The vampire epidemic sweeping the world has spawned books, movies, roughly a billion 'Twilight'-obsessed fangirl websites, and now, it's infecting our television screens. If you, like me have been truly bitten, I suggest you revel in this media bloodbath and sink your teeth into HBO's new hit drama, 'True Blood'.
Based on the hugely popular 'Southern Vampire Mysteries' series by Charlaine Harris, this show is 'Twilight' for grown-ups. It has it all ; southern belles, fabulously fierce queens, shifters, deities, serial killers, vampire night clubs and most importantly, naughty X-rated vampy action. The plot line reads like a fang-banger's wet dream: following the invention of 'True Blood', (a yummy synthetic blood substitute), vampires have 'come out of the coffin', they are now fully fledged American citizens with their own rights, nightclubs and even a gritty political group in form of the 'American Vampire League'. The series follows our heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, a cute and kind of ditzy, southern chick with some rather unusual abilities, (played by Anna Paquin), and a menagerie of her family, friends and neighbours from the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, as they encounter their first vampire.
The vampire in question, is a certain 'Bill Compton', (Stephen Moyer), who has decided to return to his hometown after the death of his last relative. Bill's reappearance in Bon Temps and Sookie's apparent perchant for dangerous situations and acquaintances sees them becoming Bon Temps' first inter-racial vamp-human power couple, much to the discomfort of most of its inhabitants. Needless to say they embark on some ... urm... 'unusual', but nonetheless gripping adventures, with the assistance of their loyal friends and Bill's vamp buddies.
One thing that marks this as different from all those Dracula wannabes is the talent of its actors, (don't get me wrong, I liked 'Twilight' but I definitely found the acting lacking in some places), in contrast, 'True Blood' has some fantastic talent. Their ability to not only portray real emotion, deliver biting, witty conversation and comedic lines but do it all with a semi-decent 'hillbilly accent' astounds me every week. Sookie and Bill are likeable enough as an almost nauseatingly sweet prom-style couple, (who would have thought that a vampire could be such a gentleman?), but the show's real gems lie in the supporting cast; Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's gorgeous but more-than-slightly dim brother, (played by Ryan Kwanten), has some of show's best one-liners - " I want to lick your mind', Lafayette Reynolds, (Nelsan Ellis), shines as the fantastically gay short order cook - construction worker - vampire blood dealer - entrepreneur - go-go dancer extrodinare, Eric Northman, the owner of the wonderfully cheesy 'Fangtasia' nightclub, is a beautiful 1000+ year old, tall, Viking, drink of water, who definitely has that whole 'arrogant bad-ass' thing going for him, (brought to life by sexy Swedish import Alexander Skarsgard), and Pam, (Kristin Bauer), tops up the shows sarcasm scale as Eric's brilliantly dead-pan and fashion-feisty sidekick. If the intriguing plot bombs and the fantastic combination of sex, drama and campy, funny bits aren't enough to tempt you then I have two words for you : Eye Candy.
Who doesn't love a hot un-dead hunk?
'True Blood''s third season premiers next summer on HBO, and you can pick up 'The Southern Vampire Mysteries' novels by Charlaine Harris from most bookstores. However, with Season 2 ending last week I will certainly be buying the Season 1 boxset to keep me going until next summer.Verdict : As the show's rapidly-expanding fanbase might suggest, this one's a keeper. A great mix of themes and a variety of characters means that you'll almost certainly find something to like and someone to root for. To anyone with a case of the vampire-wearies, I prescribe a heavy dose of 'True Blood'. You won't be hating on vampires for much longer.
10/10 Cookies.
