Death Becomes HIM (and Poem featured)

Well, as it was announced yesterday, not even 24hrs ago as yet, that Sam Worthington is in talks to play Dracula in a film titled Dracula Year Zero.

This adds to the already growing number of actors who are associated with vampire or vampire related films, including Johnny Depp set to play Barnabas Collins in a Dark Shadows remake and Brad Pitt set to produce Vlad.

Soon, before you know it, everyone in Hollywood will have been "Vamped".

So it's with that fang-tastic idea in mind that I am posing the question to you my dear readers: Which actor (or actress if you will) would you like to see play a vampire, be it again or for the first time, in Tv or film?

And continuing in the vein of things, My poem Beautiful/ Deadly is featured today for Writer's Wednesdays on author Nicole Hadaway's blog All things Smart and Scary.

And in celebration of All things Beautiful and Deadly, here are two fan made videos featuring actors who play(ed) vampires, and if I do say so myself, Death Becomes them both Beautifully indeed: It's Vampire Henry Fitzroy (as embodied by actor Kyle Schmid) in a fan vid set to the song Time of Dying by Three Days Grace.
And Vampire Damon Salvatore (as portrayed by actor Ian Somerhalder) in a fan vid set to the song Oh Death by Jen Titus.

And the Winner is....

CONGRATULATIONS go  to CheriS33 who has WON the random draw (done by Nicole) from last weeks contest, for an e-copy of Nicole Hadaway's Release!

Please send your email address to me, so I can forward to Nicole, @ VampirePhile@Gmail.com

And THANK YOU ALL who participated. 

It was great to read all the comments about Henry and to know that he is a vampire who still (and always will) hold(s) a special place in all our hearts!

Author Nicole Hadaway guest post w/ Contest: "Why I Love Henry Fitzroy".

Today VampirePhile welcomes and has the pleasure of hosting author Nicole Hadaway as guest, along with a contest (from Nicole).

Nicole is the author of Release, which recently got four fangs via Fang-tastic Books blog review. And today, Nicole's post relates to one of the subjects which (to quote Nicole) was: " one of the the catalysts that spurred me on to write my own vampire novel."

Of course, Nicole was referring to one of her/my/our favourite vampire Tv shows: Blood Ties, which is still missed to this day by many (if not all) fans of the series.

So it is in that vein, (pardon the obvious pun), in which she writes today, one of the quintessential fave vampires of our time - as perfectly embodied by Kyle Schmid - none other, than, Henry Fitzroy.

Why I Love Henry Fitzroy

by Nicole Hadaway

I lived in Europe for a year and therefore missed out on an entire season of American television. (This wasn’t always a bad thing ;-), but I did miss out on Moonlight. However, our cable system was wise enough to show Blood Ties, and that was when I fell in love.

I didn’t really read paranormal mysteries, preferring instead the more human kind, like Agatha Christie, P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. Yet I always enjoyed watching vampires on TV or in the movies – Fright Night, The Lost Boys, Angel and Buffy are among my faves, and my two all-time favorite television shows, Charmed and Xena:Warrior Princess certainly don’t skimp on the paranormal fantasy!

Now look, I’m a little old here – I actually saw The Lost Boys in the movie theater when it played back in 1987! I also saw Fright Night the year before, and the vampire in that movie was everything I thought a vampire should be: smooth, suave, handsome, cultured, well-mannered and confident.

Very much like Henry Fitzroy. I was so happy to see Henry as a well-mannered, cultured vampire who had a conscience but didn’t overdo it – he still played with his food, and made no apologies about preferring female humans (like -- where can I sign up to be on his dinner guest list? ;-). He didn’t abuse his feeding, though, and he was a great mix of a nice bad-boy.

Plus, Kyle Schmid did an amazing, just awesomely wonderful job as Henry. He is a really great actor and should really be in more movies. 

I know Soni is a member of Kyle Schmid Central so I can confess here that I rented and watched Joy Ride 2 and The Thaw just to see Kyle!
In recent years I’ve been a fan of historical fiction, so I really liked the idea that Henry was tied to the actual illegitimate son of Henry VIII, who supposedly died of tuberculosis. Very, very clever of Tanya Huff to have taken the tuberculosis symptoms (paleness, tiredness, shortness of breath and death) and put a vampiric spin on them!

After Blood Ties was mercilessly canceled, I had to get my Henry fix by reading the books (though admittedly I only read two of the Blood Series but all three of the Smoke Series which are really good and I highly recommend them). The books gave more details about Henry’s history, which got me thinking about my own vampire, Miranda.

Miranda had been in my mind for nearly 20 years at that point, but I never could come up with an original story for her. Not until I started thinking about her own history, and where she was during important historical events such as World War II. The more I thought about her during that time period, well, that was how Release was born.

So that’s why I love Henry: because he’s a great incarnation of the cultured, civilized vampire who’s got a bit of a bad-boy edge. Thinking about his own history was one of the catalysts that spurred me on to write my own vampire story, and I hope he would approve of Miranda as much as she admires him ;-)

* * *

About the Author:

Nicole Hadaway used to work as a lawyer, but now she only writes about such things as bloodsuckers and deals with the devil (sorry! she couldn't resist a lawyer joke there!). After having lived in such varied places as Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Louisiana and even Monaco, she now makes her home in Texas.  Her first novel, Release, was published in September 2009 and features vampires in a World War II setting. She’s currently working on the sequel, Return, which takes place during September 2001.  If you'd like to read more about her, you can go to her blog here: http://nicole-hadaway@blogspot.com.

!!!Contest Time!!!

Nicole has offered to give a free e-copy of her book Release (sorry, it's not out in paper-back as yet) to one lucky person who names what they like most about Henry. Contest is open until Monday, January 25th, 10am eastern. So leave your comment replies below to enter!

Names will be drawn at random and Winner announced later in the week, so be sure to check back to see if you've won or you can be sure to provide an email address to which Nicole can contact you to send the e-copy of Release.

And here's an added special treat, by request from Nicole, and which may help in reminding you all what is liked most about Henry. It's a fan made Blood Ties vid set to Kelly Clarkson's Beautiful Disaster.  Enjoy!

Announce: Author Nicole Hadaway as Guest this Thursday w/ Contest.

This coming Thursday January 21st, VampirePhile will have the pleasure of hosting Nicole Hadaway author and blog owner of All Things Smart and Scary as Guest. Nicole will be guest blogging on a specific subject (that will be of particular interest to you Blood Ties fans) and there will also be a contest involved (the 1st ever for VampirePhile). 

So stay tuned!

Review: DayBreakers: Fangs, Blood, Gore and more.

Daybreakers: Willem Dafoe, blood and gore!

Okay, okay. So I know I had planned (since Dec) to do a review of New Moon. And believe me, it’s coming (or should I say “transitioning”) but some films motivate to review them post-haste, some don’t.

What can I say?

“Life’s a Bitch… then you don’t die”, that’s what I could say, but I’d leave the witty one-liners to the thrill ride that was Daybreakers.

I would admit I didn’t know what to expect from Daybreakers.

I saw the trailer. Saw that it was a vampire movie (1st check mark towards my wanting to see it). Saw that Willem Dafoe was in it (2nd check mark, as I always enjoy his performances) and there was Ethan Hawke too (3^rd check, as generally I like Ethan’s certain projected sense of vulnerability and was curious to see him as a vampire).

So it was just with a sense of those 3 things, and nothing more, that drew me to the film. 

Well who knew, that about 98 minutes later, I’d be recommending it to other horror fans and potentially wanting to see it again.

“It’s about as safe as bare backing a $5.00 whore!” 

No finer (and funnier) words could have been spoken, as were those said by Willem Dafoe in character as Elvis, the former vampire re- turned… human?

And as part of the viewing audience, safe we were not. Well at least not quite.

From the unexpected surprises that you didn’t see coming: The operation room splatter scene. To moments wrought with a touch of melancholy: Edward’s brothers’ compassion upon viewing the fiery death of one whom he turned. To the downright campy: the slow-mo, full out feast fest at the end, which solicited out right laughter from the audience at its’ sheer campiness.

I would admit I did find some parts of the plot a bit weak.

For example: it could be begged to question, as to what was the point of having the escapees and the vampire Politian as seemingly important members, only to have them all captured (the entourage) and killed (the Politian et al). I also felt a sense of lacking as pertained to the relationship between Charles Bromley (Sam Neil) and his daughter Alison (Isabel Lucas).

Nevertheless, I personally found that Ethan Hawke gave a convincing performance as the “I-didn’t-want-to-be-one” human turned vampire. The sense of abject displacement and disconnect which he projected, contrasted acutely with the others around him who gloried in being vampires and all things vampiric. For all intents and purposes, he was determined to keep what was left of his humanity and managed to maintain it. This was in contrast to his brother Frankie Dalton (Michael Dorman), who was “never any good at being human.”

Yet, it was nice to see, that, by the final chapter, this (maintaining a sense of humanity) was finally understood by Frankie and one couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment and loss, at his sacrifice.

In all, I found Daybreakers to be an enjoyably fang-tastic thrill ride – emphasis on “fang” because unlike the vamps in the Twilight Saga franchise who are “fang-less” (and there by do we consider them “impotent”?), the vampires in Daybreakers are all fangy, all the time – With enough of a balance of suspense, and dark humour (mostly delivered by Dafoe) to warrant a watch or in my case, a re-watch.

2010, the Year of the Vampire(s) once again!?

Well the year has only been 8 days started and already the Vampires have risen from their coffins and sunk their fangs into the fans again.

Starting the year off with a BITE! 

Fans of Kyle Schmid (a.k.a vampire Henry Fitzroy on Blood Ties) helped him take home a win as "Sexiest man in the Vampire realm" and, as is the effect most vampires have, the article author Raelynn Coombs, soon found herself enthralled.

Then it was announced this week that Blood Ties will be re-released in the Spring (April 6th) with the complete series on DVD and Blu-ray.
Read more here.

Then, just 2 days ago, at the People's Choice Awards (which, on that night, could have been renamed to The Vampire Choice Awards), the "undead" lived again, with Twilight Saga: New Moon, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries all taking home awards.


In fact, even several "general" winners and nominees, still in some way, could be linked back to "Vampire".

• Alyson Hannigan who won best Tv Comedy Actress, was former witch Willow, on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
  
  
• Keifer Sutherland, nominated for 24, was vampire David on The Lost Boys.
  
  
• Katherine Heigl, who won best Tv Drama Actress, has starred in The Ugly Truth, with Gerard Butler, who was of course Dracula in Dracula 2000.
  
  
• Johnny Depp, was chosen Fave Movie Actor of the decade, and he will soon play vampire Barnabas Collins in the 3 film adaptation, based on the original tv series, Dark Shadows.
  
  
• Sandra Bullock, who won for Best Movie Actress, starred in Speed with Keanu Reeves, who starred as Jonathan Harker in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula .
  
  

Soon, it'll no longer be "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon", but rather, "Six degrees of Vampire separation". That  is to say, someone who acted as or has acted with someone, who was, a vampire. Talk about your Blood Ties.

As well, today (Jan 8th, 2010) saw the opening the vampire horror/thriller Daybreakers , starring Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe (this will be DaFoe's third time as one of the "living dead", with Shadow of the Vampire   and The Vampire's Assistant, being the others).

And there's much more fanged fare on the fore, as seen on author Catherine Karp's Upcoming Vampire Movies & Series: 2010 Edition 
(Courtesy of http://suburbanvampire.blogspot.com )

In about two weeks are the Golden Globe awards (Sun. Jan 17th), and there's no doubt, that a Vampire related some one/thing (movie, tv, person etc) may win.

Then on Jan. 21st, we have the winter return of The Vampire Diaries.


By mid-June Season 3 of True Blood returns on HBO. (Rumor has it as set for Sunday June 13th).


And by June 30th, Twilight Saga: Eclipse, is set to take (yet another) bite out of the boxoffice.

Hell, even some radio stations are going in for the kill. This sunday, 9am-12pm eastern, Montreal's own CJAD 800 am Trivia Show will run along a vampire theme.

So would this year see "all things vampires" sucking the blood from the competition?
 
Only time will tell! 

In the meantime, here's some fangy Twilight Saga: New Moon parody from this weeks People's Choice Awards. Enjoy! 

Bite Bits: DayBreakers clips

Daybreakers is set for its Canadian release this Friday, January 8th. Here below are two scene clips, on which to whet your bite:

Update: Blood Ties still has devoted fan base!

It was just about 7 days ago when  The Memphis Examiner vote poll   was discovered, but, to the chagrin of many Blood Ties fans, there was no nomination of Kyle Schmid, who played the devilishly, delectable vampire Henry Fitzroy on said show.

That was soon rectified however. Kyle was nominated only two days before the polls closed and to the surprise of many, including the article writer herself, RaeLynn Coombs, the sexiest man in the vampire realm, fave du jour vampire, was crowned.

Kyle Schmid won the poll, over of all people, Robert Pattinson!

Well, won't you know it, the Memphis Vampire Examiner soon found her heart at "stake" (for want of a better word), as she too soon succumbed to the appeal of the show and the irresistible vampire, Henry Fitzroy!

Read more here!

 Henry and Vicki do it again! (Image courtesy KyleSchmidCentral)

HAPPY NEW YEAR: Kyle Schmid WINS Sexiest man in Vampire Realm!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2010 (or 20 Zen) my Fang-tastic Followers!

Well Henry Fitzroy Fans, yup you've read it right (re: title)!

Updating on that vote poll I told about only 4 days ago, being done by The Memphis Vampire Examiner, it was a close race to the sunset, but ultimately Kyle Schmid's fans rallied en mass, and in only two days, staked a win over Twilight's Robert Pattinson.

Blood Ties, Vampire Henry Fitzroy himself, a.k.a Kyle Schmid has won "fangs" down as the Sexiest Man in the Vampire Realm!

Kyle won with 2,706 votes (beating R. Pat's 2,571).

Here's looking at you, Kid!

 Image Courtesy of KyleSchmidCentral:

And info to the end, over at Nicole Hadaway's blog, All Things Smart and Scary, she has posted a treat entitled: Little Bit of Blood Ties!

Also, on Marta Costa's Vampire Wire blog, for her Gratuitous New Year's day videos, she posted "Videos set to...", with Blood Ties, Henry Fitzroy as the 1st (scroll dwon page to find, after enjoying the Supernatural badges of course).