Editorials
[#DOOM25] Have You Heard of… ‘DOOM RPG’?
Believe it or not, DOOM wasn’t always an ultra-frantic shooter with a big, clanging pair of gore-stained balls swinging to and fro alongside Vince McMahon esque strides. Indeed, there was a time when over a decade ago, id Software dipped its toes into the RPG genre by releasing DOOM RPG – a labor of love that was pretty much the most unexpected marriage of things since David Arquette and pro-wrestling.
Long before Android or iOS-powered smartphones were a thing, id Software would bring DOOM RPG to mobile devices that were powered by Java, and the now-defunct SymbianOS. However, in order to do a proper job of it, id Software would enlist the talents of mobile developer Fountainhead Entertainment, who would fill in the technical gaps that The House That DOOM Built would naturally have in dealing with such an unfamiliar platform.
The end result was that DOOM RPG was every bit the blood-soaked off-genre homage to id Software’s magnum opus that we all hoped it would be, and more importantly, it was a game which inarguably showed that DOOM could exist outside of its FPS genre comfort zone. Of course, it didn’t hurt that DOOM’s leap to the RPG genre reassuringly included all of the cornerstones of the core DOOM experience.
With the action unfolding from a familiar first-person perspective, DOOM RPG once more casts players as Doomguy who, just like in the mainline series, must blast his way through a demonic horde and close the portal that links our reality to that of Hell. Bolstering the familiarity of its setting is the fact that DOOM RPG also brings back many of the recognizable weapons and monsters from the core franchise too, including the shotgun, rocket launcher, zombie troopers, imps and even the Cyberdemon for starters.
Beyond that near and dear collection of villains and premium bang-bang, DOOM RPG strikes out into titular genre territory in earnest and this is most noticeable in how the game handles the twin cornerstones of the DOOM franchise – movement and combat.
In the case of the former, movement is no longer rooted in the free motion style of traversal that was championed in the 1993 original. but was instead replaced by a turn-based system that permitted the player to turn in 90-degree increments while they move from space to space. It’s a system that is miles away from the super frenetic shooter beats of the main series for sure, but in the case of DOOM’s new RPG digs, taming player agency in this way made a lot of sense from a pacing standpoint, too. Think traditional DOOM meets something like Dungeon Master or classic Bard’s Tale, and you get the idea.
Likewise, combat was similarly reimagined in this way. No longer permitting the player to freely put shotgun to face and pull the trigger at a split-second whim, in DOOM RPG players were instead required to face their grotesque enemies in turn-based combat scenarios where depending on the weapon and armor you were using at the time, the damage you would do to your foe and also receive from them would adjust accordingly.
Now, before you start vomiting in your mouth at the very thought of DOOM’s iconic gunplay being slowed down to an orderly plod, allow me to assuage you to the contrary – though turn-based, the execution of both movement and combat in DOOM RPG remains reassuringly rapid. Certainly, moving around the environment and vanquishing enemies with all manner of iconic DOOM weapons such as the shotgun, plasma gun, and even the mighty BFG9000 feels much swifter than you might expect, and manages to go some way to encapsulating the essence of id Software’s transformative shooter.
Other traditional elements of the core experience have also been tweaked and modified to fit this new DOOM, too. Take the enemies for example, though they’re a familiar bunch they are each color-coded to provide an indication of difficulty that scales as you press on through the game. While another neat wrinkle to the proceedings came in the form of a new mind-control dog collar, as it allows Doomguy to enthrall Hellhounds and direct them to attack his enemies with reckless abandon or defend him from incoming attack – it was almost like a not-shit, demonic Dead to Rights. Almost.
Anyhow, this being a genre effort, DOOM RPG wasn’t going to let you get away without doing RPG things and so players could expect to get stuck into a fair amount of talking to folks and using computer terminals to progress through the story. In fact, in many ways DOOM RPG’s story-driven exploratory beats somewhat mirror those seen in DOOM 3 – the difference, of course, being that when id Software released DOOM 3 in 2004, they forgot to append the ‘RPG’ bit on the end.
Ultimately a beautifully odd little curio, if anything the existence and subsequent modest success of DOOM RPG proved that there is still sufficient creative latitude in the DOOM setting to fashion games that exist outside its traditional FPS mold – so let’s try something like that again eh?
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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