Editorials
‘Martian Gothic: Unification’: A Terrible Title For a Fantastic Game
You know what you’re getting when you look at the cover of any House Of The Dead game – a house, full of the ‘dead’, which you’ll have to blast away mercilessly. Even the titles of many horror games give a general indication of what’s to come – The Last Of Us has the heavy implication of post-apocalyptic drama; Alien: Isolation suggests being stuck in space with a monster; Doom, well, suggests doom. But Martian Gothic: Unification (henceforth MGU) has a title so abstractly and mindlessly constructed, it’s enough to put players off even picking it up.
Developed by Take-Two Interactive (publishers of such varied big-hitters as Grand Theft Auto, Top Spin, and Bioshock), this third-person survival horror received average reviews upon release in 2000, pawned off as a rip-off of other popular games in the genre (namely, Resident Evil). But, if you can track this mysterious PS1 release down, it may offer a more fruitful (and frightful) experience than you think.
The central mystery of MGU is actually rather intriguing; written by sci-fi author Stephen Marley, it tells the story of three astronauts sent to investigate Vita-01, the first human settlement on Mars. For 10 months, the base has been dead silent – no communications whatsoever. Upon arrival, the crew, (Kenzo, Karne and Matlock), are given one very important instruction: “Stay alone, stay alive.” The horrific events which led to the downfall of Vita-01 unravel as you progress through the game, with one particularly haunting transmission warning: “It was a Pandora’s Box – all the evils of old Mars flew out.”
By ‘evils’, they mean a supernatural curse that has, unfortunately, for our obscurely named characters, awoken the previously dead inhabitants of the colony. So while they’re wandering the lonely corridors of the base, they have to put up with zombies, spiders and disgustingly realized monsters called Trimorphs, which vary from small pests that want to nibble at your legs, to huge body-tearing beasts.
Gameplay wise, it’s very similar to Resident Evil. There’s a fixed camera angle, a large inventory available to you and frustratingly difficult gunplay. But the key part of the game which separates this from the crop of 3D survival shooters is a good one; your characters can never meet. If you do, you’ll both ‘gruesomely merge into a Trimorph’ (you never see this happen, you just die). As such, you can take control of any of the three characters at any given time; which is handy, because to actually complete the game you need to do a lot of digging.
By a lot, I mean carrying around 100 inventory items, searching every shelf, drawer, and pocket, quizzing the in-game supercomputer à la HAL 9000 called MOOD (brilliantly voiced by Fenella Fielding), and if you care for your own sanity, taking plenty of actual written notes. In order to share necessary items with your team, you need to use vacuum tubes – a loot box-esque system that sends anything your team needs across the map. This becomes increasingly challenging when the impending threat of zombies becomes more frequent, meaning you often have to be pretty speedy.
There’s a lot to be admired for a game that blends such cerebral demand and shooting the undead. It could be argued it’s too hard for its own good, lacking on the more fun aspects you’d find in say, Resident Evil, or Silent Hill – but for enthusiasts of the genre, it’s a deeply and deftly thought out narrative, progressing much like a movie.
The cinematic comparison goes for the visuals too; considering this is a port of a PC game towards the bitter end of the PS1’s lifespan, the photorealistic surroundings and cut-scenes boast stellar graphics. The character design, however, is typically blocky, and some of the voice acting is truly hilarious, with Karne sounding like a really terrible impression of an American soldier stereotype. But just when that may be tipping your opinion of the game, the music saves the day – ominous and creepy, elevating the fear-factor of exploring the vacant corridors of this disturbing necropolis.
The opening titles are especially marvelous, evoking an immediate sense of looming dread, with a ghoulish accompanying voiceover. The game creates that crucial sensation when embarking through a survival horror outing; that sometimes you’ll feel the need to pause because you’re uneasy about what’s around the corner.
This isn’t a flawless testament to a forgotten game. MGU, like many games, has several issues – dodgy controls, a punishing disregard for how much humans can actually retain and game mechanics that eventually lose their novelty. But as far as atmospheric, in-depth, spooky space outings go, this will likely be a sorely missed treat for many sci-fi horror fans.
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.