That is, until an old man provides him with information that this is not a virus, but another V-Word: Vampire.įollowed by two sequels: The Fall released in 2010 and The Night Eternal in 2011. Ephraim Goodweather of the CDC is called in to investigate, but is baffled by the virus that seems to have killed these people. The first book chronicles the arrival of an airplane at JFK airport filled with dead bodies drained of their blood. The novel could have used a little less Hogan and little more del Toro.The Strain is the first book in a horror trilogy by crime novelist Chuck Hogan and acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro. No fangs here instead, these creatures use - oh, why spoil one of the book's few surprises? What's missing in The Strain is the idiosyncratic artistry and the alchemical fusion of high and low pop that made Pan's Labyrinth so special. The Strain is a competently constructed piece of entertainment, and I'll give it bonus points for shaking up some vampire clichés. But as they set out to stop the übervamp from turning Manhattanites into either food or foot soldiers in his grand war on humanity, you realize The Strain - far from wrapping up - is but the first chapter in a trilogy. They are set straight by an aged Holocaust survivor who's spent his life hunting an ancient vampire that preyed upon the infirm at his concentration camp. Biohazard experts bust their brains for a scientific solution despite evidence to the contrary: blood-drained victims, neck abrasions, a coffin filled with dirt, etc. In The Strain, a plane lands in New York, nearly all passengers dead, victims of a mysterious contagion. This newest credit seems to recycle ideas from del Toro's 2002 vampire movie Blade II and Hogan's 1998 novel The Blood Artists, whose freaky scenario has egghead heroes scrambling to hunt down a plague carrier.

The Strain was co-written by Chuck Hogan, whose résumé is largely composed of mass-market thrillers. It's hard to believe he found time for such an ambitious project - and after reading the book, it seems clear he didn't.

Now the Mexican auteur has coauthored The Strain, a sci-fi vampire opus that's a cross between The Hot Zone and 'Salem's Lot. He helmed a summertime crowd-pleaser, Hellboy II, produced more than five movies, and began writing the screenplays for his next directorial effort, a two-part adaptation of The Hobbit. Guillermo del Toro has been a busy man since nabbing an Oscar nod for his Spanish-language art-house fantasy Pan's Labyrinth in 2007.

The strain book trilogy