NOS4A2 II: AMC'S Vampiric Sequel

Promotion says that "Charlie Manx isn't dead, but Vic will stop him." I wonder... I wonder a lot, in fact, about AMC's "NOS4A2 II", since my Stephen King keenness is now in limbo. (How's that for irony?)

I know, "NOS4A2" is a product of King's son, "Joe Hill", but it's father-like-son in the dramatization department (don't ya think?), despite the offspring's truncated alias.

"NOS4A2" (the novel and the first season that rose from it) is part "It" and "Salem's Lot". That makes it worthy in scheme, even if it lacks originality (and damn well in spite of that "different" stamp), but were those King tales (and their adaptations) ever all that original?

It all comes down to how a premise is presented, I suppose. Dan Curtis achieved it with "Dark Shadows" (a serial based on Universal's monster movies, which in their own right were based on horror novels and folk legend). "Dark Shadows" went on to influence King, and now the whole thing has come full, family circle. 

To the series' credit, Zachary Quinto, our alternate Spock, is a dandy, dark lead for this endeavor (just as Ashleigh Cummings is a swell, intuitive protagonist). Quinto's portrayal of the Pied Piper/Fagin-ish Manx is an impressive one, though if the truth be known, Manx is but an uncouth imprint of Barnabas Collins with some Willie Loomis woven in (in other words, Dracula and Renfield combined). For the sake of this kid-capturing variant, that more than serves the disconcerting purpose.  

All the same, I need more time to get into this one. I need more time to revisit the first season without freakin' commercial interruption. I need for all aspects of Joe Hillstrom King's saga to saturate my brain, and that will take time--ample time--to transpire. Sorry, but it simply is what it is. 

For some, though, the chilling deal has long been sealed and therefore, when "NOS4A2'"s returns June 21, those folks will no doubt be squirming with ghoulish glee, while I do no more than hover in the lonesome wings for my (inevitable) initiation to summon. 

NOS4A2: AMC's Joe Hill (Son of King) Adapted Series

Stephen King's son, Joe Hill (Joseph Hillstrom King), penned a novel called "NOS4A2" (get it?): a modernized, vampire deal, which he compares to his dad's eerie epic, "It", though how can one say it doesn't in some way salute "Salem's Lot"?  As should come as no surprise, the book has been adapted for the screen...the small one, that is. 

In the surface, one could argue that "NOS4A2'"s frightening lead is a knockoff of Barnabas Collins/Janos Skorzeny/Count Yorga/Blacula/Kurt Barlow: Old World in manner maybe, but a product of the trendy present.  

Zachary Quinto (neo "Trek'"s Spock) plays Charlie Manx, who kidnaps kids and deposits them into a makeshift (alternate-reality) amusement park called Christmasland. He's a Fagin of sorts, since he teaches the wee one's his wild ways, once they're transformed. 

The saga's heroine is Vic McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings), an artist who taps the unsettling situation through sharp intuition. Seems she'll have her hands full all the same. Vampires never go easy. (Olafur Darri Olafsson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Virginia Kull also engage in the creepy activity.)

It's great to have a new vampire/monster show on the air.  For the record, AMC has given Hill's adaptation a ten-episode run: a solid span for today's episodic environment.

Oh, and to sweeten the disturbing pot, Jami O'Brien, who's governed "Fear the Walking Dead" and "Hell on Wheels", co-produces with Hill: a further clincher for success.

The bloodshed begins June 2, 10 pm.