As perhaps the most unlikely cross over media star in the Marvel Universe, who knew Blade would still have some bite?
A beneficiary of the mid seventies monster craze, his canny blend of blaxplotation and horror elements made him the hippest half/human/ half vampire hunter of the moment. His salad days were as a prominent supporting player in the pages of Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan's classic Tomb of Dracula run, but by the early 80's he was already a discarded relic. Things got really bad by mid decade when a Doctor Strange storyline banished all vampires from the face of the earth, effectively putting Blade out of work.
Fortunately you can't keep a good slayer down, and soon he was back to his old stabbing, slashing ways, even scoring a guest spot on Spider-Man's animated series. Blade made the leap from relative obscurity to Hollywood in 1998, with the release of 'Blade', a stylish, witty, and slick action movie that surprised just about everybody, by not only not sucking, but performing admirably at the box office.
That success launched two sequels and the entire Marvel movie revolution, with a style, fast pace and stark attitude that cast a shadow on just about every superhero film since.
While the film series couldn't survive the dual threat of Wesley Snipes career implosion and the underperformance of 'Blade: Trinity', there was still some blood yet to be drained from the franchise.
Which brings us to the release of the Unrated DVD of 'Blade: The House of Chthon', the feature length episode that served as the pilot for last year's short lived Spike TV series.
Actor/rapper Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones picks up the silver stakes dropped by Wesley Snipes, and steps into an all new storyline that continues the legacy of the film's, while delving even deeper into the underworld of Vampire society.
Our hero has taken his endless war to the mean streets of Detroit, or at least the grittier parts of Vancouver that are asked to stand in for the Motor city, where he's tracking the operations of lead bloodsucker Marcus Van Sciver, played with a haughty flourish by Neil Jackson. The "Daywalker" as Blade is known is aided in his lonely crusade by a pair of new characters, with tech support from snarky weapon smith Shen, Nelson Lee, and inside information from "double agent" Krista (Jill Wagner), a recently "turned" vamp, still bitter since Van Sciver murdered her human brother. Her storyline dominates the movie, and the battle for her soul would be used as a major theme throughout the series.
As with any pilot, at lot of screen time is devoted to exposition, though director Peter O' Fallon does a decent job of keeping things moving and staging fairly credible action scenes despite time and budget constraints. The show's edgy, hardcore attitude is underscored by the highly touted "Unrated" content, which consists of harsher language and some completely gratuitous shots of a pair of the world's fakest boobs.
Extras include the requisite mini docs and behind the scenes features, all of which are pretty standard issue. The highlight is the refreshingly frank commentary by series mastermind David S Goyer and co writer Geoff Johns ( former partners on JSA), who are honest about the shows strengths and weaknesses, from bad effects shots to the fact that Detroit doesn't actually have a mountain range.
The verdict: 'Blade: The House of Chthon' is about as good as any horror/sci fi TV movie made for a struggling basic cable network has a right to be. "Sticky" Jones proves to be an appealing lead, handling the action and the script with aplomb, though he's seldom asked to do more than scowl and bark out punch lines. Jackson makes an appropriately smarmy if a tad scrawny villain; the problem is with Jill Wagner's Krista character. We're never sure if she's a fashion model or a bad ass, not helped by Wagner's performance that's as wooden as one of the old Blade's stakes. Like any pilot it's saddled with the burden of introducing characters and concept to be played out during the season. Some are cool, like narcotic Vampire ash, and some are lame, like the "blood memory" flashbacks to prior lives. There's also a conflict between subtle drama and the need to be "edgy" which tends to make the show seem like a horny fourteen year olds vision of vampirism. Diehards might balk but there's still plenty of fun to be had for Marvel Zombies, and red meat for casual fans to gnaw on.
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