The Lair

Infobox Television
show_name = The Lair


caption = Title card
format = Horror
LGBT
camera =
picture_format =
audio_format =
runtime = 27 minutes
creator = Fred Olen Ray
developer =
producer =
executive_producer =
starring = Peter Stickles
David Moretti
Dylan Vox
Colton Ford
narrated =
opentheme = "Welcome to the Lair"
endtheme =
country = USA
language = English
network = here!
first_aired = June 1, 2007
last_aired =
num_episodes = 15
chronology =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.heretv.com/the_lair
imdb_id = 0958611
tv_com_id =

"The Lair" is a gay-themed vampire television series produced by here! in 2007. The first season, consisting of six episodes, wrapped production in January of that year. The first two episodes premiered on June 1, 2007.

Season 2, consisting of 9 episodes debuted on September 5th, 2008. [cite press release
title = here! Welcomes you back to 'The Lair'; Sexy vampire soap set to premiere its second season September 5th
publisher = here! TV
date = 2008-07-23
url = http://www.heretv.com/APressArticle.php?type=release&id=264
accessdate = ]

Cast

* Peter Stickles as Damian (season 1 - )
* David Moretti as Thom (season 1 - )
* Dylan Vox as Colin (season 1 - )
* Beverly Lynne as Laura (season 1 - )
* Brian Nolan as Frankie (season 1 - )
* Jesse Cutlip as Jonathan (season 1)
* Colton Ford as Sheriff Trout (season 1 - )
* Evan Stone as Jimmy (season 1)
* Michael Von Steel as Eric (season 1)
* Arthur Roberts as Dr. Belmont (season 1 )
* Ted Newsom as Dr. Cooper (season 1 )
* Ethan Reynolds as Jonathan (season 2 - )
* Frankie Valenti as Tim (season 2 - )
* Matty Ferraro as Ian (season 2 - )

Plot summary

"The Lair" is set in a small island town, the exact location of which is unknown.

eason 1

Thom, a reporter for the local paper is locked in a cell. He begins dictating the story into a tape recorder, stating that he has 12 hours before the sun goes down, 12 hours left to live. The remainder of the season is a flashback to the events leading up to the opening scene.

A young man named Eric visits the private sex club known as The Lair. He meets Colin, the club manager. They have sex in a back room and Colin, revealing himself to be a vampire, attacks and kills Eric. Damian, the leader of the vampire group, orders Frankie to dispose of Eric's body. The next day the sheriff finds the body, the latest in a string of "John Doe murders."

Thom meets Frankie, who gives him a necklace Eric had worn. Fellow reporter Laura recognizes the necklace as an amulet from a book detailing myths and legends of the coast. Later at home, Thom's jealous boyfriend Jonathan confronts him, then takes the necklace and goes to The Lair in search of Frankie. There Damian attacks him and leaves him for dead.

Jonathan survives the attack and is taken to the hospital, catatonic. Thom and Laura research the history of the coast further and discuss the possibility of vampires being responsible for the John Doe attacks. Damian works on a portrait of himself which, similar to The Picture of Dorian Gray, he says holds his curse. He and Colin agree to finish off Jonathan. Later, he mystically calls out to Eric, who rises from his table in the morgue.

Damian introduces the newly-risen Eric to the rest of the Lair's "inner circle." Thom tracks Frankie to the club seeking answers about the attack on Jonathan but a terrified Frankie refuses to help. Damien spies Thom's card and telepathically links to him, ordering him to hang himself. Laura intercedes just in time to save Thom. Damian goes to Jonathan's hospital room to kill him but is interrupted by Thom and Laura. A shaken Damian later confides in Colin that Thom is a double of Richard DeVere, the vampire who painted the portrait and who transformed Damian. Damian had driven a stake through DeVere's heart and stolen the painting, which now bore the evidence of his evil deed on its face.Dr. Belmont and Sheriff Trout, having discovered a stamp on Eric's hand in ultraviolet ink, are startled to discover the same stamp on Jonathan and Thom's hands. The doctor injects Jonathan with an experimental drug which revives him, but Jonathan is stricken with amnesia. Back at The Lair, Damian mentally entrances Thom and commands him to his side. Meanwhile, Colin enlists Frankie in a plot against Damian. Damian, wavering in his belief that Thom is DeVere reincarnated, takes Thom to see the portrait, only to discover it missing.

As Damian worries, the sheriff arrives at the club and momentarily spots Eric. Trout warns Damian that he'll be watching. The doctors see that Jonathan's neck wound is almost completely healed and they discharge him to Laura. Laura, sporting a black eye from her abusive boyfriend Jimmy, takes him home. Damian gathers the family together and accuses one of them of betrayal, demanding the return of the portrait. Privately, Colin sows seeds of doubt about Eric in Damian's mind. Damian takes Thom to the cell and locks him in, then kills Eric by driving a spear through his heart. Eric's body is disposed of again and, when it's found again, a perplexed Sheriff Trout starts to work on getting a search warrant for The Lair. Back at Thom and Jonathan's place, Colin mystically entrances Laura and sets her off to kill Jonathan. Jonathan dodges the strike. As Laura pursues him, Jimmy enters looking for her and she stabs and kills Jimmy. Sheriff Trout arrives and arrests her.

Frankie lures Damian to a store room saying the portrait is there. Colin attacks Damian and seals him behind a brick wall. Colin goes to Thom in his cell and tells him he has twelve hours to live. Sheriff Trout obtains his warrant and he, Jonathan and Deputy Rogers go to search The Lair.

Thom concludes his recording and moments later his cell door mysteriously unlocks. He escapes, but not before encountering a vampire. Thom pulls off the vampire's amulet and the vampire disintegrates. Back home, Thom calls Dr. Belmont and learns of Laura's arrest.

At The Lair, Trout, Jonathan and Rogers split up. Rogers discovers several sleeping vampires, who awaken and attack him. At the jail, Laura tells Thom that Jonathan's gone to The Lair. Thom races over. Colin encounters Jonathan and moments later Trout confronts Colin. Frankie appears and opens fire on the sheriff, who returns fire. Frankie is killed and Trout is gravely wounded. Jonathan grabs a gun and fires on Colin, who, unaffected, vanishes. Thom arrives and spies Trout on the floor. As he tries to help him, Jonathan reveals himself as a vampire and attacks Thom.

eason 2

At The Lair, a deputy questions Colin about the shootout. Colin, disappointed to learn that Sheriff Trout survived, points the finger at Frankie. Thom awakens on his floor at home with two bloody puncture wounds on his throat. He showers and then checks his answering machine, hearing a message from Jonathan telling him that they will never see each other again and urging Thom to leave the island. Laura calls Thom from jail, relieved to learn that he's alive.

Colin gathers the coven and tells them that he has taken over. He orders them not to kill any more men. Jonathan learns that he will be taking Frankie's place.

Ian, a hitchhiker, catches a ride in a pickup. He has sex with the driver, Riley, in his motel room and later, when Riley is asleep, steals the truck, which soon breaks down. Ian staggers from the truck and falls behind it. A tow truck driver finds the truck and is attacked by Ian, who has transformed into a werewolf.

Damien projects himself to Thom and confesses his love. They have sex and Thom discovers that his wounds have mysteriously healed. Damien asks for Thom's help in opposing Colin.

Thom visits Laura in jail, then calls upon Sheriff Trout, whom he learns has gone temporarily blind after being shot.

A man arrives from the mainland in search of Ian. Elsewhere, Ian awakens naked in the woods, his hands covered in blood.

Colin has a hallucination of Frankie at the Lair.

Botanist Jake Waldman receives a mysterious plant, the "Lumina Orchis". The man who delivers it discovers a gold coin entangled in its roots.

Podcast

On June 21, 2007, here! launched a podcast for the series. Hosted by DJ and here! personality Ben Harvey, the podcast features roundtable discussions of the series and interviews with cast members. No new podcasts associated with season two have been released; the last podcast was released in October 2007.

Connections to "Dante's Cove"

"The Lair" takes place in the same fictional universe as another here! original production, "Dante's Cove". Sheriff Trout refers to "the new drug all the kids are doing," Saint. Colin speaks of being banished by an "Avatar." A book on legends of the town refers to covens of witches centered around a spring. Saint, covens led by Avatars and mystical springs are all components of the magickal religion of Tresum from "Dante's Cove". As of season's end, however, Tresum has not been mentioned specifically.

Dylan Vox plays a character named Colin in each series; [cite web
last =Internet Movie Database
title =Brad Benton
url =http://imdb.com/name/nm1384079/
accessdate = 2007-10-29] however, dialogue in "The Lair" indicates that his character from that series has been a vampire for a long time, perhaps centuries.

"Dante's Cove" director Sam Irvin and star Charlie David refer to the "Dante's Cove" sex club as "The Lair" and call the series "The Lair" "sort of like a spin-off."cite video
people =Irvin, Sam (director), David, Charlie (actor)
title =Commentary, Spring Forward
medium =
publisher =
location =
date = ] According to Peter Stickles, "The Lair" was originally intended to be a direct spin-off of "Dante's Cove" and was originally entitled "Dante's Lair." Early in production the name was changed but the show was intended to be set in the town of Dante's Cove, but eventually the connection was dropped. [cite podcast
url =http://www.heretv.com/APodcastDetailPage.php?id=15
title =The Lair podcast #4
website =
host =Harvey, Ben
date =
accessdate =07-27
accessyear =2007]

David Moretti reported on The Lair podcast that he would appear as his "Lair" character Thom in season three of "Dante's Cove", running the island's sex club, but did not elaborate on how that will come about. [cite podcast
url =http://www.heretv.com/APodcastDetailPage.php?id=15
title =The Lair podcast #7
website =
host =Harvey, Ben
date =
accessdate =08-24
accessyear =2007] Moretti appeared in the third episode, "Sexual Healing," and the fourth episode, "Like a Virgin," and the Cove's sex club was finally identified by name as "The Lair."cite episode
title = Sexual Healing
episodelink =
series = Dante's Cove
serieslink =
airdate =
season = 3
number = 3 ] Whether this finally establishes that the two series are indeed set on the same island remains unclear.

Critical response

Critical reaction to "The Lair" has been largely negative. "Awful...in a general sense [but with] true camp value" is how the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the show. [Citation
last =
first =
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title =Vampires Everywhere
newspaper =Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
pages =
year =
date =2007-06-01
url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07152/787843-352.stm] While the Post-Gazette singles out Moretti's performance for praise, other reviews describe various of the cast as "wooden" [cite web
last =Swindoll
first =Jeff
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =DVD Review: The Lair: Complete First Season
work =
publisher =Monstersandcritics.com
date =2007-10-15
url =http://dvd.monstersandcritics.com/reviews/article_1365521.php/DVD_Review_The_Lair_Complete_First_Season
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-11-24] and the acting "so amateurishly done as to be comical at times."cite web
last =Oliver
first =David
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =DVD Review: Lair, The - Season 1
work =
publisher =CHUD.com
date =2007-11-11
url =http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=dvd&id=12338
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-11-24]

DVD releases

References

External links

* [http://www.heretv.com/the_lair Official site]
* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0958611/ The Lair] at Internet Movie Database