Vampire High

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Vampire High
Vampire High DVD cover.
Genre	Teen Horror
Creator(s)	Garry Blye, Mark Shekter
Starring	Jeff Roop, Meghan Ory, Ilona Elkin, Joris Jarsky, Karen Cliche, Paul Hopkins, Adam McDonald, Marianne Farley, Jodie Resther, Patrick Thomas, David McIlwraith, Wendii Fulford
Country of origin	Canada
No. of episodes	26
Production
Running time	25
Broadcast
Original channel	YTV
Original run	2001-2002 –
Links
IMDb profile

Vampire High was a Canadian TV series which aired from 2001 through 2002.

The show was centred on a group of young vampires subjected to a daring experiment by the "Elders": they were taken in by a boarding school that also housed normal mortal teenagers, with the intent of civilizing the vampires. Many problems faced the students on both the day and night curriculum, including typical teen issues of love, friends and even enemies. Professor Murdoch was on hand to help them along with their school work, but he too had problems that could put the lives of the teens in mortal danger...

1 Vampire High story
2 Vampire High Characters
3 Vampire High Interviews
4 Vampire High DVDs
5 Vampire High Episode List
6 External links

[edit] Vampire High story

"When The Great Eclipse plunged the world into darkness, the vampire race erupted in a civil war. The bloodthirsty faction known as The Fury battled the enlightened Elders known as The Convocation for domination of the un-dead.

In desperation, the Elders gathered up those young vampires that could be saved and entrusted them to me to humanize them, and teach them how to live among mortals." In the day, we deal with the students of Mansbridge Manor, the last stop for troublesome rich kids. The parents, not knowing what to do with the teens leave them at the secluded boarding school hoping for some resolution.

But the main focus of the series is the school at night... five vampires by the names Drew, Karl, Essie, Marty and Merrill are there trying to become more civilized, from the instruction of Murdoch, the head teacher of Mansbridge Manor. Sent to the school by their Elders the vampires try to come to terms with the problems that occur. Style, humour and well written characters are only a few words that explain this cult show.

When we begin at the start of the series, we are introduced to Sherry, a mortal female who feels lost and lonely in life. Not only does she crave love but she needs it to survive but can only seek comfort in her best friend Mimi. Knowing her boyfriend Nick is not the person she is destined to be with Sherry spends her time working, thinking and recording her thoughts on a Dictaphone.

As night falls we are introduced to many vampire characters. Karl, the sporty, troublesome teen who was made only last Halloween, will his immature attitude land him in trouble sooner rather than later? Meek Merrill who is smart and wants to do well, but will her love for others bring out a darker force? Popular and beautiful Essie, a royal by blood seeks comfort in fashion, but does she need more then material possessions? Bad boy Marty, the most evil of the vampires, he likes to cause trouble between the group but will he one day go too far? And finally we have the character of Drew, dark and mysterious, he falls madly in love with mortal Sherry, but what lengths will he go to for the one he loves?

As the characters move through life at Mansbridge they battle each other and the evil fury. But most importantly themselves... Will they all survive a year a Mansbridge Academy?

[edit] Vampire High Characters

Full Name	Played By	About
Drew French	Jeff Roop	A dark, silent and mysterious vampire who falls for mortal Sherry!
Sherry Woods	Meghan Ory	A strong natured mortal girl who knows what she wants in a man, but does she take on too much with Drew?
Merrill Young	Ilona Elkin	Vampire Merrill knows the one for her is Drew but as he falls for Sherry Merrill realises she may never get the one her heart truly desires.
Karl Todman	Paul Hopkins	This vampire is still young, he can often be easily lead astray but tends to listen to Drew and Essie, people he seems to look up to.
Essie Rachimova	Karen Cliche	The glamarous vampire of royal blood it smart and quick witted, but her tendency to jump into things head first could land her in trouble.
Marty Strickland	Joris Jarsky	This is the most evil vampire of the group, he knows what he wants and he does not care what he has to do to get it!
Professor Murdoch	David McIlwraith	Murdoch keeps the group together but even he is not strong enough to be watching 24/7...
Dillan Vanderson	Marianne Farley	A late comer into the year at Mansbridge Dillan has a strong personality but will that cause more harm then good?
Mimi Sperling	Jodie Resther	Best friend to Sherry and later to Dillan, never really realises how close she becomes to being Vampire dinner!
Nick McAllister	Adam McDonald	Ex boyfriend to Sherry, has a strong rivalry with Drew even though the two never meet!
Malcolm Frye	Patrick Thomas	Friend to Sherry and Mimi, bullied by Nick and a whizz on the computer!

[edit] Vampire High Interviews

Below are transcripts taken from video interviews with the stars of the show while they were still filming back in 2001!

Jeff Roop "Um, Drew I guess is basically the, I mean he's the romantic essence of it, of the show. He's the one that comes closest to typifying, sort of, the artistic, poetic notion of what a vampire is. Romantic, passionate, emotional, uh, torn between his, his hatred of who he is and sort of, he's trying to accept who he is and hating it, but also loving it at the same time. In terms of the group, in terms of the group he's probably the one who's the biggest loner. The one who's most apart from them. Who, um, has the hardest time fitting in, and who really doesn't wanna fit in. I think he's the one who comes closest to sort of the Count Dracula notion of a vampire. Yeah."

Karen Cliche "Why I love this one so much is basically because they aged me really to about a hundred years old. And it was an amazing process just the whole moulding of my face and so basically the applying the, the prosthetics and um, y'know just like a mask right on my face. It took about three hours and I really looked old. And i was about a hundred years old and, uh, and its a really, really beautiful, dramatic story about y'know like death and about y'know a lot of things happen. Theres a little love story in there too. It was a really nice scene to play, y'know. Because Essie is always, I always play Essie y'know, just being self-confident and never vulnerable and here she was, totally vulnerable. She actually says shes sorry for some things and it was really nice to play. And fun to see myself a hundred years old! A little scary! I hope I never get to see that. *Karen laughs*"

Ilona Elkin "Vampire High is one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I've never done anything so long, so long lasting and extensive. But also some of the people that I've met are incredible. In a lot of ways it ruined my life, my personal life, but it also gave me different things in return."

Joris Jarsky "The most challenging thing that has happened to me over the last six months would be just be the working...and being on a television series as an actor to try and, um, remain creative as an actor in an atmosphere that is, um..well, chaotic and exhausting and, um, start stopping and starting and to just remind focussed and y'know, to remember what you're, you're here for and who your character is and what they want and , um, what the story is. Because in television, you live every day as, as the person. There's not necessarily an arch in every episode, or an arc, a character arc, and or even there is one throughout the season but you're talking over six to eight months of shooting. And to recognise what that arc is, to constantly be involved in it and to be aware of it and to be working with it is...very challenging."

Paul Hopkins "We would, uh, we would have a really good time in between takes, a lot of laughing and stuff like that, I mean the dynamics in between the cast is, is equally as interesting, if not more interesting than the dynamics between the characters in the show. So, uh, so that was always very entertaining. Um, what else, without getting into too much dirt, if you know what I mean? Um. So that was always fun. And there's always a lot of good laughs. I think that we enjoyed doing the show. We enjoyed working with each other. And we had a lot of fun, so yeah, thats probably the best thing about it. (The interviewer asks "In a lot of other shows with some similar themes, what would you say is unique about Vampire High?") *Paul has a long pause* I'm in it. That makes it very unique, um, and it's very different. I'm not in any of the other shows so it's pretty different. Um, its a half hour, it's short, it's quick, it's dramatic in a half hour and it's kinda funny and it's got a lot of heart."

David McIlwraith "I also think that it, part of being a good teacher, or an exceptional teacher in this particular case, as I'm supposed to be, is the wisdom that comes from the ages. That you gain, that you can only gain a great deal of...you have to obviously accept the whole mythology of vampires to begin with so lets just assume that we accept that. Then, y'know, you have those Centuries of wisdom to draw on. And bring that to the students. Y'know, that, to me, is, and not just to the vampire students, but to actually be able to bring that to the other students as well. And say, 'I'm not just talking about this, I'm not just a guy who's...' I can't say that to them but to know internally that I'm not just a guy who you, y'know, studied this at University and knows it. I've been there. I've been there and I know what I'm talking about."

[edit] Vampire High DVDs

There are three DVDs for Vampire High that are currently available.

DVD Cover	DVD Title	Episode List
	Vampire High- School's A Pain In The Neck	Episode 1: Rules Are Rules, Episode 2: There's a New Vampire in Town, Episode 3: In Your Dreams and Episode 4: A Grave Matter
	Vampire High- Second Semester: High School Bites	Episode 5: Things That Go Vamp in the Night, Episode 6: That's Why the Lady Is a Vamp and Episode 7: Feeding Frenzy
	Vampire High- Bites Back: They're Dying To Meet You!	Episode 8: What's Up Doc?, Episode 9: The Withering and Episode 10: Dads and Monsters