Michael Gibson/FX The Strain premieres tonight. And in case those worm-in-the-eye billboards around town aren't enough indication: This new FX thriller series is not for the faint of heart!
You Lost fans may be wondering if producer Carlton Cuse's latest project is worth your time.
The rest of you may be wondering if you'll ever be able to sleep again.
The answers: Yes. And No.
Here why FX's The Strain will scare the bejeezus out of you.
1) The Monsters Are Worse than Zombies, or Vampires (Can We Call them Zom-pires? Probably not…): Remember how "The Monster" on Lost turned out not to be any big whoop? Well, on this show, the monsters are so brutal, and terrifying, and disgusting and most importantly, hungry, that they pretty much make shows like True Blood or The Walking Dead look like Romper Room. These monsters are a new twist on vampires and walkers, in that they can suck a body dry in seconds, but then implant worm-like parasites that create more monsters. What we're saying here is: There is nowhere to run.
2) The Monsters Are Smart: Oh, you thought the zombies in The Walking Dead were a force to be reckoned with? Well these life suckers can think. And plan. And have done a very good job in plotting a hostile takeover of all of NYC, to happen in less than a week. The Strain's terrifying tmonster world operates on a much larger scale, at a dramatically faster pace.
3) It Comes from the Mind of Guillermo del Toro: You know, the brilliant and twisted filmmaker of movies like Blade II. And this is the network of American Horror Story. You do the math.
4) You Will Never Want to Ride a Plane Again. The opening scene, in which a flight with 210 passengers lands without a single soul alive, is arguably the scariest thing to happen on a plane in entertainment in a very long time. (Take that, Samuel L. Jackson's snakes, and Lost's plane ripping apart.) And unlike network TV, even adorable little girls are not safe.
5) The Answers Come Fast. Very Fast. Not to take any cheap shots (we still will defend Lost to the death!), but unlike Cuse's last series, every single episode of The Strain answers a major question. By the end of only the second episode, you'll have some seriously legit information about who the monsters are, and what they want, and what the whole show is actually about.
The Strain premieres tonight at 10 pm on FX. Let us know what you think! If you are fingers aren't trembling too much to type.