CBS sheds some Moonlight on vampires and why I find them so addicting

One of the new dramas debuting on CBS this fall will be Moonlight,a vampire P.I. saga starring Alex O'Loughlin as Mick St, John who was turned into a vampire on his wedding night and 60 years later,is using his powers for good instead of evil. Naturally,we have a female protagonist to whom our dark hero is attracted to,yet is not sure about revealing his true nature to her. In some ways,we've seen this all before but there's something abit more to this premise here. Maybe I'm just seeing this promo thru rose colored glasses(or blood stained,if you will):





I'm very forgiving of the vampire genre in films and TV,except for certain things like vampires having kids(Angel's offspring with Darla was an exception to that rule,even tho Connor was damn annoying at times.)or animals being turned into vamps,such as in Blade:Trinity(of course,there were plenty of worse things about that movie,such as Ryan Reynolds's rapid fire profanities that would make the drill sarge from Full Metal Jacket blush and Parker Posey's hideous hair and wardrobe choices). Regardless of whatever form the vampire chooses to take onscreen,I find myself drawn to checking it out atleast once.



It all started with Frank Langella-in 1979,he appeared in yet another version of Dracula(after a successfull run on Broadway). I wound up seeing the movie on TV but really wanted to watch it when it was in theaters(I remember cutting out a huge newspaper ad for the film that listed all of these "vampire rules" on it and saving it for months afterwards).

Like many other Drac films,it's a mix of gothic romance and horror which had me rooting for the Count to get Lucy at the end. Like so many Dracula films before,they came close but no cigar. Langella's haunting prescence in that role imprinted on me what a vampire lover was and should be;mesmorizing, verbally elegant,scary and extremely sexy(whoa,getting too hot in here,perhaps I should loose my buttons like poor Mina does in this clip):




Yes, some of my vampire interest is shallow but hey,we all have our hang-ups. Mine just happens to be fellas with fangs. It's not the only reason that vampires intrigue me;in some ways,they're more frightening than a zombie or a werewolf. While you can pretty much spot a zombie by their rotting appearance and slow moves,vampires usually hold back their bloodsucker face until they're ready to pounce.

Werewolves aren't easy to detect in human form but once they change,they're alot like blackout drunks. They wake up the next morning in strange locations,naked and confused about what they did the other night. Vampires can be anybody. The mythos has expanded to the point where it's not just a metaphor about aristocrats feeding off the peasants and naive foreigners. Tons of other topics have been added to the mix such as the obsession to keep a youthful appearance despite growing older,fear of death,AIDS,being gay,having an identity crisis and adjusting to modern life.

In the end,I still like my vampires to have romantic or atleast seductive qualities about them. From Langella's Dracula to James Marsters' Spike and currently Kyle Schmid as Henry Fitzroy in Bloodties,those undead dreamboats will always find my pulse pounding in their prescence. Let me finish this off with one of my favorite vampric dance scenes,where Jerry Dandridge lures Amy onto the disco floor in Fright Night. Watch out for the mirror bit: