Editorials
[Best of 2018] How ‘Pokemon Let’s Go’ Tames the Horror of Lavender Town
Pokemon’s Lavender Town is notoriously spooky. From the Creepypasta tales surrounding the apocryphal Pokemon Green to the anime depiction of ghosts incarnate, the atmosphere of Lavender Town is uncanny, weird, and deeply unsettling.
This year, however, saw the release of Pokemon Let’s Go, the most recent iteration of Pokemon Generation 1. It is true that the uncanny atmosphere of Lavender Town persists after the events of Generation 1, as the soundtracks in Gold and Silver — set three years after Gen 1 — attest to with their toned down yet still eerie instrumentation. Ultimately, though, things seem to be a little better at this point in the Pokemon timeline.
Let’s Go builds on the bridge between Gen 1 and Gen 2 that made this so by directly confronting and actually resolving the horrors of Lavender Town. This is because Let’s Go brought a whole new take on Lavender Town, which ultimately succeeded in taming the horror imbued in the infamous setting. In particular, the story of Cubone’s mother was changed slightly — slightly, but enough to make a serious difference.
For those who aren’t familiar with the story of Cubone and its lost mother, Generation 1 Pokemon games have always featured a story in which Lavender Town’s Pokemon Tower has been overrun by terrifying ghosts. The player, however, can cause the ghosts to materialize if they have the Silph Scope.
After obtaining the item from a Team Rocket base, it becomes clear that the unsettling omens plaguing Lavender Town came about due to the fact that a late Marowak couldn’t rest. It is implied that this Marowak was brutally murdered by members of Team Rocket and was unable to ascend to the afterlife due to the fact that it feared for its now-orphaned Cubone.
In Pokemon Let’s Go, the whole sequence of events that takes place in Lavender Town is changed. Aside from the spooky music and immaterial wraithlike ghosts, Cubone’s tale is given some real love, making it incredibly touching and bittersweet in the most heartfelt way. Often known as the “scary” part of Pokemon, Let’s Go’s Lavender Town gives Cubone a real presence for the first time ever, as it climbs the steps of the Pokemon Tower searching for its dead mother. It is implied that Cubone knows that she was murdered, but is tragically unsure of what this means for it.
These tragic elements are important because they are made central to the horror her. Cubone is kidnapped by Team Rocket and taken to the Celadon Game Corner. It is the unplayed parts of this that contain the real scary stuff, as Cubone’s fate is uncertain. In an effort to set Cubone free, the player infiltrates the Rocket base and defeats Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket.
Although this is what players must do in order to get the necessary Silph Scope item in previous games, in Let’s Go you go there with the sole purpose of saving Cubone from the unseen horrors of being held prisoner by his mother’s murderers. After bringing Cubone back to Lavender Town, is is briefly reunited with the spirit of its mother, who materializes for just a moment, but long enough to reach out to Cubone. Marowak then takes on the form of an ethereal golden light before transcending to the afterlife. Cubone, irreparably and understandably hurt, receives some closure at least.
Feeling sorry for Cubone, your rival will offer to raise it, to the extent that their final Pokemon team includes a Marowak. With the help of your rival, Cubone was able to channel its loss into newfound strength. The previously unwritten parts of Lavender Town’s horror story are given a narrative for the first time in the history of Pokemon. Lavender Town is still scary, but there’s meaning in the horror. Cubone’s own horror story doesn’t end in tragedy but in new hope. Let’s Go tames the horror of Lavender Town without being overtly cheesy or cringy. It’s a sincere way of giving Cubone closure and highlighting the transition between Lavender Town’s iterations in Gen 1 and Gen 2.
Ultimately, the horror of Lavender Town is stripped of its power for the most part, as the touching story upon which this part of the game is based on comes front and centre. The horror is still very much there; however, it’s tamed by a cathartic tale telling the story of the bond shared between parent and child, and the recognition of the fact that, as Japanese author Haruki Murakami would say, “Death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of it.” From Marowak’s untimely and unjust death at the hands of Team Rocket, Cubone draws strength, which culminates in Marowak’s restless soul being soothed. As a result, Lavender Town’s Pokemon Tower becomes calm once again, which is reflected in the ambiance of the town at large. On a more microcosmic level, though, Cubone’s overcoming of its own horror story is what makes it strong.
In Pokemon Let’s Go, the things that made Lavender Town so scary in the 90s have been completely flipped on their head. The uncanny music is tamed by Cubone’s evocative tale, and the resolution of this tale offers more in the way of a sense of remedy than any previous iteration of Gen 1 offered. Although Mr. Fuji has always concerned with the wellbeing of a newborn Cubone, this is the first time Cubone is actually present in the flesh, which accentuates the tragedy imbued in the story, but by the same logic accentuates the bittersweet resolution, too.
As a result, Lavender Town’s original horror value belies something far deeper here. The horror isn’t lost, and new players will still be able to recognize the uncanny nature of the haunted town, but they’ll also be able to tangibly see the ways in which their impact on the story manifests itself. Cubone, despite having gone through tragedy, says farewell to its mother and develops a bond with a loving trainer, allowing it to evolve into a Marowak itself by the end of the game. It’s subtle, but it’s truly sweet. Amidst a plethora of remakes that seek to make their tales scarier, Pokemon Let’s Go tames the horror of its most emphatically horrific part. It subverts the origins of the tale, converting them into something that’s tangible, meaningful, and most importantly of all, not so scary once you take the first brave step to embrace it.
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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