Editorials
The ‘Halloween’ Reboot Could Kickstart a Slasher Movie Revival
Is a slasher movie resurgence on the horizon? We have a good feeling about this.
If all goes according to current plans, director David Gordon Green and co-writer Danny McBride’s new take on the Halloween franchise, described as more of a continuation of John Carpenter’s original vision than a full-on reboot of the series, will arrive in theaters on October 19th, 2018. At that point, it’ll be the first time Michael Myers has appeared on the big screen in just under 10 years, which needless to say makes it one of the most hotly-anticipated horror movies on the release schedule.
As exciting as the movie itself are the sub-genre’s future prospects.
We expect that Gordon Green’s Halloween, given the franchise’s proven track record (as well as Blumhouse’s ability to keep costs low and profits high) will do pretty well at the box office next Halloween season, and we can’t help but wonder just how influential the film’s box office success could be on the future of the horror genre as a whole. The new Halloween will be the first true slasher movie to arrive in theaters in many years, so it could indeed be the catalyst for a whole new wave of slasher flicks.
At the very least, it’ll test the current popularity of the sub-genre.
What’s interesting about this (hopeful) thought, of course, is that it wouldn’t be the first time Halloween has kick-started an American slasher movement. John Carpenter’s Halloween, an independent film released in 1978, may not have been the first slasher movie (the sub-genre’s origins date back much further, with Black Christmas notably influencing Carpenter to make Halloween), but it’s undoubtedly the one that opened the floodgates and allowed for subsequent franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street to arrive on the scene.
And when the slasher remake craze took hold one decade ago, do you remember which of the aforementioned three preceded the others? Yup, that’d be Halloween, Rob Zombie’s remake of Carpenter’s classic. True, the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) came first, but the financially successful Halloween (2007) was directly followed by remakes of both Friday the 13th (2009) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) – as well as attempted revivals of other slasher franchises such as Prom Night and My Bloody Valentine. I suppose you could say that Michael Myers (indirectly) created Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger and also helped bring them back from the dead years later. And he could do the very same thing in the coming years.
Just how likely is a slasher movie revival? Well, if you look at recent horror series’ on the small screen, you could argue that we’ve been slowly heading towards that inevitable resurgence for many years now. Shows like “Bates Motel,” “Scream Queens” and especially “Scream” have proven that audiences still have an interest in the hack ‘n slash sub-genre, so it’s seemingly only a matter of time before masked killers start spilling blood on the big screen again. The sub-genre isn’t dead, as recent movies such as The Final Girls, Cub and this year’s Lake Bodom are evidence of, it just needs a kick in the pants on a grand scale. All it’s really going to take is one big box office hit to once again break open those floodgates. Enter Michael Myers.
If there’s one thing studios pay attention to its what makes money, and if Halloween makes a killing, I can’t imagine long-gestating reboots of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street will be far behind. Keep in mind that the very reason Paramount recently pulled a new Friday the 13th film from their schedule was because another franchise horror film, this year’s Rings, didn’t perform as well as they hoped. It’s a bummer, but that (often incredibly flawed) way of thinking goes both ways. In other words, if Halloween dominates the box office in 2018, you better believe that whoever owns the Friday the 13th rights at that time will be itching to bring Jason back to life. And the same goes for Freddy.
After all, it happened in 2007.
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.