While I love horror and will typically give any horror movie/show/game etc. a chance, I've never been a big fan of vampires. From early childhood, I can remember finding any Dracula story tedious and boring, and was never overly impressed by any other vampire movie. It wasn't until The Lost Boys that I truly felt any sort of connection with a vampire project. And despite the fact that vampires are now more popular than ever, I'm still not on board. Having said that, a quality production can overcome the boundaries of its genre and that's exactly what we get with The Vampire Diaries.

The Vampire Diaries takes place in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and her brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), are still reeling from the death of their parents. Their Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning) has moved in to watch over them. As Elena returns to school in the fall, she meets Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), a dark and mysterious boy. They run into each other a few more times, and Elena agrees to go out with him. Little does she know that Stefan is a vampire who lived in the town 145 years ago. Stefan is taken with Elena, due to her uncanny resemblance to Katherine, a woman Stefan loved all those years ago. Stefan begins to see Elena, and makes a place in her group of friends. That fun comes to an end when Stefan's brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder), comes to town. Unlike Stefan, Damon has no respect for humanity and lives only to destroy. He was also in love with Katherine and blames Stefan for losing her. As the two brothers square off, they soon learn that they have bigger problems to deal with, as Mystic Falls is full of supernatural secrets.

When Dawson's Creek premiered years ago, despite the fact that it wasn't aimed at me, I was interested in the show as it was shot in Wilmington, NC -- an area with which I was familiar. That initial curiosity lead to a genuine liking of the show based on the characters and the dialogue -- but not so much on the overly dramatic soap opera antics of the teenagers involved. Based on a series of young adult novels, The Vampire Diaries was developed for television with the help of Dawson's Creek creator (and Scream writer) Kevin Williamson. I don't know how much the others involved with the show contribute, but I can't help but think that Williamson's experience in episodic television help to make The Vampire Diaries such a compelling show.

Before I delve into what makes The Vampire Diaries work, lets get the faults out of the way. Some aspects of the show are far from original. It takes some of its ideas from things like Near Dark and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. However, it was Angel which seemed to have the most influence on the show. Every few minutes, I would say, "That's from Angel." And while this is part of the show's overall conceit, it does get too melodramatic at times. Also, the show has a bad habit of cutting to a less interesting sub-plot during exciting or interesting passages.

When The Vampire Diaries premiered last Fall, I'd actually meant to check it out, but didn't and decided that I probably wasn't missing anything from yet another CW teen show. But, I truly glad that I checked out the show on Blu-ray. Yes, some of it falls squarely under the CW aimed at adolescent girls banner, but the inclusion of dark humor and the in-depth backstory of the town shows that someone cares about making the show a cut above the rest. I'm looking forward to checking out Season 2.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season sports a good season finale on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The four-disc set contains all 22 episodes of the show's first season. The shows have been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains a VC-1 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing only a slight amount of grain at times and no defects from the source material. Beyond the fact that this is a dark show, the image is a bit too dark at times. If a character is wearing black clothing (which isn't unusual), they blend into the background. That aside, the colors look good and the level of detail is impressive. The Disc carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and a constant 640 kbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Obviously, any time that a Blu-ray doesn't have an HD track, it's disappointing. Still, the audio here is fine. The stereo and surround sound effects aren't overly abundant, but they are well-done and their placement echoes the action on-screen. Occasional subwoofer effects punctuate action scenes.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Disc set contains several extras. Each disc contains an array of DELETED SCENES. Disc 1 offers an AUDIO COMMENTARY for the "Pilot" with series executives Kevin Williamson, Julie Plec, and Marcos Siega. The remainder of the extras are found on Disc 4. "Into Mystic Falls" (25 minutes) contains comments from the series creators, as well as the cast. They discuss how the show was developed, how the show differs from the books, the hiring of Marcos Siega, why the show is shot in Georgia (although the cast acts like Atlanta is in the middle of nowhere), and the look of the show. Oddly, there's nothing on the cast or the casting process. "When Vampires Don't Suck!" (19 minutes) looks at the fans of the show and how the more obsessive fans helped to make the show a success. This also contains some nice comments from author David Skal, who takes the piece in a different direction as it takes a historical look at vampires. "A Darker Truth" (8 minutes) are four webisodes which features a guy who has come to Mystic Falls searching for the vampire who killed his sister. This utilizes sets from the show, but falls outside of its story arcs. "A Second Bite" is a 4-minute gag reel. "A New Breed of Vampires" (13 minutes) takes that look at the cast that the longer featurette didn't. We see some audition footage and hear the actors comments on the casting and their characters. "Vampires 101" (7 minutes) looks at how the series treats vampire myths and folklore.