Editorials
[It Came From the ‘80s] Larry Cohen’s Sentient Killer Dessert ‘The Stuff’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
When you think of ‘80s creature features, a sentient yogurt-like substance that turns its devourers into a sort of zombie doesn’t usually pop in mind. But you can always count on writer/director Larry Cohen, known for his rule-breaking style of filmmaking, to think outside of the box. Taking aim at consumerism and corporate greed, and inspired by America’s affinity for junk food, Cohen came up with The Stuff; an ice cream like substance straight from the Earth with zero calories and deliciously addictive properties. The only downside is that its parasitic in nature, and destroys those who consume it from the inside out, mutating them in the process.
In true Cohen fashion, The Stuff is far more satiric in tone than distributor New World Pictures wanted. They expected a straightforward horror film with more gore and scares, especially after having released his much more serious sci-fi/horror film God Told Me To years prior. Even still, it was marketed as a straightforward horror film and didn’t fare well upon limited theatrical release in the summer of 1985. To be fair, Cohen never bothered to send dailies, so the distributor had no idea what they had on their hands until the film was complete.
The Stuff is worth the watch for frequent Cohen collaborator Michael Moriarity’s performance alone. As lead protagonist David “Mo” Rutherford, Moriarity brings his trademark eccentricities to the role. A former FBI agent turned professional industrial saboteur, Mo is one of the most atypical heroes to grace the screen. Pretty much the entire performance was improv. But another worthwhile reason to watch this film, of course, is for The Stuff.
A vast number of creature features of the decade involved a casting and molding process to create custom prosthetics to be applied on an actor. But what if the monster was a gooey edible substance? It meant the special makeup effects team had to get really creative with bringing The Stuff to life. The team, with notable makeup effects artists like Ed French (Blood Rage, Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Rick Stratton (Fright Night, Edward Scissorhands), and Steve Neill (Ghostbusters, Fright Night), used multiple techniques.
Some of the effects are obvious, like the use of yogurt or shaving cream in scenes where The Stuff went into the actor’s mouth. In scenes where The Stuff physically attacked a character, the artists would pour foam latex over the actor’s face to simulate the movement. For the scenes that involved mass amounts of The Stuff, firefighting foam was used. Or worse, a substance made with fish guts. It was cheap, and Cohen usually didn’t have much of a budget, so the actors had to contend with being doused in stinky fish guts. Manipulating large quantities of foamy goo often relied on gravity doing its job. A rotating room was built for the scene that has The Stuff shoot out of a mattress and pin its victim to the bedroom wall. The actor was actually on the floor, with the goo gushing down on him.
A not so subtle cautionary tale about mindless consumerism, The Stuff offers a different take on the ‘80s creature feature. It’s far more comedy than horror, but it works in the film’s favor in this case. For those unfamiliar with Cohen’s interesting body of work, The Stuff provides a good gateway. Come for the weird sentient people-eating dessert, stay for Moriarty’s performance, and leave with The Stuff jingle stuck in your head.
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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