“Ultraviolet” (1998) miniseries
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What if the “X-Files” had been about vampires rather than the potential for alien life? If so, it might have looked a little like this six-part, five-hour miniseries from the BBC that treats vampirism as a form of bio-terrorism. Vampires are slowly infecting the population (they usually don’t drink enough to kill) and a mysterious FBI-style group of authorities believes that eventually they’ll turn the population into a battery farm (shades of the “Matrix”). For the most part, the characters in “Ultraviolet” don’t even use the word “vampire.” They call them “leeches” and say that victims have been infected with “Code 5.” Poor Detective Michael Colefield (Jack Davenport, who would have also made a great James Bond, by the way) gets dragged into this mess when he faces a friend who’s “crossed over.” He ends up joining the team of vampire fighters, who include rock-steady Vaughn Rice (Idris Elba from HBO’s “The Wire”) and the troubled Dr. Angie Marsh (Susannah Harker), who already lost her husband to the cause. The team is lead by Father Pearse J. Harman (Philip Quast). This is one of those great treats you stumble upon in the video store. Here’s hoping the BBC makes a part 2 of this miniseries.
“Martin” (1977)
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Though director George A. Romero is better known for his zombie films (“Dawn of the Dead,” “Day of the Dead,” etc.) in 1977 he made this little gem about a young man (John Amplas) who has been convinced by his family that he must be a vampire. Okay, he may not have fangs, crosses don’t do a thing to him, and he can even take a big bite of raw garlic, but if your great uncle (Lincoln Maazel) ran around calling you “Nosferatu,” you’d probably think you were a vampire, too. Martin even calls in to the local talk radio show to discuss how hard it is to find victims and how he gets the shakes if he waits to long for his next kill. Of course, his real problem could be his inexperience with the “sexy stuff” and his general lack of social skills. Or maybe it’s the fact that he claims to be 88 years old and drinks blood. He also has flashbacks (or are they?) of glory days — which are shown appropriately enough in black and white. Is Martin a vampire or a sexual deviant? Hey, Halloween makes a great night to decide.
The first movie that ever really scared Paige Newman was the original 1931 “Dracula.” She was nine when she caught it for the first time on TV.
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