Rob Price
In a small island community, reporter Thom Etherton (David Moretti) is investigating a string of murders which leads him to an exclusive sex club called The Lair which is run by a coven of vampires led by Damian (Peter Stickles). Thom’s boyfriend Jonathan (Jesse Cutlip) is attacked by the vampires and is left in a coma, while Thom and friend and fellow reporter Laura (Beverly Lynne) continue their investigation. Also investigating the murders and often crossing paths with Thom is Sheriff Trout (Colton Ford), who at first does not believe in vampires, but is soon convinced. One of the other vampires, Colin (Dylan Vox), doesn’t like how Damian is running the coven and starts to make plans to take wrestle the power away from Damian and become the coven’s new leader.
Damian becomes enthralled with Thom whom he believes is the reincarnation of Richard DeVere an artist who is also the vampire that originally turned Damian and locked his soul into a portrait that he painted. Damian hypnotizes Thom into remaining with him while Jonathan awakes from his coma but can’t remember who he is or what happened to him. As the series continues through its three seasons, characters are killed, some are brought back, some return as ghosts, and some remain dead. New creatures are also introduced, Ian (Matty Ferraro) a werewolf plays a role in the second season, and Athan (Steven Hirshi) is an ancient Gorgon is part of the plot of season 3. The struggle for power between Colin and Damian, and Thom’s struggle with his feelings for Damian and his moral conscience remain throughout the show.
The Lair is a gay themed vampire series produced by Here! TV. The first episode premiered on June 1, 2007 and ran for three seasons. Season one had six episodes, two had nine and the final season had thirteen with the last episode being broadcast on November 27, 2009. In between seasons two and three, an 8 part online comic series was also created that was meant to fill in some gaps. A new series entitled The Lair: OnlyFangs premiered in January of 2024. The story takes place in the same universe with a very loose connection to the original series. Since 2009, Charles (Ernest Pierce), a leader of the werewolves has decided that all the vampires in America needed to be killed with the vampires from the original Lair being the last ones to be destroyed. The “Old Ones” summon a 600-year-old vampire named Landon Scott (Emrhys Cooper) to re-populate America with new vampires and to destroy the werewolves.
The original series was an erotic tale with plenty of sex scenes and some full frontal male nudity, utilizing both straight and gay adult film stars, like Colton Ford. The show did feel somewhat low budget, but the story and the campy nature of the show was fun and enjoyable. The acting being just so-so with both Peter Stickles and David Moretti feeling stiff (no pun intended…well maybe a little bit of a pun) and their dialogue feeling forced and not natural. Colton Ford was fun to watch and was probably one of the better performers on the show, as was Dylan Vox whose character Colin seemed to be a Lost Boys “wanna be” vampire modeled after Keifer Sutherlands portrayal. Overall, the original series had its own style and was easy to get sucked into (yes another pun).
The new series OnlyFangs, attempts to create its own style and partially succeeds, at least in the first episode, like each time a new vampire is created, flashing the word “Vampire” on the screen, almost like a scoreboard. And if they had done more clever things like that, the series might have been a lot better, but instead, I feel that they really miscast the lead. Emrhys Cooper is great to look at and has a gorgeous body but does not in any way exude the charisma or power that the character needs. And Ernest Pierce, again, is a fine specimen of a man, but for the majority of the first two episodes, is mainly portrayed as being in pain caused by the presence of a very old vampire. Porn Star Charlie Harding does a much better job, as the number two werewolf and might have been better in the leading role and Jhon Mejia, who plays Rein, Landon’s new human servant / love interest, may be an incredible actor in Spain, but when trying to speak English, his talent does not translate well. The dialogue is stiff and feels forced, but the story is fun and interesting, although a bit convoluted with much of the exposition being very clumsily handled. In addition, the story is set in Hollywood, but nothing about any of the locations feel like California, or America for that matter, it felt to me like this was shot in Europe somewhere. The original show felt low budget, the rebooted shows production value feels like it didn’t even have a budget. The sex scenes that made the original series an erotic thriller, were nearly non existent in the first two episodes of the new series, leaving me feeling a bit cheated. Even with all of that, I almost did feel compelled to keep watching, I wonder if I was hypnotized by one of the blood suckers!
