The Strain

2014

Seasons & Episodes

  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
7.3| 0h30m| TV-MA| en| More Info
Released: 13 July 2014 Ended
Producted By: Mirada
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.fxnetworks.com/thestrain
Synopsis

A high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself.

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Reviews

Micitype Pretty Good
GazerRise Fantastic!
Console best movie i've ever seen.
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
bdizz-44734 But this kid has got them beat hands down! I like the show overall and he's the only part of the show I could do without.
petra_ste Looking back at it objectively, The Strain wasn't that great, especially in the last two seasons of its four years run. Plot was haphazard and included some truly strange developments, like the ludicrous season three finale. Horror occasionally took a backseat to melodrama, mostly involving the Goodwather family. Still, this series created by Guillermo Del Toro can be enjoyable for horror fans who liked, say, Stephen King's Salem's Lot or 30 Days of Night; while I often found it below its potential, it never really bored me.The Strain follows a vampire epidemic spreading in New York since the arrival of the Master, an ancient monster smuggled in the city by a corporate leader (Jonathan Hyde). Facing the Master and his minions are, among others: aged vampire hunter Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley), who has a decades-old feud with the Master's second-in-command Eichorst (Richard Sammel); epidemiologists Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) and Nora (Mia Maestro), who initially struggle to accept the supernatural origins of the plague; Ephraim's wife Kelly (Natalie Brown) and son Zach (Ben Hyland/Max Charles); human/vampire hybrid Quinlan (Rupert Penry-Jones); pest control specialist Fet (Kevin Durand); hacker Dutch (Ruta Gedmintas); former gangster Gus (Miguel Gomez).The show does some things very well, enough to earn a certain amount of goodwill; the pretty good first season does much of the heavy lifting. There are interesting characters (Setrakian, Quinlan), solid performances (Bradley, Sammel, Stoll, Durand, Penry-Jones) and compelling storylines (like the flashbacks about Setrakian's past). The monsters' visual design is effective, as was to be expected considering Del Toro's involvement; going against Twilight-inspired "sexy vampires", the creatures here are horrible, bloodthirsty parasites, using a proboscis-like stinger to attack their victims and oozing white worms carrying the contagion. There are genuinely creepy moments, like the Master's appearance in the pilot, the transformation of the first victims throughout season one, Setrakian's backstory, season two's prologue; then The Strain undergoes a minor genre shift and becomes more "action with monsters" than horror.Storytelling is messy. Different plot threads sometimes feel aimless and disconnected, like at the beginning of season four. The way authorities behave during New York's downfall is absurd; still, I'm willing to overlook that, as it was probably due to monetary constraints (i.e. they lacked the budget to show a full-scale military intervention). Less acceptable is the conclusion of a major storyline involving an ancient book of lore (the "Occido Lumen"); without going into details, imagine Frodo and Sam walking up the slopes of Mount Doom and suddenly figuring out a simpler way to destroy the Ring. This show does have a weird attitude towards setups and payoffs: a certain plot element is developed for several episodes, then suddenly dropped. Worst of all, everything involving Zach Goodweather in the last two seasons is alternatively groan-inducing and hysterical; I won't spoil what happens to him, because it's so preposterous that it would sound as if I was trolling. Compared to other plotlines, which are sometimes erratic but mostly competent, Zach's seems like bad fanfiction.If you don't enjoy horror, this show will not change your mind; likewise, this is not for those who prefer cerebral, understated horror with emphasis on atmosphere. Still, The Strain may have some appeal for more tolerant action/horror fans willing to overlook its flaws for some neat characters and moments.6,5/10
Dalbert Pringle To be sure - "The Strain" is insane. And, it is a pain in the brain.Yes. Indeed. TV's "The Strain" certainly does contain lotsa gross-out gore and equally grotesque make-up effects, too. It sure does.But, what "The Strain" doesn't contain is a whole lotta sense or plausible coherency, either. That I guarantee you.And, because we're dealing here with the likes of modern-day vampires (infesting NYC) - Each episode's storyline (as expected) gets progressively more & more over-the-top and downright preposterous in a lame attempt to try to hold onto the viewer's attention for more than just a few measly minutes.I mean - The Strain's implausibility-factor is so off the radar at times that it actually has certain city politicians protecting the rights of these rampaging vampire-varmints on the grounds that they are (get this!) "American citizens".... Oooh! Spare me!
Behnam azizi The Strain advantages from a powerful story in overall, however the Directing, plot, and production could be very much better.Considering that this is a zombie show, having a solid source which is known to the audience for Zombies is a significant difference because you can finally get rid of that unknown apocalyptic virus! However, there are big illogical connections between the source and the victims specially when they get to challenge it directly. Its power seems unsustainable in which a viewer can challenge the story from time to time like "why that powerful Character needed to do that? or he should be able to do that simply why didn't he?" Maybe because of bad luck or poor advertisement or for any other reason, poor number of viewers costed the show to face a low budget which means poor production and directing. I believe it could be very much better with little more effort in writing and production.Still,it deserved more attention I believe. it is a good entertaining show with interesting story and very good music and definitely worth watching if you have no problem with fantasy.

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