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Just a quick stab (shrieking violins!) today. Vampire Rising, the first book in the new Alex Van Helsing series, is right in line with what you’d expect from a boy-centric middle-grade update on the famous character: a 14-year-old with a famous surname learns his lineage, a teacher reveals himself to be an operative in a high-tech organization that hunts nefarious baddies, etc, etc. Plenty of fun, but none too surprising.

So what’s up with this trailer? With its horror-film b-roll and sounds of a chain saw (why a chain saw? Nobody knows!) set to an industrial beat, it feels like something concocted by Rob Zombie. I love it, but it’s totally at odds with the modern attitude and gadgetry of the book.

Verdict: Conflicted. Fans of Svengooli will eat this up. Calling all 14-year-old Svengooli fans! Uh, anyone? Anyone?

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Book Trailers, YA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.