Frame Rated: Interview - Rémy Gente, creator of THE STRAIN's special opening titles

Yesterday at Frame Rated: I interviewed French filmmaker Rémy Gente, who created the excellent comic-book style opening credits for THE STRAIN's ninth episode of its second season. Please click through and read!

Frame Rated: Blood Feud - FROM DUSK TILL DAWN vs THE STRAIN

Yesterday over at Frame Rated: I wrote a lighthearted feature comparing vampire dramas FROM DUSK TILL DAWN and THE STRAIN, which both return to the UK on 26 August (on Netflix and Watch, respectively). Click here to give it a read!

Trailer: THE STRAIN - Season 2

FX's vampire horror drama THE STRAIN returns this summer, and the teaser suggests it'll be larger in scope and more action-packed... although I have serious doubts this video's an accurate representation of what they'll achieve on a cable budget! On the plus side, they've cast Joaquín Cosío (Quantum of Solace) as Angel Guzman Hurtado (a.k.a 'The Silver Angel'), a popular vampire hunter from the source novels. Even better, they're replacing the child actor who played Corey Stoll's son with Max Charles from American Sniper.

TV I've been watching lately...

We're fast approaching November and most of the new autumn shows have begun, plenty of old favourites are back, and the summer shows are a memory. But what am I enjoying watching every week, finding time to write about, or have given up on completely? Read on!

THE AFFAIR (Showtime, season 1). It's been a great two-episode start to this new Showtime drama starring Dominic West and Ruth Wilson as extra-marital lovers, with a unique flashback format that also bisects each episode into opposing perspectives on the same events. Even without those narrative devices, I'd like this The Affair in terms of the basic story and performances, but the twists are what makes this feel so compelling. And I was pleased the second episode didn't beat around the bush, so we already have an idea about why the main characters are being interviewed by cops a year after their affair began. My only vague concern is that it's hard to really side with West or Wilson's character, as each "part" of the tale casts one or t'other as the more dominant, mildly unlikeable one. Not knowing who to believe or trust is part of the show's mystery, of course, but it does mean the viewer's constantly unsure about anything... which makes it hard to settle into. ★★★☆

Are you beginning to feel THE STRAIN?

EPH: A whole new set of organs has generated to propel this stinger.

We're four episodes into FX's new horror drama THE STRAIN, based on the novels by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. (No, seriously, they definitely exist.) Are you enjoying it? I know the premiere had some detractors, but I enjoyed its B-movie schlockiness, and having a maestro like del Toro behind the camera didn't hurt. "The Box" was an rather dull second episode, so my enthusiasm halved, but things improved the following week with "Gone Smooth", and I enjoyed the most recent hour, "It's Not for Everyone"—where the title summed up my thoughts on The Strain.

Review: FX's THE STRAIN, 1.1 - 'Night Zero' - vampires go viral

EICHORST: Love is going to guide them all back. To their homes. To their loved ones.

A passenger jet from Berlin lands at JFK International Airport with no signs of life and all the doors sealed shut, prompting CDC expert Dr Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) to assess a possible contagion with his Canary Project team. Inside they discover all but four of the two hundred passengers are dead, and the fuselage interior's covered in weird stains only visible with UV light. Across town, an elderly Harlem pawnbroker called Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) hears of the situation on the nightly news, and is compelled to offer his extraordinary insight into the plane's fate.