Vampires Invade the Earth Thanks to Guillermo del Toro

"After contagion the transformation begins, and twenty-four hours later they are ready for their first ingestion. They need seven nights to transform completely, for the disease to consume their bodies and to acquire their new, parasitic form. They reach maturity after some thirty nights.” In these words Guillermo del Toro describes the metamorphosis of one of his horrific creatures in Nocturna (The Strain), the first book of his vampire trilogy. Written with the collaboration of Chuck Hogan, who undertook the documentation and structure, the book was presented in Madrid today, in the absence of its author (currently in New Zealand, preparing to shoot The Hobbit) but in the presence of actors Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth), Eduardo Noriega, Marisa Paredes and Irene Visedo (The Devil’s Backbone) and Belen Rueda (The Orphanage).

The story opens when an aeroplane lands at JFK airport, New York, with both passengers and crew stone dead. While the authorities try to explain the inexplicable, an unstoppable virus, capable of turning people into vampires, threatens the existence of humankind. Perhaps the time has come for all those lurking in the shadows over the centuries, awaiting their opportunity... But Nocturna isn’t just another vampire novel, or so the editor and author of the novel claim, perhaps in an attempt to refute any connection with the latest editorial and cinematographic phenomena which have made the creatures of the night so fashionable. In a video, shown during the presentation, Guillermo del Toro recounts how, as a boy, he loved to lose himself in the magic world of vampires, delighted every time he got his hands on a spine-chilling tale. That is why Nocturna isn’t about languid, romantic vampires like Stephanie Mayer’s. And in case that wasn’t clear enough, he adds “I try to make all my vampires as threatening as possible.”

So the hordes of Del Toro fans now have the chance to enjoy one of this versatile filmmaker’s new creative outlets. We suspect they won’t be disappointed.