Starring: Kelly Overton, Jonathan Scarfe, Christopher Heyerdahl, David Cubitt, Vincent Gale, Rukiya Bernard, Trezzo Mahoro
Plot: Instead of a zombie apocalypse, we’re living in a vampire apocalypse. There’s some random explanation about a volcano explosion being the catalyst, but who cares. There’s a guy, (Scarfe) who has been protecting a facility, where a woman has been asleep for a while. That woman is Vanessa Helsing (Overton), and she’s a badass.
What Works: The basic idea for the show is OK. I’ll admit, I liked the twist at the end of the pilot. You almost tricked me into a second episode, but I just can’t sit through these actors anymore.
What Doesn’t Work: Everything. From the fact that a lead character is named Axel, to the bullshit explanation for the apocalypse. Every person on this show is a terrible actor. Just… awful. I feel like everytime I try and watch a SyFy series I run into this problem. It’s rare when they attract talent to their shows, but SyFy really needs to invest in talent. This D-list acting can’t cut it for long. We’re in a golden age of TV, and people have options. Convincing people to watch a Walking Dead wannabe with terrible actors isn’t going to pay off. The dialog isn’t great either. It’s bad videogame writing.
Final Word: I can’t recommend this to anyone. Even genre fans. I can’t understand who would like this. I wanted to stop watching the episode before it was over, but I felt like I had to finish the pilot. Yes, it ends strong, but you can’t just end a shitty episode strong and hope for the best. The pilot is important. And when the cast is this bad, you can’t justify coming back for more.
FINAL GRADE: D
