Amazon.com
Melrose Place with fangs is more like it. This disappointing prime-time vampire series was adapted from the popular role-playing game "Vampire: The Masquerade." The first episode sets up the premise: Julian Luna (Mark Frankel), the ruler of five vampire clans in San Francisco (known as the Kindred), is relentlessly pursued by cop Frank Kohanek (C. Thomas Howell), who mistakenly believes Luna is a mobster. In a melodramatic twist, they share the same lover, Alex. But her revelation to Frank that she is a vampire dooms her to death by her own kind. However, her last wish to Luna is that, despite his knowledge, Frank's life be spared, thus the two men become bonded by fate. They develop a reluctant partnership where they try to take down those who threatens Luna's vampiric rule as well as the law and order in Frank's world, all the while maintaining the secrecy of the Kindred in the real world. What results is a trashy soap opera with an abundance of exposition but little real action. While
Kindred offers dramatic confrontations, double-crosses, and plot twists, great talent is ultimately squandered--including director Peter Medak (
The Changeling,
The Krays), producer Steve DeJarnatt (
Miracle Mile), and actress Kelly Rutherford (who plays a reporter investigating Luna). As Luna, Mark Frankel exudes great charisma and vulnerability, but Howell's over-the-top cop is annoyingly unnecessary. While the second episode fares better than the first, it ultimately is undermined by Aaron Spelling's evident influence (he is listed as executive producer).
--Bryan Reesman
