| Author | Message | ||
     Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.121.214.11 |
Did anyone watch this? I decided it would be worth a try, after all I decided that Buffy would be rubbish from hearing the plot description then loved it once I watched it. This seems to be an English version of Buffy - the Van Helsing thing is just a lazy plot device to avoid having to create their own "Slayer" mythology. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the humour or the quality of the material it's copying. I'm guessing it'll be a hit with the ladies as the young lead seemed to spend most of the first episode topless - an idea they should have used in Buffy but sadly never did - but I won't be making any special effort to catch it again. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
It felt like more 'text book TV'. It was well-directed and looked great, but the writing was horribly uninspired by the numbers stuff and almost every part was miscast or misjudged. I suspect kids who like Hollyoaks will go for it but it lacks the appeal of something like 'Primeval' that would make it worth my while watching any more of. And I don't mean underwear. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Weber, David Boreanaz spent lots of time shirtless in BUFFY and ANGEL – in the latter, he was even seen getting out of the shower.  | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.121.214.11 |
I was thinking more of the title character. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.168.4.162 |
I was blown away by this. I thought it tapped into the best of Barker, tinkered with cliche in a way that made it seem playful and shiny new. MacKenzie Crook has to be one of the most deeply sinister villains I've seen in ages - I virtually couldn't watch him. And as for the use of hoodie werewolves - Sorry, I can't keep it up. Even my kids laughed at this one - awful, and worse, sad. After that second and bland series of Primeval I wonder if there is anyone skilled at ITV anymore or with even a speck of interest in genre stuff. Good Lord. And Poor Phil Glenister... | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.213.27.228 |
Shit, Tony, you had me there for a minute. I nearly fainted in amazement, wondering if I'd seen the same thing as you. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.230 |
Tony, Tony, Tony! You had me as well! Well done! | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.239.250 |
Me too.  | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.168.4.162 |
Ha! | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.187.30 |
I was taken in too (and I haven't even seen Demons). Well done, Tony! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
 | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.168.4.162 |
Thing is, my BIll has got the 'bad telly' bug (we all know of that here) and wants to watch it again. Me too. But yes, sad is the word. Watching the show gave me the same feeling as watching Woolies shutters closing for the last time, that sense of something falling away. All the actors looked really sad, as if they knew... Poor ITV just trying like all of us - desperation caught on film. | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
You got me as well, Tony. I caught it on ITV2 or whatever last night (Alison has a thing for Philip Glenister) and I couldn't believe how bad it was. Worse, he was affecting that US accent that just didn't sit right and didn't make sense. Whilst it's great to see this kind of genre show get made, whilst it's great to see make-up effects like this on British show, this isn't the show it should be on. I doubt I'll be watching any more. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.0.112.152 |
I thought Demons was fantastic. Brilliant Irving-esque acting, genius script (have they discovered an unpublished Shakespeare MS?), music worthy of Beethoven, direction that put Hitch in the pale - in short, the works. And as for Glenister's US accent: superb!!!!!! The thing is, you probably all believe this of me. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.168.4.162 |
It felt like that Ed Wood sort of thing, didn't it? As if Ed Wood got given some money. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.121.214.11 |
Apparently Phil Glenisters chararacter was supposed to be from New York but when they played his accent to a voice coach they said it was more like Cincinatti - so they changed the script top cover his lousy accent. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.168.4.162 |
From Philip Glenister; ‘There used to be a series years ago on ITV called Thriller,’ says Philip Glenister. ‘It was all different stories and one that I remember was this guy gets locked in this house in a chamber and is left there to die. I remember being completely freaked out by it.’ That was the one that stuck in my mind! I was petrified by that one. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.202.57 |
Jesus, I think that might have bobbed to the surface of my mind once I read that, too. Or am I mixing it up with that ep of Hammer House of Horror? Reminds me of the Ambrose Bierce story in which a rider shelters in a stone building from a storm. Lighting a candle, he sees that it's full of skeletons and the door has no handle on the inside, and is closing... | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
The bit of DEMONS I saw reminded me of the poor TV attempt of Neil Gaiman's NEVERWHERE -- couldn't afford a full monster costume so give the guy a metal nose. What was wrong with Gene Hunt's voice? He seemed to have an American in it for a few sentences here and there. I shan't be watching more. Hell, the second series of DEXTER is on ITV 1 now. I'm watching that instead. It's cracking. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.152.164 |
Must catch up with DEXTER. I have all the first series recorded on our box, and the second is starting on 'proper' tv now as well. Too many books to read; too many programmes to watch. Not enough music though... | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.209.204.106 |
Reminds me of the Ambrose Bierce story in which a rider shelters in a stone building from a storm. Lighting a candle, he sees that it's full of skeletons and the door has no handle on the inside, and is closing... That's THE SPOOK HOUSE Proto - oddly enough I've just read it this evening | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.52.161 |
Ambrose Bierce - love his work. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.209.204.106 |
I was expecting him to be far more my cup of tea but a lot of the stories (especially those short shorts) don't really go anywhere. I'm currently reading the Tartarus Press collection and the Wordsworth one. There's a lot of duplication but the best I've read so far, Chickamauga, is only in the Wordsworth. It's brilliantly nasty and worth the price of the book | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.220.82 |
Yeah, Bierce and Borges seem to have published their notes, which I like as a change from "finished" fiction. Amuse-bouche rather than a main course. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.185.83 |
Lord P, 'Chickamauga' is one of my favourite Bierce stories, and one of the most powerful war (anti-war, really) tales ever written, in my opinion. The Dover collection of his ghost and horror stories is really nice, but there are more complete compilations of his work around now - I just bought a new 3-volume set last year called The Short Fiction of Ambrose Bierce which contains all his short work, including a lot of previously unpublished stuff. It's edited and annotated partly by S.T. Joshi. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.145.240.86 |
Well done Tony! - (You scamp! - Are you gonna approve my Facebook request or is ol' gcw not wanted??) gcw | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.208.214.38 |
Huw my friend, as always you have excellent taste! Who published the three volume set? Is it worth it? I would suggest if anyone wants a cheap Bierce fix I'd recommend the Wordsworth paperback for £2-99. I've just read another cracker - 'One of the Missing' that's a splendid exercise in suspense with a typically bleak ending. And once more it's not in the Tartarus book. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.185.235 |
John, sorry it took a while to respond. I couldn't remember which thread this was in! The 3-volume set is called The Short Fiction of Ambrose Bierce: a Comprehensive Edition, and is edited by S.T. Joshi, Lawrence L. Berkove and David E. Schultz. The publisher is University of Tennessee Press/Knoxville. According to the sleeve notes: "This edition will be the new standard. It is the first to include all his known and rediscovered fiction. Of the 249 items collected in this edition, 1 story ('Alasper') is unpublished, 58 have not been previously reprinted from the newspapers and magazines in which they originally appeared, and 74 have not been reprinted since their appearance in Bierce's early volumes." There are lovely books, but quite pricey. It's a great set for anyone who is a fan of Bierce's work and wants to dig deeper, and to have it all in one uniform collection, but otherwise any of the several available collections of his stories (such as the Dover or Wordsworth) would probably be sufficient, as they contain the best-known of his stories. Joshi and Schultz also edited the new, unabridged edition of The Devil's Dictionary from the University of Georgia Press. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.10 |
Um...Demons was better last night. Bad, but better. Creepy moments, even. Think a bit of it was filmed in Highgate. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.199.0.176 |
Thanks Huw! Well I watched Demons Part 2 and its 80s Italian movie counterpart had a more inspired script (for non-Euro horror fans read - it was rubbish, really really rubbish). It's such a shame because this obviously has a budget and it looks good, but the attempt to shoehorn in bits like the driving test because 'he's a real teenager with real problems' is awful. Joss Whedon can do this stuff, but not ITV committees. Oh No! I feel a rant coming on.... When I was a lad trendy kids didn't do horror, or science fiction, and that was just fine, because it was something brilliant we could enjoy and relate to and the million superficial nonsenses about appearance, clothes and social attitudes that obsessed out trendier peers mattered not a jot. But now TV producers want everything to be like Hollyoaks - all the kids need to look perfect, which begs the question - what's left for the kids who would have been me and my friends to like? Stuff like The Changes or Children of the Stones dealt with those feelings of alienation you get during childhood so much better than this fashion-conscious rubbish, which is only going to make kids who might really get something out of 'our' genre feel even more left out. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.10 |
John - you're completely right. I had those feelings of being robbed, too. Even with Doctor Who I have them. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.209.204.108 |
Exactly - I don't want a trendy Doctor Who who tells chavvie Rose what'sherface that he loves her, or can relate to 'the kids' - I want mad-as-a-bag-of-marbles eccentric but brilliant Tom Baker or Jon Pertwee who were about as in tune with the times as I'm probably not. Velvet jackets at the ready. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
I've just aquired an overcoat with a black velvet collar...every time I wear it, I think of you and smile, lord P...  | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.191.52 |
Well said in your posts above, Lord P. I feel exactly the same way. I wish the people making this stuff would grow some balls and not be so driven by fashion and political correctness. It's as though they have a list of things they have to include in their shows, so as the kids will like it. | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Agree with you completely, John, both about the 'kids who like this' comments and also about "Demons" the film. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.251.92 |
John, to your post above (Jan. 13).... In the January 15 Los Angeles Times, they have an overview of the Slamdance Film Festival, which runs concurrent to the Sundance Film Festival (getting to be quite big, too). And they're listing the films that will be on their slate, getting a showing... and one of them is listed thusly: ... Documentary selections include "Zombie Girl," a look at a 12-year-old making her own zombie feature... When 12 year-olds are making zombie films (?!) and film festivals are airing documentaries ON that 12 year-old making a zombie film (?!?!), then CLEARLY it's time for me to not like zombie films anymore.... | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.121.214.11 |
It's such a shame with Demons - the TV show - that it has such potential but the writers have no idea how to capitalise on it. This should be a British version of Buffy and every bit as good. Instead we get Ratty from Wind in the Willows as this weeks guest villain. Get a good genre writer on the case and it could be saved. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
I've given up on it now. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.108.76 |
Can't stand Gene Hunt's American accent. Should have left him British. Thinking about Life on Mars actors. John Simm was good recently in The Devil's Whore. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I watched 10 mins of Demons, laughed aloud, and then turned it off. Utter, utter rubbish. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.213.27.228 |
It's sadly depressing that the best show on tv at that time of saturday is BBC One's 'Total Wipeout'. My kids love it! Demons, on the other hand... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.170.88.98 |
Watched ep 3; even worse than the first, if that's possible... |