Blog-It Llama!

By Papa Llama - October 23, 2009

Description:

IFC Original five episode web series DEAD & LONELY, written, produced and directed by cult indie horror filmmaker Ti West (The Roost, Trigger Man, The House Of The Devil) premieres on IFC.com Monday, October 26 at Noon ET/PT. Each additional episode will air every night that week on IFC.com at noon. In this series, two lonely Los Angeles singles are brought together via an Internet dating website called DateOrDie.net. The only problem is that one of them is a vampire.

Starring Justin Rice (Mutual Appreciation, Alexander The Last) and Paige Stark, Dead & Lonely brings the classic vampire love story to the modern Internet dating age. The series unfolds from both perspectives until the characters finally meet.

In the vein of Let the Right One In the series focuses on the mundane reality of the day-to-day life of an immortal, while seeking to humanize her to the degree that she seems almost as desperate and lonely as the rest of modern society.

Review:

I watched the series already. It really is worth your time. It has humor, it has tension, and it has some surprises along the way. In the brief time you have to get to know these characters, you can actually come to care about what happens to them and how. Each five-minute episode ends with a vampire-related cliffhanger until they reach their big finish.

The first episode is the slowest of the lot with the least happening. I still found it interesting, but if you don’t, do not let that keep you from watching the rest. Honestly, you could skip the first episode and you’d still be able to follow the whole story just fine, suffering no confusion whatsoever. I still say watch it. I will warn, though: If you watch that first episode in hopes of seeing the red-haired girl drop her towel, you’ll be disappointed.

The whole thing is fit for broadcast TV. In fact, it reminds me of a 1988-1991 syndicated TV series called Monsters, which also involved monsters in every episode but, unlike Tales from the Dark Side, you never knew whether the story would be comic, tragic, unnerving, or all of the above and you never knew whether it would end on a nice note or bad. Dead and Lonely keeps you guessing and in a good way.

Incidentally, look at that photo of Paige Stark, the female lead in the web series. Don’t you think she kind of resembles Felicia Day?

Interview: Ti West (Dead & Lonely, Cabin Fever II) Pt. 1
Interview: Ti West (Dead & Lonely, House of the Devil) Pt. 2

Categories: Reviews
Tags: Alexander the Last, blood, bloodsucker, cliffhanger, dating, Dead & Lonely, episodes, fangs, Felicia Day, Halloween, IFC, IFC.com, Internet, Justin Rice, Los Angeles, Monsters, Mutual Appreciation, online dating, Paige Stark, redhead, Tales from the Dark Side, The Guild, The House of the Devil, The Roost, The Twilight Zone, Ti West, Trigger Man, vampire, web series