Karl Puschmann: Del Toro's last chance

Guillermo del Toro turns his hand to television with The Strain.

Opinion

Will Guillermo Del Toro’s new TV show The Strain convince Karl Puschmann of the director’s oft-talked about genius?

There's a really good bit about halfway through the opening episode of Guillermo Del Toro's new horror series The Strain (The Zone, Thursdays, 8.30pm from Nov 6).

What happens is some kind of monster thing pops up unexpectedly and pummels some dude's head into the ground leaving behind a pulpy red mess on the floor and a spasmodically twitching body.

Up until that good bit there'd been a lot of average bits and the occasional bad bit. But even this good bit had its fair share of bad in it.

Firstly I wanna know why the monster thing was dressed in a Jedi robe? It looked ridiculous. Did it go to the monster outlet store and pick it out? Were they all out of pin stripe suits so it figured, 'Ah well. Jedi robe it is'?

Perhaps it found the hessian sack look pleasingly slimming? Sartorially speaking, what was it thinking?

It also kept its hood up during the entire smack down. I can only attempt to guess its reasoning here. I'm gonna go ahead and assume it did so in an effort to protect its identity and not just because it was feeling a little chilly.

That kind of makes sense. Though there's not that many giant screechy, freaky looking monster things running around for it to be confused with, but whatevs.

I guess if in an episode down the line it gets apprehended and placed in a police line-up witnesses won't be able to positively identify him as being the giant, screechy, freaky looking monster thing that pulverised a person's skull into the ground and he'll be let go.

At which point he'll screech manically and zoom dramatically away, free as a deranged, head smashing bird.

Of course I'm assuming that our Jedi here is a 'he'. Could be a 'she'. I don't know. I don't want to discriminate based solely on poor dress sense. Women often squeeze themselves into ridiculous outfits that I don't understand. I've seen the photos from Fashion week.

Maybe that whole Jedi robe look is so hot right now. Fashion isn't really my thing. I settled on a look back in '97 and haven't really bothered updating since; jeans, Chucks, shirt. Occasionally a hat to keep things fresh and I'm good to go. Classic. Timeless. Stylish. Anyway, I digress... The Strain, yes.

I know I'm not affording Del Toro the kind of respect he's accustomed to. But that's because I'm not much of a fan. Sacrilege to a large percentage of people I know.

I don't know why his stuff hasn't clicked with me. The subjects and topics he deals with make me target market. But it hasn't. He draws a good critter, I'll give him that. But that's where my Del Toro fandom ends.

So it falls upon The Strain to convince me that he's the genius everyone keeps telling me he is.

Based on this first episode that he both wrote and directed I'm happy to report that I got it right. It's a clunker, filled with unbelievably poor acting and a shiny, cheap look.

A grittier film stock (or digital filter) would have gone a long way in the presentation stakes. Maybe it's supposed to look like a VHS video nasty from the 80s? If so, winning!

More positively, he has laid a lot of narrative groundwork for the series to build on and the cheesy effects and camera work give it a suitably schlocky feel that I dig.

But so far the characters are all clichéd and frightfully uninteresting. Having a penchant for drinking carton milk does not an interestingly quirky hero make and the "creepy kid in red" is a horror trope Stephen King wore out years ago.

But, it's only episode one and, as previously stated, I have a three strike policy as far as new series' go. And there was enough here to convince me to stick around to see if both the series and the monster's wardrobe improves.

I just hope it's not too much of a - wait for it - strain.

Are you a diehard Del Toro fan? Have your say below.
- nzherald.co.nz