It's been a while since I tried a new series as these past few weeks, I concentrated on watching other series. I was looking for a science fiction series and thought that usually SyFy had some of the best ones, such as 12 Monkeys that I saw some time ago. So I decided to watch this one which was into their 3rd season this year and with only 13 episodes each season, it should not be too difficult to catch up. My views below would be only on the first season that I just completed last night.
Brief Story Line
In the year 2019, the world was in a post-apocalyptic state where the sun was blocked by some cloud that enabled vampires to roam the streets and did not have to hide in the dark anymore. This phenomenon was referenced as The Rising. A mysterious woman named Vanessa (Kelly Overton - Tekken, Legend TV series etc) had been in a coma for the past 3 years and guarded by a marine named Axel (Jonathan Scarfe) and Doc (Rukiya Bernard) in an abandoned building. It would later on be revealed what Vanessa could do and her importance in the war between humans and Vampires.
When a group of survivors that include a hot headed man named John (David Cubitt), a young teenager Mohamad (Trezzo Mahoro) with his deaf best friend Sam (Christopher Heyerdahl - Hells on Wheels TV series etc) and some other people, Axel had to accommodate them in their location, despite his personal disapproval. Not to mention the addition of another person called Flesh (Vincent Gale). Things got further complicated when news of Vanessa existence reached the Vampires led by the ancient Dmitri (Paul Johannson - One Tree Hill TV series etc) and Rebecca (Laura Mennel - Alphas TV series etc). They did all they could do to locate and capture Vanessa.
Meanwhile there was also another mystery involving the decease of one of the survivors of this small group. This would later on change the fate of the remaining people. So could these people survive the onslaught from the vampires? And could Vanessa find her daughter separated for 3 years? Find them all in this rather unique vampire series.
End of Brief Story Line
Ok, when I read the name Van Helsing, my thoughts went straight to a movie with the same title back in the year 2004 starring Hugh Jackman as the monster hunter which I kind of enjoyed. So when I read a bit about the series was focusing on the descendant of Van Helsing, I immediately thought the story would be similar. However, as soon as I reached the second episode, I realized this was totally different. Instead of having a monster/vampire hunter story like in the movie or Buffy The Vampire Slayer type, we got a series similar to The Walking Dead.
Why I said it was more like that popular zombies series? Because this one had a post-apocalyptic story whereby vampires ran amok and humans were pushed to the sidelines having to survive from the vampires and live in hiding. The only difference would be the existence of Vanessa who had her own "super power". This was actually the part where it was interesting and set itself apart from other vampire series.
Another point that was quite intriguing was the mystery of the murder of the survivors in the confined space, adding a touch of something unique on an already packed story. This was one of the plus point to my personal opinion. The first few episodes were mostly shown in the dark and I really loved episode 7 which I thought was a bit of a small climax. However, after that episode, somehow I felt the pace slowed down and the series started to feel like those Survivor Reality Show with one person who had to leave the show in each episode. It was a good thing that the 13th episode and season finale had a great climax which made the series interesting again.
The special effects in this series, especially the make up and the fight effects were pretty good. Those head cutting scenes were quite realistic and the blood splatters were also good, adding the violent effects to us. But since the condition of the world was like the story told, the scenes were always dark, even the outside scenery. It may take some time to get use to these rather dark images in the series.
The characters here were quite nicely portrayed by all the cast. My personal favorite would be Axel, played by Jonathan Scarfe. Obviously Vanessa was also interesting seeing she was the main lead. The rest of the cast though, looked unfamiliar to me. Except guest stars like Terry Chen (Jessica Jones TV series and so on) or Tom Cavanagh (The Flash TV series etc).
Overall I thought this was a unique and kind of interesting TV series. However, since I was under the impression that it would be a series about monster/vampire hunter, it did not really satisfy me. Unless of course if the future seasons they changed the plot entirely (which I thought a bit impossible) to focusing on Vanessa being such character. So if you are searching for a unique Vampire hunting series, having a female heroine plus some mystery, then you surely could give this a try and possibly would enjoy it. However, if you wish for a series focusing on the vampire/monster hunter in each episode, you might not be entirely satisfied. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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