Vampires have been progressively defanged over the past few years. We have had the vegetarian vampires of Twilight, the tortured sexy vampires of True Blood, and the misunderstood romantic vampires of Being Human. Leave it to Guillermo Del Toro though to bring some evil back into the world of vampires with the TV series The Strain, based on a trilogy of novels he co-wrote with Chuck Hogan. These vampires are not pretty or sexy. love blood, and just want to make humanity suffer. It’s about time.

The Strain begins with the arrival of a Boeing 747 at JFK Airport, carrying with it a vampiric virus that will grow and spread throughout New York City. At the evil center of the tale is Jusef Sardu (Robert Maillet), an ancient vampire known as The Master. The series also stars Corey Stoll and Mia Maestro as Cdc doctors called in to investigate the...