirism into a modern context, so there's your influence.
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Offline Gothick

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Re: The Strain
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2009, 04:02:53 PM »
I just became a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro even though I have seen none of his movies (and doubt whether they would prove my cup of tea)--thanks to his commentaries on the Night Gallery season 2 DVDs which I rented via a popular subscription service.  I was stunned at how literate, even erudite, del Toro is about not just classic horror cinema, but the classic fiction of the 20s and 30s including some of the now obscure authors such as Seabury Quinn and Donald Wandrei.  He is also a very astute observer of actors and bothered to research the careers of performers I love such as Barbara Rush who are now pretty much forgotten.  (His remarks about Yaphet Kotto in the commentary on "The Messiah on Mott Street" shows great insight into qualities of Kotto's that would go right past the casual viewer.)

I'm sure that del Toro watched reruns of DS as a child in Mexico, and I'd be very surprised if he had not seen the films as well.

Last night, inspired by MB's new series of shots from NoDS, I got out my tape of NoDS (from the old laserdisc) and watched several scenes.  I really can't get over the beauty of the camerawork in that film.   The scene with Quentin on horseback slowly "tuning into" the flashback of Angelique's funeral could have been shot by Claude Renoir.  In the funeral scene itself, I was started to catch a brief close-up of Clarice Blackburn I'd never noticed before.  Always a treat to revisit a favorite film...

G.
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Offline PennyDreadful

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Re: The Strain
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2009, 03:34:34 AM »
Quote from: Gothick on July 15, 2009, 04:02:53 PM
I just became a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro even though I have seen none of his movies (and doubt whether they would prove my cup of tea)--

Dearest Gothick,

 I wonder if you might like Guillermo Del Toro's film 'The Devil's Backbone.'  I quite enjoyed it and suggest giving it a whirl if you're ever inclined to sample Mr. Del Toro's wares.  Hollywood adventures aside, he is capable of capturing that certain sense of sublime wonder in his films.  While "Pan's Labyrinth" did contain scenes of awful brutality, Del Toro also managed to evoke awe and terror in his depictions of the fantastic - at least for me.  I'm curious about his recent picture "The Orphanage," which I've yet to watch.  I have heard good things though.

Hexoxo,
Penny  
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Offline KMR

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Re: The Strain
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2009, 12:11:18 AM »
Yes, The Devil's Backbone is very good.  I avoided it when browsing at Blockbuster for a very long time, because the cover made it look like a cheesy horror flick.  Very poor marketing, because I finally rented it after hearing/reading a positive review somewhere.  This one's proof you can't judge a book (DVD) by its cover...
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Offline Gerard

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Re: The Strain
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2009, 08:00:53 PM »
I started reading The Strain yesterday and I'm already one-third of the way through it, pretty good for a 401 page novel, but I'm finding it very gripping!  Of course, I've already run across the Dan Curtis comment.  Vampires in this one ain't no good critters; they're totally vile and evil, true monsters in every sense of the word, yet intelligent and cunning; they'd make mince-meat out of that kid vampire in Twilight.  Even Barnabas, in his nastiest moment, would pull up the hem of his cloak-cape and say feets-don't-fail-me-now!

Gerard
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