Editorials
‘The Monster’: The Most Badass Horror Hero of 2016 May Be a Child
Monsters are real. And sometimes, only children are brave enough to battle them.
Growing up, films like The Gate and The Monster Squad appealed to me in a special way that other horror movies simply did not. Like scary versions of Home Alone and The Goonies, they centered on kids who were tasked with battling evil forces, and being a kid at the time I saw them, there was something incredibly empowering about that. Maybe I didn’t even realize why I was connecting with them back then, but looking back, I realize how important it is for everyone to have heroes they can look up to and, more importantly, relate to: men, women, and definitely children.
In all of those aforementioned films, the children seemed to be so much more equipped to battle the monsters – human and otherwise – than their full-grown counterparts. They were smarter, braver, and tougher than the adults; the adults were often too dumb to even realize what they were up against. Unfortunately, horror movies with young heroes don’t come around all that often these days, nor do good old fashioned monster movies. But this year, thanks to writer/director Bryan Bertino, we have The Monster. As Brad noted in his review here on BD, Bertino’s latest is a throwback creature feature, but it’s also a film that empowers children in a way that few movies do nowadays.
From the opening scene of The Monster, it’s immediately clear who’s in control and who’s not. Young Lizzy (Ella Ballentine) is the daughter of Kathy (Zoe Kazan), who is the very definition of a deadbeat mom. Kathy is an abusive alcoholic who frequently passes out on the couch and just plain isn’t present in her daughter’s life, forcing Lizzy to be the parent figure to her own parent. In the first sequence, we see Lizzy cleaning up cigarette butts and beer bottles from around the living room, the young girl coming off more like the mother to a destructive teenager than the child she physically appears to be.
The plot is set in motion when Kathy takes Lizzy on a road trip to spend time with her equally troubled father. On a long stretch of road at night, rain pouring down from the skies, their car collides with a wolf, stranding them in the middle of the road without any help in sight. They soon realize that the wolf was running away from something else out there in the woods, and like a modern day Cujo, the film mostly traps the mother and daughter in their car while a massive monster roams free outside.
When the shit hits the fan, it’s Lizzy who is forced, as always, to take control of the situation. The young girl is terrified, but her mother insists that she be the one who calls 911. She insists that she be the one who calls her father to let him know they’re not going to make it. And even when Lizzy goes outside to investigate, Kathy stays in the car. Kathy isn’t scared because she’s too dumb to realize they’re in grave danger. But Lizzy knows the score. And like a young Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, she doesn’t intend on sitting back and letting the monster have his way with her.
*AS A WORD OF WARNING, SPOILERS WILL BE FOUND BELOW. SEE THE MOVIE FIRST.*
In the final act of The Monster, Kathy gives up. Her actions may seem heroic, as she sacrifices herself to save her daughter’s life, but if you found yourself feeling like her plan was foolish, well, I’m pretty sure that was the point. Hiding out in an overturned ambulance, Kathy decides to head out into the woods and draw the monster to her, allowing Lizzy to run away from the scene and save herself. In giving up, Kathy essentially abandons Lizzy for the final time, and it’s Lizzy who is the real hero of the situation. Rather than running away, the young girl heads out into the woods to be by her mother’s side in her final moments, resourcefully fending off the monster in the process; she arms herself with a flashlight, and as any kid knows, monsters fear the light. Her next plan is to lure the monster out in the road and set it on fire using a lighter and flammable spray, which she enacts with total fearlessness.
Burnt to a crisp, the monster is still holding on to a shred of life, but Lizzy, like the hero she’s been since the beginning of the film, physically beats it out of him. Tommy Jarvis would be proud.
Like many recent monster movies, most notably The Babadook, the monster in The Monster is actually a representation of something very much grounded in reality. Yes, there is a monster out there in the woods, and yes, it does eat a few people, but by the end of the film, it’s clear that Kathy is the monster that Lizzy needed to escape from. As we see in an emotional flashback scene after the monster is killed, Kathy was well aware that Lizzy was going to be better off without her, and now that she’s gone, Lizzy is free from the darkness that once surrounded her.
She’s free from the monster.
A triumphant Lizzy emerges from the woods at the end of The Monster, having spent not just one night but her entire life, up to that point, battling monsters. She was as brave in the presence of a true monster as she was in the face of the emotional and physical torment she had to endure on a daily basis: a bravery that perhaps only a child is hopeful enough to truly have.
Kids need horror heroes too. And The Monster‘s Lizzy is one of the best in years. She was able to overcome the darkness surrounding her, and if she was able to, maybe we all can.
The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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