Carmilla | |
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Genre |
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Created by |
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Based on | Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu |
Developed by | |
Written by |
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Directed by | Spencer Maybee |
Starring |
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Opening theme | "Love Will Have Its Sacrifices" performed by SOLES |
Country of origin | Canada |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 121 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Editor | Dillon Taylor |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 3-16 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Release | August 19, 2014 – October 13, 2016 |
Carmilla is a Canadian single-frame web series co-created by Jordan Hall, Steph Ouaknine, and Jay Bennett. [1] The series stars Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis, and is loosely based on the novella of the same name by Sheridan Le Fanu. The series premiered on the Vervegirl (rebranded as KindaTV as of January 2016) YouTube channel on August 19, 2014. [2] U by Kotex is the executive producer of the web series. [3] The series takes place at the fictional Silas University in Styria, Austria, and is told through vlogs recorded by Laura, a first-year student. When Laura begins investigating the disappearance of her roommate, she is assigned a new roommate named Carmilla. [4]
The first and second seasons each consist of 36 three to seven-minute episodes. A twelve-episode prequel mini-season, "season zero," was announced just after the release of the final episode of season 2. On February 13, 2016, it was announced that Carmilla would air its third and final season in the summer of 2016. The third season was eventually released in September and October 2016, in three acts. On October 6, 2016, it was announced that there would be a movie (not sponsored by U by Kotex) that would take place five years after the end of the third season. [5] The film, called The Carmilla Movie , was released in 2017. [6] At the Canadian Screen Awards in 2018, it was announced by Elise Bauman that an unnamed prime time series was in development.[ citation needed ]
In 2016, the series won a Canadian Screen Award and a Rockie Award for Branded Content at the Banff World Media Festival. [7] [8] As of August 2017, Carmilla had generated over 70 million views on YouTube. [9]
The series is told through a fictional vlog broadcast by Laura Hollis, a freshman studying journalism who has decided to document her college experience. When her roommate Betty suddenly goes missing at a swim team party, Laura is assigned a new roommate, Carmilla Karnstein, whom Laura describes as "broody."
Laura, aided by her friends, discovers that her former roommate is not the only girl to have abruptly gone missing from Silas. The season follows Laura's investigation and her relationship with Carmilla, which progresses from hostile to romantic over the course of the season. Meanwhile, the university's mysterious dean is up to something that can't be good.
Between the first and second seasons, series story editor Ellen Simpson published additional story content. Canon Twitter accounts under Laura, Carmilla, and LaFontaine's names relay the group's encounters with supernatural Styrian dangers while trying to escape the Silas campus. [10]
Between stories on the Twitter accounts, a Christmas special was released detailing the group's not-so-pleasant encounter with a seemingly-pleasant Mama Klaus.
The second season begins with Laura, Carmilla, LaFontaine, and Perry's return to the Silas campus following the Dean's defeat. Laura decides to investigate the murder of several members of the newspaper staff. Other strange occurrences on campus draw the attention of Carmilla's adoptive sister Mattie and the Silas Board of Governors. Laura and her friends decide to launch an election to replace Mattie as the Chair of the Board with a kindly old baron.
New characters include:
A teaser trailer announcing this season was released on October 1, 2015. This season consisted of 12 episodes instead of in previous, where there was 36 episodes. All the episodes except the first episode were released on U by Kotex's YouTube channel.
While Carmilla and Laura are trapped in the library, they watch VHS tapes that document interactions between Carmilla, Perry, and Mel while they are trapped in a room where U by Kotex brand tampons are stored. These events occur a year before Laura is a student at Silas University.
The series was renewed for a third and final season on February 13, 2016. It premiered on September 15, 2016 and finished on October 13, 2016. [11]
This season's episodes were released differently than in previous seasons. Season three was released in three acts with several episodes released within each act. Act I consisted of episodes 1-17, Act II was episodes 18–24, and Act III was episodes 25–36.
Laura and her friends face the Dean yet again, who has now possessed Perry and intends to open the gates of Hell. Laura and her friends spend most their time hiding out in the sentient campus library, that has been mentioned in previous seasons. They are in search of a way, once and for all, to stop the Dean. New characters include Sherman Hollis, Laura's father.
Extra content from this season includes: Mel's transmissions from the pit. Thirteen podcasts of Mel, detailing the daily life and several different events that happen while the students of Silas University are trapped in the pit digging for the dean.
A feature-length film based on the series was produced in 2017 and premiered on October 26, 2017 in theatres across Canada. It is available to stream via VHX. [12] It also appeared on the platform Fullscreen before the site shut down. [13]
A teaser trailer for the film was released on October 6, 2016, and an extended trailer was added at the end of the web series finale. A teaser trailer was released September 2, 2017. The movie is going to take place five years after the events of season three.
Natasha Negovanlis and Elise Bauman were confirmed to reprise their roles. This is the second film that the two have co-starred in, the first being Almost Adults , created by The Gay Women Channel, a channel on YouTube. [14] According to news first reported by Variety, the following actresses and actors appeared in the film: Dominique Provost-Chalkley, Grace Lynn Kung, Cara Gee, Annie Briggs, K Alexander, Nicole Stamp, and Matt O'Connor. [15]
The movie takes place five years after the final events on season three. Laura and Carmilla have moved in together in an apartment in Toronto, Ontario. Post-graduation, Laura has felt rather unsuccessful with her journalism career thus far. After experiencing lucid dreams in a Victorian setting, Laura notices supernatural events are occurring in her life again. Carmilla has once again become a vampire after a mysterious meeting with a supernatural-therapist. Perry and LaFontaine own a start-up, Danny is a vampire rights activist, and Mel and Kirsch have joined Laura in journalism. Laura and Carmilla, along with Perry, LaFontaine, Mel, and Kirsch travel back to Styria, Austria to the Victorian mansion Laura has been dreaming of. Along with the ghosts of Carmilla's former victims, they fight the ghost of Carmilla's ex-lover in order to regain Carmilla's humanity.
The first season of Carmilla consists of 36 episodes, which aired from August 19, 2014 to December 2, 2014. [16] A Christmas special aired on December 24, 2014. [17] The second season of Carmilla consists of 36 episodes, which aired from June 2, 2015 to October 1, 2015. The next season, titled Season Zero, consists of 12 episodes, which began airing on October 22, 2015 and concluded on November 24, 2015.
The third and final season of Carmilla consists of 36 episodes and was split into three acts. Act I, which contains the first 17 episodes of the season, aired on September 15, 2016. Act II contains episodes 18-24 and aired on September 29, 2016. Act III contains episodes 25-36 and aired on October 13, 2016.
Due to budgetary constraints, the actors cast in season one were not members of ACTRA, a Canadian labor union for artists and performers. During pre-production for the second season, it was announced that the show would be financially able to support its actors in joining ACTRA, and several actors of color had been cast as new characters. [18]
Carmilla has been praised by Dana Piccoli of AfterEllen for its near all-female cast and representation of various LGBT characters. [29] In 2016, the series won a Canadian Screen Award [7] and a Rockie Award for Branded Content at the Banff World Media Festival. [8] Its use of LGBT characters and fantasy has earned it comparisons to the hit television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer . [30]
Year | Award | Category | Result |
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2014 | AfterEllen Visibility Awards | Favorite Web Series | Won [31] |
2015 | Shorty Awards | Favorite Webshow | Nominated [32] |
2015 | Streamy Awards | Best Drama | Nominated [33] |
2015 | AfterEllen Visibility Awards | Favorite Lesbian/Bi TV Character | Won [34] |
2015 | AfterEllen Visibility Awards | Favorite Fictional Lesbian Couple | Won [35] |
2015 | AfterEllen Visibility Awards | Best Web Series | Won [36] |
2015 | Digi Awards | Branded Content | Won [37] [38] |
2016 | Canadian Screen Awards | Digital Media Program/Series - Fiction | Won [39] |
2016 | Banff Rockies Awards | Branded Content Award | Won [40] |
2018 | MIPTV Media Market | Branded Content of the Year | Won [41] |
On May 7, 2019 a novelisation of the web series was released. The book Carmilla is written by Kim Turrisi. [42] [43] [44]
Carmilla is an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the early works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) by 25 years. First published as a serial in The Dark Blue (1871–72), the story is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, later revealed to be Countess Mircalla Karnstein. The character is a prototypical example of the lesbian vampire, expressing romantic desires toward the protagonist. The story is often anthologised, and has been adapted many times in film and other media.
Buffy Anne Summers is the title character of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in The WB/UPN 1997–2003 television series and subsequent 1998–2018 Dark Horse and 2019–present Boom! Studios comic series of the same name. The character has also appeared in the spin-off series Angel, as well as numerous expanded universe materials such as novels and video games. Buffy was portrayed by Kristy Swanson in the film and by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the television series. Giselle Loren has lent her voice to the character in both the Buffy video games and an unproduced animated series, while Kelly Albanese lent her voice to the character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight motion comics.
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character and the main female character in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula.
The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Gothic horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, George Cole, Kate O'Mara, Madeline Smith, Dawn Addams, Douglas Wilmer and Jon Finch. It was produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is based on the 1872 Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is the first film in the Karnstein Trilogy, the other two films being Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1971). The three films were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian themes.
Lesbian vampirism is a trope in early gothic horror and 20th century exploitation film. The archetype of a lesbian vampire used the fantasy genre to circumvent the heavy censorship of lesbian characters in the realm of social realism.
Yutte Stensgaard is a Danish actress born in Thisted, Jutland, Denmark, best known for her starring role in Hammer's Lust for a Vampire (1971).
Lust for a Vampire, also known as Love for a Vampire or To Love a Vampire, is a 1971 British Hammer Horror film directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Ralph Bates, Barbara Jefford, Suzanna Leigh, Michael Johnson, and Yutte Stensgaard. It was given an R rating in the United States for some violence, gore, strong adult content and nudity. It is the second film in the Karnstein Trilogy, loosely based on the 1872 Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla. It was preceded by The Vampire Lovers (1970) and followed by Twins of Evil (1971). The three films do not form a chronological development, but use the Karnstein family as the source of the vampiric threat and were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian themes.
Twins of Evil is a 1971 British horror film directed by John Hough and starring Peter Cushing, with Damien Thomas and the real-life identical twins and former Playboy Playmates Mary and Madeleine Collinson.
Blood and Roses is a 1960 erotic horror film directed by Roger Vadim. It is based on the novella Carmilla (1872) by Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu, shifting the book's setting in 19th-century Styria to the film's 20th-century Italy.
Baby Daddy is an American sitcom created by Dan Berendsen that premiered on June 20, 2012, on ABC Family (Freeform). The series follows Ben, a man in his twenties, who gets the surprise of his life when a one-night stand leaves his baby at his doorstep. Ben decides to raise his daughter with the help of his brother, Danny, his two close friends, Riley and Tucker, and his sometimes-overbearing mother, Bonnie. The show is based on and inspired by the American film Three Men and a Baby (1987), and serves as the third installment overall in the titular franchise. Six seasons were produced in total, with the 100th and final episode airing on May 22, 2017.
Love Thy Neighbor is an American television sitcom broadcast from May 29, 2013 to August 19, 2017 on the Oprah Winfrey Network. The series is written, directed and executive produced by Tyler Perry. The series serves as a spin-off of the Madea franchise. It also acquired the second highest-rated series premiere on the Oprah Winfrey Network, after another Perry program, The Haves and the Have Nots.
Natasha Negovanlis is a Canadian actress, writer, producer, and singer. She achieved international recognition for portraying Carmilla Karnstein in the YouTube web series Carmilla (2014–2016) and in the 2017 feature film based on the series.
Elise Bauman is a Canadian actress, director, filmmaker and singer. She portrayed the role of Laura Hollis, the lead character of the web series Carmilla (2014–2016).
K Alexander (born October 9, 1992) is a Canadian actor, writer, web series creator and YouTube personality, best known as LaFontaine in the popular LGBT web series Carmilla (2014–2016). In 2016, their Kickstarter and Indiegogo-funded web series Couple-ish (2015–2017) was nominated for a Streamy Award.
Sharon Belle is a Canadian actress, best known for her role in the web series Carmilla and Couple-ish.
Annie Morgan Briggs is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Lola Perry in the web series Carmilla (2014–2016).
Jordan Hall is a Canadian writer, playwright and web series creator, best known for creating the award-winning web series Carmilla.
Ellen Simpson is an American writer. She is known for her work as story editor and social media writer for the web series Carmilla. She also has published several novels with Ylva Publishing. Simpson identifies as a lesbian.
The Carmilla Movie is a 2017 Canadian comedy horror film directed by Spencer Maybee, based on the web series of the same name (2014–2016). Both the film and the web series were adapted from the 1872 gothic novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. The film received a limited release in Canada on October 26, 2017.
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