TV Review: Alien: Earth Season 1 (2025)

Alien: Earth Season 1 (2025) created for television by Noah Hawley based on elements created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett

A Wayland-Yutani Corporation science freighter is on its way home to Earth when it goes out of control and crashes into a city. The Earth is divvied up among several different mega-corporations. The space ship crashes into territory controlled by Prodigy, a recent success led by an obsessive, self-described "boy genius" (Samuel Blenkin). His main project is creating synthetic bodies for people to inhabit so that they can be immortal. He's acquired a group of terminally-ill children and used them as the first test subjects. He renames them after the Lost Boys from Peter Pan, imagining himself as Pan. But the new freighter is full of biological specimens gathered across the galaxy, including a sentient and malevolent eyeball, a Venus flytrap-type plant, and the eggs that hatch xenomorphs, the iconic Alien of the franchise. The boy genius sends in his forces to contain the specimens and bring them to the island where he's developing the synths. He has a lot of obstacles, including the executive from Wayland-Yutani, an obsessive (and lone) survivor from the freighter, and the brother of one of the synths who wants to bring her home.

The focus isn't so much on the boy genius (though he is the catalyst for a lot of the dramatic turns). The synths are the most developed character, especially Wendy (Sydney Chandler), whose brother (Alex Lawther) gets to the island in a desperate attempt to free her from Prodigy. The other main actor is the survivor (Babou Ceesay) whose focus on getting the "cargo" back is more a personal vendetta than an effort to secure his share of the payday. 

As anyone should expect for the Alien franchise, the show is fairly gory and horrifying. The new creatures on the ship add to the tension and danger as they find ways to escape or to manipulate the scientists and caretakers trying to keep them in their containers. Many situations spiral out of control, leading to awful consequences. The human characters make bad choices or are pushed into hard situations that they can't get themselves out of. Things go from bad to worse all the time in this show.

That result became a problem for me. The few sympathetic characters in the show are either killed off or start favoring the evil choices that are open to them. It's an embodiments of Hobbes's "nature red in tooth and claw" idea, with the victors at the end promising to take their turn as the oppressors. The ending was very bleak and a little implausible.

I did like the exploration of the human children being "ported" into the synths. Eight- to ten-year olds are give adult-sized bodies and some superhuman strength and other abilities that they clearly aren't ready to handle. At least that's clear to the viewers, not so much to the characters in the story. Their struggles with their identities were the most interesting parts of the show for me, though it was only part of larger story lines.

Mildly recommended--this is better than a lot of the Alien content out there, but still has a lot of flaws.

Book Review: Tomb of Dracula: Day of Blood! Night of Redemption! by M. Wolfman et al.

Tomb of Dracula: Day of Blood! Night of Redemption! written by Marv Wolfman, pencilled by Gene Colan, and inked by Al Williamson

After a lot of deaths, including the supposed death of Dracula, Frank Drake is trying to live a normal life ten years after the events of the original run of Tomb of Dracula. He's married to a nice girl Marlene, recovering from the death of his former girlfriend Jeanie and his paramour Rachel Van Helsing. Marlene is tortured by nightmares, leading her into a seeming possession by Rachel's soul. If that wasn't bad enough, her doctor, Gregor Smirnoff is manipulating both her and a lot of college students for his own plan. He wants to become immortal, which means finding Dracula and reviving him and forcing Dracula to grant everlasting life. Smirnoff succeeds in the first two, but Dracula has his own plans that don't involve Smirnoff's ambitions.

The story is interesting enough, with a return of Blade the vampire hunter who is just as caustic and bent on destroying Dracula. The plot moves along with the occasional twist or embellishment. The art style is very creative, depicting the supernatural horrors in a weird and occasionally inexplicable way. It supports the narrative well. I enjoyed this return to Dracula's world even though I did not read all of the original series.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Near Dark (1987)

Near Dark (1987) co-written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is trying to wheedle a beer out of his friends outside an Oklahoma honkytonk when they spot a cute blonde just down the street. Caleb goes to flirt with her. Mae (Jenny Wright) loves the nighttime and can hear sounds and see things that Caleb can't. She's worried about it being late and asks for a ride home. Caleb is more than happy to oblige. The drive is a long way as Caleb tries to find out more about Mae. They pull over for a bit and, in the throes of passion, she winds up biting him on the neck. She runs away, faster than him. He tries to drive back home but the pickup won't start. He walks back to the farm where his dad (Tim Thomerson) and young sister (Marcie Leeds) are worried about him. Before he can make it home, a winnebago comes by and snatches him, which is probably good since he is starting to smoke all over from sunlight exposure. The kidnappers are Mae and her group of friends. They are vampires in all but name and most are unhappy to bring him on board. Mae really likes him and wants to take care of him. The other vamps expect him to step up and start killing his own food or he can't be with them. The weirdest, most violent love story spins out from there.

Nobody in the film uses the term "vampire" though it's very clear that's what they are. They enjoy their destructive lifestyle, killing people and burning down places as they make their way across the country. Caleb becomes a problem for them since he isn't so aggressive aside from his romantic side. The story is mostly bleak though entertaining. Bill Paxton chews the scenery with glee as one with a sadistic sense of humor. The central relationship is not so well developed but the actors sell it. Viewers root for Caleb and maybe for Mae. The movie makes for an interesting, dark urban horror with some road trip vibes. The score definitely puts it in the 1980s which viewers might or might not appreciate.

Mildly recommended--you could do worse for a vampire movie.

TV Review: Salem's Lot (1979)

Salem's Lot (1979) directed by Tobe Hooper based on the Stephen King novel

Ben Mears (David Soule) returns to his home town of Salem's Lot, a small, isolated town in Maine. He's a novelist and wants to write his next book about the local Marsten House. His aunt used to work there and died under mysterious circumstances. The house itself has a bleak history. When he gets to the local realtor (Fred Savage), he finds out the house has already been rented to Mr. Straker (James Mason) and his not-yet-arrived partner Mr. Barlow (Reggie Nalder). They are opening an antique shop in town with Straker doing the set-up. A late-night delivery of a large crate to the house is the harbinger of a lot of grief and horror as various townsfolk disappear or slowly die from anemia-like problems. Ben's strong feeling that the house is a lightening rod for evil puts him on the front line of fighting an unthinkable threat--vampires.

The story goes through a lot of small town drama (romantic affairs including adulterous ones) before it gets to the vampire stuff. Those bits set up a lot of the characters but not all of them last very long. The direction is tight and effective, creating the uneasy atmosphere as the small town falls apart. The vampire makeup is unnerving, especially when paired with sinister visuals like the famous window scenes. The actors all do a good job. The pacing is slow by modern standards and many of the townsfolk stories could probably be cut or pared back to make a leaner product. This was originally shown as a two-part miniseries on television in the 1970s, so the gore is very limited which probably works in favor of the show.

Recommended, highly for vampire fans. I haven't read the book but maybe I will give it a go if the library has it.

Book Review: Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

This early vampire novella (25 years before the publication of Dracula) starts in a non-dilapidated castle in Eastern Europe. Laura lives there with her widowed father (a retired English soldier), mostly isolated from the rest of the world. Laura had a nightmare once as a child of a visitor in her bedroom who attacked her. The house staff and her father passed it off as a bad dream. Now, a carriage comes racing by and crashes. A mother and daughter are inside. The mother needs to rush off on an urgent mission and wants to leave her daughter Carmilla with Laura and her dad. The dad is caught a little flatfooted and agrees. At first, the situation is agreeable. Laura has a friend to hang out with. But Carmilla is very aggressive with her affection, to an uncomfortable degree. And she sleeps in, coming down from her room in the afternoon. And she has an uncanny resemblance to the nightmare visitor of Laura's childhood. Laura confides this and finds out that Carmilla had a similar dream with Laura in it, so it is sort of a bonding experience. But nightmares return for Laura and the larger neighborhood starts reporting deaths of young women. How much bad stuff is going on?

The story provides a lot of classic chills and horrifying moments as it proceeds. Le Fanu doesn't waste words and keeps the story moving at a good pace. Since it is narrated by an older Laura, readers know she will come out okay, but still it is a harrowing experience for Laura and the reader. 

Recommended, highly for vampire fans. I mean, fans of vampire stories!

Book Review: Marvel Masterworks: The Tomb of Dracula Vol. 1 by M. Wolfman et al.

Marvel Masterworks: The Tomb of Dracula Volume 1 written by Marv Wolfman and others, and art by Gene Colan and others

In the interests of expanding from their kiddie-friendly superhero lines, Marvel started a comic book about Dracula in the early 1970s. The story starts in contemporary times with a descendent of Count Dracula, Frank Drake, who is not a vampire and does not even know he is a descendent. He finds out when he inherits Dracula's castle in Transylvania. He brings to castle his best friend Cliff Graves, who thinks they can cash in on the tourist-attraction appeal of the castle. Also traveling with them is Drake's girlfriend Jeanie, who formerly dated Cliff. Once they get to the castle, mayhem ensues as Dracula rises from his coffin, bites and converts the girlfriend, and plays mind games on the friend (using the newly-vamped girlfriend). The action moves to England, where Drake joins a group of vampire hunters lead by a wheel-chair-bound Quincy Harker (son of Jonathan and Mina Harker from Bram Stoker's novel) and featuring Rachel van Helsing (granddaughter of Abraham van Helsing from the novel). They have various skirmishes with Dracula and his minions.

The book went through a series of writers before settling on Marv Wolfman (yes, it is his real name!) who made the serial his own. Main artist Gene Colan does a great job presenting a horrific, fog-drenched atmosphere, emphasizing the danger and menace throughout. The story also introduces an independent vampire hunter, Blade, who went on to become a Marvel staple in his own right. The stories keep things moving along. The collection includes some black and white stories from Dracula Lives, a short-run side magazine from Marvel cashing in on the sudden popularity of Dracula. 

Recommended for horror/Dracula/comic book fans.

Movie Review: The Bride! (2026)

The Bride! (2026) co-written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal based on work by Mary Shelley 

In the 1930s, Frankenstein's Monster (Christian Bale) seeks out Doctor Euphronius (Annette Benning) to make him a bride. He suffers intensely from loneliness, though the doctor thinks his wants are more carnal. He finally convinces her to pursue the project, digging up a Chicago socialite (Jessie Buckley) who has both mob connections and corrupt police connections. She's also being possessed by the disembodied spirit of Mary Shelley (also Jessie Buckley), who wants to craft a new horror story, one that she couldn't write back in the early 1800s. The flipping between identities led to the socialite's death. When she's revived in the lab, she has no memory of who she is. "Frank" and the doctor convince her she is Frank's bride which she has a hard time dealing with. They go off and have lots of sordid adventures across America trying to work out their situation.

The movie starts off with a strong feminist vibe as Shelley asserts herself in the narrative. The possession is an interesting idea that is well performed by Buckley. She switches between accents and mannerisms effortlessly, so viewers know who is talking. But the gimmick contributes more to the theme than to the narrative. Much like Bruce Banner/Hulk character in the Marvel movies, the Shelley/Bride dynamic changes to fit what the story needs, it does not have a coherent through line. Other characters fit the feminist vibe, especially when the Bride inspires a social movement for women that turns out to be very violent with little questionable value. The feminism is very wobbly.

Bale also gives a good performance as Frank, exuding the loneliness of his previous life and his joy in finding a mate. Frank is also obsessed with a movie star (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), giving his character a little more rounding and providing a way for the cops and the criminals to follow the couple's somewhat unintentional crime spree. They go see the star's movies in every town they visit. Frank copies the language of the star and there is a musical number that is an odd blend of 1930s musical and modern styling. That's another moment that is interesting but doesn't fit well into the rest of the story or theme.

The movie is stuffed with these and some other ideas, too many for a proper resolution or exploration of any one, or even a handful of them. The plot meanders a lot and the tone changes from existential wrestling to romantic moments to comedy bits to shocking violence to the musical number. The various bits don't hang together well, making the film less satisfying than it could be.

Barely recommended--I'm not sure that Frankenstein fans would enjoy this, or feminists would be enthusiastic for this, or horror fans would be on board, or mystery/crime drama fans would be satisfied.