Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

StrictlyConfidential 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!

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

luzarius I can forgive plot holes most of the time, but I've never seen a show have so many before. It's constant plot holes. I'm trying to ignore them and turn my brain off, but the plot holes are so obvious. I'm not looking for plot holes, but they're literally all up in my face constantly. It's kind of funny actually. There is nothing epic here, it's just mediocre vampire killing fun. Yes, I used the word fun. It's entertaining, but my god, I've never seen this type of plot hole action before.

harshalagrawal03 A 2,000 year old vampire tries to take over the earth for his ruling. A 94 year old man, a doctor, a rat inspector, a hacker, a street thug and another old vampire sets out to take him down.I am writing this review on the day this series came to an end. Neither, it is bad, nor it is very good. That means if you start watching this series, you can finish it till end without hating it totally. But it goes downhill a little bit.What's different here is a complete re-writing of the rules for vampires. This series has merged the science and the vampirism into one. Generally, people who like to watch fantasy or sci-fi because they have rules different than normal life, would like it because the set of rules are different here than any other vampire series out there. However, all the rules were discovered till season 2 and the only thing that remained, was to kill the vampire which took them another 2 seasons.The 'gore' and the 'vampire make up' in this series is too much to handle, but it is necessary as per the story.Even though, the heroes/heroines acting aren't bad, their characters aren't very likable either, however they are realistic. Except the child actor that they switched in season 2. The child actor single-handedly brought down the series furthermore.If you want to discover the set of rules on your own by watching the series. Don't read further.Set of rules: Vampire gets burnt in sunlight (duh). Every vampire turned by the master vampire or one of the master's vampire is controlled by the master. People are turned into vampires by the strain (a thin worm) that gets passed into their system while they are bitten. If you have even a single strain in your system, you will be turned unless you kill yourself there's no way around it. Master cannot cross flowing water on his own (it was a good addition). Silver hurts the vampire too a lot. These are the rules you discover in first season as the series progresses you discover more.