Not-So-Pretty Vampires on The Strain

It’s a fascinating concept. The Strain begins with a plane full of passengers who appear to be dead, including the all to cliché gothic musician with long black hair. He’s among a small few who have survived, at least a far as we can tell in the beginning.

Actually, all of them have been attacked by a monstrous creature that remind me a little of a Dementor (don’t worry, that won’t be the only Harry Potter reference in this post). As a result, the passengers on the plane slowly transform into vampires—some much more quickly than others. Those people that were thought to be dead walk out of the morgue and go home to their families, which leads to some pretty disturbing encounters.

We get to see a pretty gruesome transformation with these vampires as well, but what I find most interesting is that some, not all of them, but some of them struggle against their instinct to kill, at least in the beginning. We see this with Ansel is “It’s Not for Everyone” (Season 1 Episode 4) when he chains himself in the shed and warns his wife to go far away. It’s sort of beautifully horrifying to see him partially transformed—or taken by this virus—and using his last “human” moments to protect his family from himself. He’s warning her as he lunges toward her, like an animal. He’s become ugly and horrifying, and he makes an awful screeching sound that makes our skin crawl.

This is not the sort of story where vampires are intriguing and immortal, or where the human lover might want to become a vampire as well so they could be together. And there’s no idea that these vampires might have the willpower or only drink from animals, or get blood from a hospital. No, these vampires are animalistic. And when they transform completely, we don’t see any humanness left in them at all.

They are also strikingly un-sexy. In fact, it seems they are asexual. As our gothic musician, Gabriel, begins to transform, one of the first things we learn is that he becomes literally castrated (“Gone Smooth” Season 1 Episode 3). And oh, the irony of that, because he was hyper-sexual before his transformation began—even confessing that his “look” was really just a way to get women. And these vampires don’t attack with sharp, pretty, white fangs. No, these vampires attack with crazy-long, pulsating, phallic, um… tongues?

The vampire myth is has transformed in so many ways since the early stories, and I think it’s interesting to see vampires looking a bit more like the classic Nosferatu. But we also get a Dracula-like character that nears closer to the original. He is Thomas Eichhorst, and he is in a position of power when it comes to this “virus,” though that hasn’t been fully explained just yet. What we do know, is that on the surface is he is a clean-cut man who commands attention. But underneath—and I’m speaking literally here—he looks a lot like Lord Voldemort (I told you there would be another Harry Potter reference). Oh, and there’s even coffins full of soil!

As for the lore, we’ve learned a few things so far about what affects these vampires. Mostly, what we’ve learned comes from Abraham Setrakian, who might easily just change his last name to Van Helsing. In The Strain, a vampire’s reflection vibrates in a silver mirror, and they are killed by decapitation and being set on fire. These vampires are also affected by sunlight, though it seems to be a slow process for them to burn that way.

I think what I appreciate most about The Strain is it’s reinvention of the vampire myth, but that it does so by trending away from the intrigue of immortality and the vampires that sparkle. It is, however, hard to watch at times. And I find that I still don’t really care about any of the characters. Maybe I’m not supposed to. Either way, the show is certainly intriguing.