What's on TV: From Dusk till Dawn, My Strange Addiction
Mark Peters
"OK, hard drinkers," says Seth Gecko, the tattooed bank robber who, with his psychotic brother, has kidnapped a pastor and his family and driven them to a strip club full of vampires, "let's drink hard. I'm buyin'."
That's just one of the many snappy lines (and practically the only one that could be printed here) penned by Quentin Tarantino for the 1996 cult classic B-movie . Directed by Robert Rodriguez, the schlock-horror flick gave a young George Clooney his first major Hollywood role (playing Seth, with Tarantino as his sadistic sibling, Richie) and spawned two straight-to-video sequels, as well as, more recently, a television series, which returns for its second season on Friday (at 10pm on FX).
Based on the same characters and premise as the original movie, the first season of was spread out over 10 instalments, some of which were written and directed by creator Rodriguez. With more space in which to explore story arcs and delve deeper into character back stories, the series took a couple of episodes to find its feet.
Zane Holtz () took on the role of Richie, bringing an air of creepiness to the character that escaped Tarantino, who may be one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation but as an actor makes a damn fine plumber.
The action at the Titty Twister, the scuzzy strip club full of scoundrels and vampires, did not disappoint fans of the original, and may not have seemed particularly unfamiliar to regulars at certain Wan Chai watering holes, with plenty of cheap thrills for your average fan to sink their teeth into.
Last season's finale reached the end of the movie storyline, so where will season two take us? With Danny Trejo (, ) joining the cast, fans of gore and violence can rest assured - wherever the mean-looking Mexican goes, chaos is sure to follow.
Trejo, who has worked with Rodriguez for more than 20 years, won't be reprising his original role, as pointy-toothed bartender Razor Charlie; instead, he plays new character The Regulator, "a horrifying agent of evil who has been summoned to perform a deadly errand".
Well, that sounds nice.
Now whether you're a naughty neck nibbler, a gun-toting bad boy or a bra-wearing British lord, we all have our vices, some are just a little weirder than others.
Over the past five seasons, has revealed some of our most bizarre habits, and the show returns tomorrow (Fox Crime, 9.10pm) to revel again in the shocking stories of people whose lives have been consumed by their obsessive behaviour.
This week we take a look at the world of female maskers: men who dress in rubber suits and masks as they attempt to transform themselves into life-sized female dolls. In the coming weeks we'll also meet a woman who dines on bricks and Evelyn, who likes to swig air freshener. Meanwhile, Adam is intent on transforming himself into Madonna while Kevin constantly covers himself with plaster casts, even though he isn't injured.
It's enough to put the wind up a bar full of blood suckers.
