Red: Werewolf Hunter comes out on DVD today.  Its the only DVD I felt compelled to buy out of nearly 200 new releases (according to Amazon).  The movie stars Felicia Day.  Coincidentally, we’ve been watching the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer recently here at Casa Hellions.  Which, for those of you that don’t know, also includes Felicia Day.  To see this “kid” look nervous and awkward on Buffy then in the same day see her star as the BAMF lead in a movie is astounding.  Instead of skipping this week’s DVD column I decided that it could be used to expose all of you to Felicia Day.

 

First off is today’s new release, Red:  Werewolf Hunter.  From Halloween 2010 this movie debuted on the Syfy channel.  Felicia plays Virginia Sullivan, the youngest descendant of a long line of werewolf hunters going all the way back to Red Riding Hood.  Virginia brings her future fiance home to meet the family, werewolves also show up, and bad things happen.  Its a great fun movie.  There are scenes where Felicia is her usual perky self, but not many.  For the majority of the movie she expresses all of the negative emotions: rage, anger, vengeance, fear, sorrow.  There is no looking away when she’s on the screen.  This is a loved, familiar character who has to make some tough decisions and not hold anything back.  As invested fans, we’re pulled into every twist and turn of the story.  When her heart breaks after a horrible event, our hearts break too.  She becomes a female Rick Grimes of the Walking Dead.  No one else is going to make these hard decisions, and even though its near impossible for her to do it she will be the one to stand up and make the tough choices.

Next up is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  This has been a long empty spot in my geek credibility.  I’ve been aware of Buffy since the beginning.  I even remember watching the first episode when it aired, and where I was when I did so.  For some reason I thought it was one of the scariest things I had ever seen.  Then I had to be “cool” and couldn’t like a “girls” show.  Finally, one of my good friends had us all watch some of the last episodes and while I found them interesting I had no clue what was happening.  Even after all of that it has still taken me nearly 10 years from the ending, and finding a geeky girl, to dive into the Buffy-verse.  Here we are at the last season and the potential slayers are in the house!

 

Felicia Day as potential slayer Vi could have become lost in the background.  Buffy already has an awkward redhead character.  Or should I say had.  The other redhead, Willow, is no longer awkward (well, she’s no longer redhead too depending on where you are in the cannon).  Vi is nervous, shy, but excited.  She isn’t anything yet but she now knows the potential is there to become something more.  I’m not done with the season yet, and I’m aware the potential is there for the character to fall apart I doubt it.  (Mostly because I did a quick spoiler free check on episode appearances.)  Some of these other Potentials are just there.  There are multiple characters playing the same “why am I here?” role.  Day could play the same role, and have the audience care just as little.  However, she “feels” different every time she’s on camera.  Long time Buffy fans know that things will be set up that not only take awhile to pay off, but you don’t even realize its being set up while watching.  Vi feels like one of those things.  Something cool is about to happen with Vi and its impossible to not pay attention to everything she does or says, wondering what her moment will be.

There is also of course The Guild, and Eureka.  But I’m not caught up on either so you’ll just have to wait for the next Felicia DVDay.