Jane Slayre Reveiw

Another of the Monster-Lits that are mixing classic novels with Buffy themes.

Plot: Jane Slayre is left orphaned when her family are attacked by vampires. Sent to live with her aunt and cousins who are themselves vampires she is treated like a common servant. In time, Jane is sent to boarding school, where she has to deal with zombies and Voodoo Priests. She graduates and gets a job working as a governess. Here, she learns the house is a readied cage for a werewolf. Distraught Jane runs away to a small village where her Slayre roots are strong and side by side with her new found family/skills she defends the town from more vampires until she is once again needed by her former employer.

I just read this for book club and found it delightful. There were moments when it seemed to drag on, almost like it was trying to cover too many monsters at once.
I don't know how I feel about the zombies to be honest. I think the re-author of this one spent too much time on the zombies and not enough with the history of the vampires. The vampires just seem to be there without any real explanation as to how they got there or why, where as the zombies are given a back history and purpose.
The werewolves too, seemed like they were only added to be added. Though, I do understand the choice of a werewolf as Bertha's character.

I have get to have the book club meeting for this one, so it will be interesting to see if the rest of the book club liked it and what they think.

If two lunatics were on a train

Doctor Seward has sent you this assignment. It's due before the end of class Agent 807. And do try to be neat.


Q: What was the disease that was focused on in the story Dracula?


A: Syphilis

Q: Why do you think that Bram Stoker used blood as the conductor in the novel?

A: Medical science was starting to uncover more at that time and fear ran amok. People of Victorian England were afraid of being contaminated by not just actual diseases like Syphilis, but by immigrants. Prostitution was on the rise at that time as well, which coupled with the idea of women gaining power, put fear of becoming "unclean" in the minds of many.

Q: What is Renfield's Syndrome?

A: The name given to the disorder (mental as this disease has no way been proven to be connected to a physical issue) where one is driven to search out blood with the idea they must drink it or starve.

Q: Who first called it that and why?

A: Psychologist Richard Noll (or Nole? not too sure on the spelling) He named it after the character in the novel who is obsessed with the idea of eating(drinking) blood from smaller creatures in fear that if he did not, he would loose power. (though the power is never spelled out that way the book keeps saying lives/souls)


Very nicely done Agent 807 . This has brought your grade up to a B-

Daybreakers

A world run by vampires. A world run by vampires who are short on blood. That is the baseline for this drama/horror.

Edward is a vampire scientist who has less then a month to find the recipe for a blood replacement or the world's population will be dead.
Humans are already on the endangered species list, and soon the vampire will be too. The shortage of blood has led many to feed on themselves and each other creating a new breed of vampire who is more primal and more dangerous then anything they could imagine.

I always have preferred my vampires to be gruesome and dark. This film is smart and filled with just enough blood to make any die hard vamp fan happy.
It's set in the near future, 2019, in a world that has been run by a corporation instead of a government. With a mix of modern technology and 1940's style it's a smooth and believable ride.

The Different Reasons Most Used

Agent 807
A new slayer is to be called. You are to become a new watcher. If you can pass the finals.
What are the three most common reasons that vampires exist? And Do try to be realistic.

1. Supernatural. A race of vampires that are not really human to begin with like from space or a demon recalled.
2. Lab sickness. Usually while in the search for a cure for something else, a mutation of the human DNA creates a virus.
3. Natural evolution. An offshoot of humans who have developed along with us.

Excellent. Now, Agent 807, what are some field cases of the three most used vampires?

1. Virus (Lab Sickness) such as Red Blooded American Girl, Rein of Blood, Against the Dark and Perfect Creature
2. Supernatural (demons or aliens) such as Vamperella, Lifeforce, Shock'em Dead, Stay Alive, and the Stuff
3. Natural Evolution. such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Nightbreed, and Underworld

You have just passed your first level exams.

It's Your Coffin My Love Enjoy It

So, I was adding some new vampire related posts to D/D in semi-impatientness of the two big dvd releases of the latest vampire movies this week. Daybreakers and Lesbian Vampire Killers. (which I am sure by the time you read this I will have rented and done a review on)

I'm not totally sure how this blog will roll to be honest. If it will be strictly reviews or if it will have a comedy edge to the posts. I've done straight up reviews for the last few years and am very greatly toying with the idea of doing this with a little more personality