During the fall TV season, Thursday nights will be a big night for us with the return of two of our favorites, the Vampire Diaries and Fringe. Most of the SookieStackhouse.com staff are dying to find out the resolutions to all the cliffhangers that left us hanging over the long, hot summer months.

Do you agree with EW’s ideas? If not, what do you think will happen? If you could care less for either of these shows, what show are you waiting for?

~M.

I feel that if you love Vampires… you love everything that goes bump in the night. So, one of the things that we were looking forward to during the SDCC is AMC’s The Walking Dead. So, here is the video from the panel.

While we are on the subject of the living dead; Diana M, who is one of our SBLC reviewers, attended a panel on authors that write about Zombies. Here is her article:

Happy Birthday to The Vampire Diaries, Paul Wesley!

Based on the popular movie,

Let the right one in and the following is the trailer for it.

There was a panel for Let me in:

The panel kicks off with a new trailer.  Like the one that’s currently available online, it didn’t do much for me, but it didn’t sour me either.  It’s got some interesting visuals, but doesn’t feel daring enough and nowhere near as bold as Tomas Alfredson’s 2008 film.  But it looked like an interesting horror-mystery-thriller and it did hint at something brutal and nasty.  So at this point, I’m willing to not write it off completely.

Then Reeves came on stage and explained how the film rested on its two child lead actors.  When casting the role of Owen (Oscar in the original), he was inspired by a scene in Rosemary’s Baby where Mia Farrow is having a breakdown over the phone.  He wrote a scene like that for Owen and when Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) read for the part, he got it in the room.  The same thing with Moretz — she was able to play the role of Abby (Eli in the original) but not play her as a vampire.  The movie doesn’t romanticize being a vampire and shows the isolation and terror of being that creature.  Finally, for Jenkins, who plays Abby’s “father”, Reeves met the actor at a party during the process of trying to cast the role.  After the party, Reeves’ wife said of Jenkins “Did you look in his eyes?” and at that moment, Reeves knew he had to cast Jenkins.

We were then treated to a clip from the film.  Reeves provides the background that Owen is being endlessly bullied at school, his parents are going through a divorce, and Abby is the first person he’s met who he thinks might understand him.  So they go on a date and play Ms. Pac-Man (the film is set in New Mexico in the early 1980s) and he asks her if she would like a piece of candy.  She tries it but ends up running outside and throwing up.  She meekly apologizes, and then Owen hugs her.  She asks if he would still like her if she wasn’t a girl.  He says he would.  It’s a tender scene and I was sold on the film a bit more after seeing it.

Reeves talked about wanting to set it in a “quintessential American community” but that was also snowy like the original since he likes the imagery of blood on snow.  But when Reeves talks about Let Me In, he’s clearly selling it as a re-adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel.  It’s a smart sell because Reeves wants to show he’s doing his own thing while respecting Alfredson’s movie.  He notes (correctly) that the original movie will always exist and think it’s a masterpiece and hopes that this new version will be as effective in its own way.

The second clip is a scene that’s radically different than the one in Alfredson’s film.  It has Abby’s “father” going out to kill for her and showing how his serial killer modus operandi completely fails on this outing for fresh blood.  The scene has the father in the back of a potential victim’s car.  I won’t lay out the process of how it goes wrong, other than to say it ends with a magnificent shot of a car crash from the perspective of the car’s back seat.  It was at this point that I became genuinely interested in Let Me In and left my resentment of the remake behind.  This movie looks nothing like Cloverfield or Let the Right One In.  It looks like its own beast and it looks good.

Let Me In hits theaters on October 1st.

Yes, this is Karl Urban as Black Hat

the vampire character in the much anticipated

movie, Priest.

The following is the trailer of the movie PRIEST

There was a panel for Priest:

The panelists were Paul Bettany (Priest), Karl Urban (Black Hat), Stephen Moyer (Aaron), Cam Gigandet (Hicks), and Maggie Q (Priestess).

Animator Genndy Tartakovsky joined the panel. He will be providing an animated opening for Priest. He’s telling everyone that he ended up working with lots of former Disney animators and it was amusing showing them how violent he wanted the intro to be.

Though unfinished, Tartakovsky surprised the crowd by showing the entire animated opening.

The entire piece runs a couple of minutes and is entirely narrated. A voice explains that, since the beginning of time, man and vampires have fought. Vampires were stronger and faster, but man had the sun on their side.

“It was not enough,” says the narrator.

Moving through time, we see knights battling vampires and then WWI-era men in gas masks shooting flamethrowers.

Man, the voice explains, built walled cities protected by the church and lived inside for their safety. Soon they created their ultimate weapon, the Priests. Specially trained in the deadly arts, the Priests came close to wiping the Vampires out.

No longer having a need for them, the Priests were disbanded and reintegrated into society.

After the footage, Stewart explained that his Vampires have no eyes. One of the ideas they had was that, since they avoided sunlight, they evolved without them.

Maggie Q says that her character has a special lasso weapon and that she needed intensive training with the rope. The final question was a surprise appearance by her old track coach, who she was overjoyed to suddenly see at the mic.

Priest opens May 13th, 2011.

From Essence Magazine:

Will Smith has hopped on the vampire bandwagon. The mega movie star has confirmed he will star and produce the new vampire film “Legend of Cain.” The movie will tell the biblical tale of Cain and Able, this time with a vampire spin. Smith will play the lead of the jealous vampire Cain, who is the world’s first murderer.

With films like “Twilight” becoming blockbuster hits, and addictive shows like “True Blood” drawing the highest ratings week after week, it’s safe to say that Americans have a thing for vampires. Will Smith isn’t the first African-American bloodsucker. Take a look at other Black actors who have donned the cape and fangs…

The Spotlight Series with author Charlaine Harris was held today and she reiterated the same information she has stated in her past appearances:

Charlaine revealed that she’s under contract to pen three more Sookie Stackhouse books, with the next coming in May.

Also, she has a short story coming up in an anthology titled Death’s Excellent Vacation (Edited by Toni L.P. Kelner and Charlaine Harris). The short story, Two Blondes, features Sookie, Pam, and a stripper pole.

In February, we’ll be seeing the Sookie Companion containing: A FAQ by Charlaine, an interview with Alan Ball, recipes, secret emails between Bill and Eric, and a original novella with Sookie, Sam, and Quinn.

But, the biggest news for the crowd was that Sookie would never be turned into a vampire, even though Eric will ask her about it in the next book. That does not mean that it would never happen on the show.

She also stated that Sookie’s telepathy is not related to her fairy blood and happily added that Bubba will be in the next book.

She was asked if she would ever considers adding any of the new characters from the TV show into the books. She screamed emphatically, “No!” Continuing that they are “separate entertainment vehicles … two experiences for the price of one.“

By the way, Death’s Excellent Vacation comes out in a couple of weeks… on August 3rd.

True Blood Sightings:

Yes, you can stop by and get a pint.

True Blood is everywhere.

The True Blood Comic-Book was launched at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

~M.

Here is the list of all the TV Panels:

Wednesday, July 21
6-9 p.m.: Preview night, Nikita pilot screening

Thursday, July 22
1-2 p.m.: Burn Notice (Ballroom 20)
2:15-3:15 p.m.: White Collar (Ballroom 20)
3:30-4:30 p.m.: Psych (Ballroom 20)
3:30-4:30 p.m.: EW’s The Visionaries: J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon (Hall H)
4:45-5:45 p.m.: Anti-Heroes of Showtime (with Michael C. Hall, David Duchovny and Mary-Louise Parker) (Ballroom 20)
5-6 p.m.: Childrens Hospital (Room 25ABC)
5-6 p.m.: Look Around You (Room 6A)
6-7 p.m: Dexter (Ballroom 20)

Friday, July 23
10:15-11:15 a.m.: Hawaii Five-0 (Room 6BCF)
10:30-11:30 a.m.: Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Room 6A)
10:30-11:30 a.m.: Stargate Universe (Ballroom 20)
11 a.m.-12 p.m.: Bob’s Burgers (Room 25ABC)
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Caprica (Ballroom 20)
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: The Walking Dead (Room 6BCF)
12-1 p.m.: Neighbors From Hell (Room 25ABC)
12:45-1:45.p.m.: The Big Bang Theory (Ballroom 20)
2-2:45 p.m.: Bones (Ballroom 20)
2:15-3:15 p.m.: The Cape (Room 6A)
3-3:45 p.m.: The Joss Whedon Experience (Ballroom 20)
3:15-4:15 p.m : Spartacus: Blood and Sand (Room 6BCF)
3:30-4:30 p.m.: Terra Nova (Room 6A)
5:15-6:15 p.m.: True Blood (Ballroom 20)
6-7 p.m.: Being Human (Room 6A)
6-7 p.m.: Archer (Room 7AB)

Saturday, July 24
10-10:45 a.m.: Chuck (Ballroom 20)
10-11 a.m.: MAD (Room 7AB)
11-11:45 a.m.: Family Guy (Ballroom 20)
11:15 a.m.-12:15 a.m.: The Event (Room 6A)
11:45 a.m-12:30 p.m.: The Cleveland Show (Ballroom 20)
12:45-1:30 p.m.: Futurama (Ballroom 20)
2:30-3:15 p.m.: V (Ballroom 20)
3-4 p.m.: Community (Hilton Bayfront)
3:15-4 p.m.: Fringe (Ballroom 20)
3:15-4:15 p.m.: No Ordinary Family (Room 6A)
3:30-5 p.m.: Eureka (Room 6BCF)
3:30-5 p.m.: Warehouse 13 (Room 6BCF)
4:15-5 p.m.: The Vampire Diaries (Ballroom 20)
5:15-6 p.m.: Nikita (Room 6BCF)
6:15-7 p.m.: Human Target (Room 6BCF)
7:15-8:15 p.m: MythBusters (Room 6BCF)

Sunday, July 25
10-11 a.m.: Smallville (Ballroom 20)
10:30 -11:30 a.m.: Castle (Room 6BCF)
11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Supernatural (Ballroom 20)
12:30-1:15 p.m.: American Dad (Ballroom 20)
1-2 p.m.: Unnatural History (Room 6BCF)
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Glee (Ballroom 20)
2:15-3:15 p.m.: Scooby-Doo (Room 6BCF)
2:45 -3:45 p.m.: Sons of Anarchy (Ballroom 20)
2:45-3:45 p.m.: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Ballroom 20)

In red are sci-fi shows.

~M.