RELIC HUNTER

VAMPIRE'S KISS

TV GUIDE PROMO

Syd finds a vampire his lost chalice; but does she resist his potent seduction? Logline.

PRESS RELEASE

Back in the day. As Count Stanislaf desperately drinks from a distinctive chalice, a violent banging on the door interrupts him. His hand, decorated with a ruby red ring, pushes a rosetta stone, revealing a hidden passageway. The vampire escapes, accidentally leaving behind the lid to his chalice as an angry mob breaks down the door.

Present day. Karen sits, mesmerized by her sexy professor, Lucas Blackmer. He is wearing a ruby red ring; strikingly similar to the one the Count wore in the teaser. Blackmer is saying something about a vampire's seduction, but his words fall on deaf ears, as Karen is only concerned with his brilliant green eyes and confident demeanor.

Later, Karen tells Syd that Blackmer is not only a rumored vampire, but also oddly interested in Sydney. Speaking of the devil, enter Mr. Fangsome (non other than Professor Blackmer), interrupting their conversation. The electricity between the two professors is undeniable. They discuss Blackmer's novels, particularly his one about Count Stanislaf and his missing chalice. The relic originally belonged to Vlad the Impaler (Dracula). Blackmer found the lid, but "needs" the chalice. Suddenly, a man comes out of nowhere, wielding a knife, and tries to take the lid. He fails, but manages to almost stab Syd. She fights back and the man takes off. Blackmer propositions her to help him and, after some flirtatious banter, persuades her to join him in Czechoslovakia for the hunt.

Syd and Lucas check into an extravagant hotel and head to Stanislaf's castle where they find the vampire's secret crypt. As they explore, the hunters discuss the vampire allure. Blackmer, all too knowledgeable of the subject, explains how bloodsuckers blend in by mimicking their prey and living among them. Officially creeped out, Syd finds Stanislaf's escape route, via the rosetta stone, and trudges on.

Back at the University, Karen convinces Nigel to help her find Blackmer's true identity. In his house they find a coffin, prescription sunblock, and oversized contact lenses. The same man who threatened Syd and Blackmer walks in on them as they rummage through Blackmer's belongings. They escape his attack unscathed, and call Syd to give her a heads up. She and Blackmer are now at a monastery where they learn Stanislaf took refuge, murdered a monk, and fled. Retracing the vampire's steps, they learn he killed 14 passengers on a boat that docked in Romania. As they head to Romania, there is another run in with the mysterious attacker, who is actually a vampire slayer. Once in Romania, our heroine finds the relic and Blackmer finally admits he is a "method writer" pretending to be a vampire in order to improve his writing style. The writer donates the chalice to the college and thanks Sydney for her work. His exit is accompanied by such an evil smirk that we are left completely unsettled with the mystery of his true identity.

COMMENTARY

This commentary is by Beboman.

Let me start this commentary by stating that I am not to keen on vampires or Vampire-connected movies. Furthermore, I am not to keen on Halloween either. With this said, I will try to look at this episode with an open mind.

This episode is an exception to my standard "I don't like Vampire movies rule". This episode, if I may say so, was not all that bad. As a matter of fact, I found it quite interesting. It left me with a question: Was Blackwell really Stanuslaf or was he just someone who wrote about vampires? This little twist at the end made the episode for me.

I do have to agree with Cantor when he said he doubted that Blackwell was a vampire, because a real Vampire would not have been able to resist Sydney's neck.

The idea of using Blackwell, a vampire romance novel writer, was a good one. The fact that he was searching for a chalice which allegedly belonged to a famous and legendary vampire so he could use it in his next novel, made the story a little bit different from so many other vampire/Halloween type stories.

Even better was the fact that this "maybe" vampire turned writer used Sydney to track down and find the relic in question. But my only question is: If he was the real thing, didn't he know where he left his chalice?

Another thing that made this episode interesting was the subtle seduction of Sydney by Blackwell. Is not very often that we get to see this vulnerable side of Sydney. Like Blackwell said, Sydney likes to be in control and even when she seems to be at a lost she is still in control and is very hard for her to relinquish that control. But he was able just for a short time break down those bearers and that was really interesting to see.

Another interesting aspect of this episode was the fact that we were able to see Nigel and Karen work as a team. Even though Nigel is still the comic relief, the chemistry between these two characters worked and I found it to be well used.

The way the characters were teamed up in this episode was also a bit on the interesting side. We had Nigel and Karen back at Trinity looking for clues that would lead to the true identity of Blackwell. At the same time, Sydney and Blackwell worked very closely together looking for clues that lead to the relic in question.

Considering all I have said before, the episode still left me with a few questions that I know will never be answered, but I still have them? Why did Blackwell have those green contact lenses and that super industrial type of sunblock cream in his apartment? Was that one of the things he used to get into character? Was the coffin also a prop he used to get into character and to help him to write?

Then there was Cantor. How did he manage to get to Czechoslovakia so fast? Come on, he did it even faster than Sydney had even expected. She even made a comment about that.

Also, the most important and final question was why did Sydney offer the chalice to Blackwell when he said something about having a drink? It was as if she was acknowledging the fact that Blackwell was Stanuslaf.

Another good point this episode had were the good one liners. They were well placed in the episode and very well delivered.

The ending was also good. Once again, Sydney let down her guard and we saw the woman behind the relic hunter and what she was looking for in a partner or companion. This was a treat for us.

So, if the question is did I like this episode, I would have to say I definitely did. It was interesting and very entertaining.