Vampire Girl-Next-Door: Jill Wagner

I usually never watch an entire vampire movie, most times my finger is firmly placed on the fast-forward button. So when I heard Spike TV was producing Blade as a series I figured it would be another huge missed opportunity to show pretty girls with fangs and anticipated buying a replacement set of batteries for the remote. Then I saw a press release for the show prominently featuring actress Jill Wagner with a huge set of fangs (1,2,3 ). Then I read her bio and vaguely recalled once seeing a gorgeous model shilling some Mercury automobiles. Then I was smitten.

I worked in the same town where Jill grew up and we went to the same university, although at different times. I get the sense she's a smart woman from a decent family. She exudes cuteness, sexiness and she's a vampire with great fangs: she's the perfect woman.

I've only seen the trailer for the new series and from what I can deduce she plays a mortal woman looking to avenge her brother's disappearance but gets vampirized in the process. It's too rare in the movies when we get to see this transformation happen. The contrast of before and after is typically distinct and it's usually an allegory for sex. So in this case we get to see hot, pissed-off avenging female turn into the same, only she's a vampire too. Incredibly hot.

Jill's Blade character has the appearance of a good girl -turned-vampire-trollop. This performance has the potential to join an elite group of sexy transformed vampiresses I consider the best put to film, including Amanda Bearse in Fright Night (1985) and the trio in Dracula 2000 (Jeri Ryan, Colleen Fitzpatrick and Jennifer Esposito). It's made all the sweeter considering the recent spate of huge disappointments (Buffy, Underworld, etc.) with vampires inexplicably missing their canines, or just plain unattractive. The vampiress is dead, long live the vampiress.