I have been anxiously awaiting Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Seth Grahame-Smith's follow up to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Seriously, any literary mash-up combines my two favorite things, which are english lit and campy B movie monsters. I mean, Does it get any better?

AL:VH looks promising, despite mostly tepid reviews. Personally, I love a good slayer -- makes me a reminiscent of Sunnydale's finest. Based on the few reviews I've seen, it seems like Honest Abe has the essential slayer elements  -- namely, strength and fighting skills, a nice-guy vamp which serves as his tourguide into all things fangy, plus a motive and setting which makes slaying pivotal to mankind's future in this instance, since the vampires are trafficking slaves in addition to feeding on the living.  The stakes are high, if you will, for Abe Lincoln to kick some vampire ass.

Plus, I love anytime we are given another identity for John Wilkes Booth.  One of my favorite references from Zoolander:

J.P. Prewitt: The truth is male models have been assassinating world leaders for over 200 years. Abe Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery, right? Well, who do you think made the silk stockings and powdered wigs worn by our early leaders?
Derek Zoolander: Mugatu!
J.P. Prewitt: [pauses] Slaves, Derek. So they hired John Wilkes Booth to do Mr. Lincoln in. The first model/actor! Dallas. 1963. John F. Kennedy.
Matilda: Lee Harvey Oswald wasn't a male model.
J.P. Prewitt: You're goddamn right he wasn't, but the two lookers who capped Kennedy from the Grassy Knoll sure as shit were!

I also want to thank the makers of the seriously awesome trailer below, since this story could possibly land in camp-movie history. 

This is so embarrassing. I have been reduced to a complete spaz screaming for help in my living room while playing an Xbox game. The unexpected "I'm in the Alley!! Hurry up! Now!!" panic which I found myself in a few nights ago, completely shocked and impressed me to the point that I thought Left4Dead earned a spot in my vampy and campy files.

Now, I'm a lousy video game-er, despite my enthusiasm. I'm just too impatient, especially for the realistic elements of L4D's gameplay, such as the necessity to carry a flashlight and not a million guns, or that it takes time to stand still and heal your teammates, and that if you are captured by the zombies with the lasso-tongue, you are trapped ... screaming in an alley... until one of your brave teammates can come rescue you.  I was repeatedly scolded for being way too "Leroy Jenkins" to play in survival mode, because I'm way too impatient to crouch and wait to see if the horde is outside the next doorway.  Let me just throw a grenade and blast on through, right? My attitude is let 'em try and catch me.

The look of the game is really creepy, since it's very dark which necessitates carrying a flashlight which only lights up a narrow circle cirectly in front of you. This forces you to be cautious and paranoid about what lies beyond that small ray of light. As if you couldn't tell by the distant sounds of groans and flesh-chomping just out of camera view -- and by god, don't let one of the fat ones spew on you, because that brings in the hordes and fast! Those bastards can run, sneak up on you, you name it.  These aren't Romero's stumbling grave-tenants.

Looks like Left4Dead 2 is out now, and I'm gonna recommend to the roomie that he should pick it up as soon as I can retrieve my self-respect from under the couch.  But really, go ahead and play with the light off. I dare ya.

"If you're suffering from Twilight Fatigue Syndrome (TFS), this gritty, unromantic tale will be a welcome break." I09

Sadly, I dont' think I'm gonna be able to go out and see it this weekend, but it's definetely on my list.  I think this has a bit of cult-movie potential as a contemporary vampire-themed allegory paralleling oil and corporate greed.  I'm intrigued, especially with Hawke and Dafoe standing behind it. It has all the elements of a '00 Vamp thriller: a virtuous emo vamp played by Ethan Hawke (after sunset, eh), a big-bad parable for the current global crisis, and battle-hungry vigilantes with crossbows. Who could resist?

As I've been watching my new Buffy DVD's (Thanks  Santa) I realized that Xander Harris reminds me of Bruce Campbell.  Now, I don't know if that comparison has been made, but, let's study the facts. Both are the handy comic relief in tense supernatural situations, both are quite inventive and clever under fire, and darn it, they kinda look alike.  [I mean, young Bruce of course -- "Ash" Bruce. And, do I see just a little bit of Peter Petrelli in there too?  I digress...]  Not to mention also that both have taken some serious injury for the team. Ash's arm, Xander's eye. Shame really. However, Ash is nothing if not inventive, and the chainsaw arm really allowed him to handle that boomstick.

What I admire most about Bruce Campbell is that he is the epitome of a humble and humorous B-movie actor who knows and embraces the genre. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, and the man cracks me up. Bruce has the gift of being likeable during some of the most ridiculous scenes ever put onto film. I feel that type of humor is very indicative of Xander's self-depracating character throughout the Buffy series.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a fantastic show because it dabbled in so many genres: horror, comedy, adventure, and all of these were handled beautifully by Joss Whedon, who wrote the quick dialogue and relateable characters to root the supernatural stories in normal adolescence. Xander too, is always likeable, even in the face of danger. All I'm saying is, I'd like one of these guys on my side slaying demons.

Here are just a few great lines from the boys:

Well hello Mister Fancypants. Well, I've got news for you pal, you ain't leadin' but two things, right now: Jack and shit... and Jack left town. 

-- "Ash" Army of Darkness 1992

"I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide till it goes away."

―Xander, Buffy season 1

There I was. Face-to-face with the mother of all ugly. So I say "Come get some", and BLAM, no more Mr. Nasty Face.

--"Ash" Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick 2003

I'm sick of being the guy who eats insects and gets the funny syphilis. As of this moment, it's over. I'm finished being everybody's butt-monkey!"

―Xander, Buffy season 4

http://blog.jinni.com/2009/11/vampire-vs-zombies-the-bloody-showdown/

The Jinni blog give Zombies 8 to 1...  lots of good stuff in there.  And I had to use this pic of Underworld vs. Planet Terror as a shoutout to a few of my personal faves.  :)

Take a look at some of my favorite non-fiction-supporting lit centered around vampires.

I think one of the most entertaining to have crossed my line of vision lately has to be the tongue-in-cheek (or fang-in-jugular, as the case may be) Diana Laurence's How to Catch and Keep a Vampire.  Ms. Laurence also writes a few series of 'tasteful romantic fiction' which frequently star vampires.  I love the 'girl power' attitude from page one--


Another interesting book, not so focused on the current trend, and a ligitimate entry of Lit-Crit would be Our Vampires, Ourselves by Nina Auerbach.  She focuses on the origins of the genre, the Byrons and Draculas, as well as the Lestats and Lost Boys.

"Ms. Auerbach implicitly rejects the Freudian and Jungian interpretations of these figures as either psychosexual metaphors or archetypes, preferring to see them in sociopolitical terms. But such interpretations need not be mutually exclusive. There is, after all, more in vampire metaphors than meets any one mind's eye."


Absolutely!  I'm gonna keep my eyes out for some more vampire related guide books. Stay tuned...