Editorials
The Sorrow of Ghosts: Looking Back on One of the Most Iconic Bosses in ‘Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater’
From the five year anniversary of P.T.’s release, to the official release of Death Stranding, 2019 has sure been a year for Hideo Kojima. On top of all this, it is also the 15th anniversary of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater!
As one of my personal favorite Metal Gear games, MGS3 provides an amazing experience that allows the player to see the origins of the series’ iconic villain, Big Boss (known as Naked Snake at this point in the game’s lore).
While I could dive into the game’s overall mechanics and story – for this retrospective, I want to do something a little different. Instead, I want to focus on one particular highlight of MGS3 – a segment that is not only one of Metal Gear’s most fascinating boss fights, but also an excellent example of Kojima’s creativity.
From MGS1 to MGS4, each game has had an awesome cast of villains. For MGS3, Naked Snake’s mentor, The Boss, is the leader of the Cobra Unit. This group consists of elite soldiers who go by names such as The Pain, The End, The Fury, and The Fear. Every one of these bosses makes for intense combat; but in particular, I want to revisit the brilliantly designed encounter with The Sorrow.
After Snake escapes from a prison cell, he dives from a waterfall and finds himself in a river. The trees on each side of the river are on fire; that is until a rain appears, casting a haunting hue over the area. From the water, The Sorrow rises to confront Snake, exuding a chilling ethereal aura. He levitates above the water, looking down at Snake as a stream of blood tears from one of his eyes. Before the boss sequence kicks off, The Sorrow says to Snake, “Now you will know the sorrow of those whose lives you have ended.”
(Fun side note – if the player pays attention to certain cutscenes, they can catch actually catch The Sorrow’s ghostly figure lingering behind characters.)
What takes place next is a rather odd boss confrontation, as Snake is attempting to evade ghosts in the form of various enemy types. These enemy types range from infantry soldiers the player and Snake have encountered before, as well as previous members of the Cobra Unit. Along with dodging these ghostly apparitions, The Sorrow will shoot psychic blasts at Snake. While already an unconventional boss fight, given that the player isn’t attacking any enemies, there’s also a fascinating dynamic at work based on previous actions.
The player ends up determining the volume of enemies they’ll encounter – for each of these ghosts is someone the player has killed so far throughout the game.
Throughout his games, Kojima has always been fascinated with providing his stories with non-violent means to combat foes. Even though there are various themes throughout his games, he has always shown an interest in exploring the darkness of war and violence. The player may have access to machine guns and rocket launchers throughout their espionage journey, but they also have access to tranquilizers and the power to knock out a threat without killing.
So if one were to not kill any enemies leading up to The Sorrow, then the encounter would be devoid of any spirits (the exception being the Cobra Unit bosses, their ghosts will be present regardless). If the player kills every enemy they see, however, then they are going to have a lot more ghosts to deal with.
Let alone this being a fun dynamic, this is also a brilliant means for the player to reflect on their actions. Kojima has always strived to present mindful games. Through the player’s “match” with The Sorrow, Kojima presents a scenario where the player has to recognize the body count they’ve racked up, literally having to combat the consequences of their actions. Even though the boss fight isn’t as fourth wall heavy as the Psycho Mantis battle in MGS1, Kojima once again breaches the dimension, allowing for digital actions to connect with the player.
15 years later and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater holds up as a fantastic adventure. From the intense bosses to the engaging political thriller that is its story, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is one of the strongest entries in Kojima’s iconic series. Not only does The Sorrow boss fight make an excellent experience, but it also represents the thought-provoking depth of Kojima’s artistry.
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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