Editorials
From Script to the Big Scream: ‘Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight’ Turns 25!
With multiple seasons, a spin-off cartoon, and endless merchandise tie-ins under its belt, anthology series Tales from the Crypt decided to parlay its success to the big screen in the mid-90s. Unlike the series, which was based on the 1950s EC Comics of the same name, the first film told an original story unrelated to the horror comics. Book-ended by the series’ beloved Cryptkeeper, a master of undead puns and storytelling, Demon Knight offered a central tale of good versus evil of biblical proportions.
A tongue-in-cheek action-horror hybrid that boasted great practical creature work and a stellar cast from top to bottom, Demon Knight released in theaters on January 13, 1995, just as the sixth season of the series was winding down on HBO. Twenty-five years later, Demon Knight holds up well and remains a standout of ‘90s horror.
Former NYU film school students and pals Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris, and Mark Bishop collaborated on the screenplay for Demon Knight in 1987, long before HBO began its seven-season run of Tales from the Crypt. They remained with the script in its many iterations in the long road to production in 1994. Before it finally found its home with Tales from the Crypt, Tom Holland felt it’d make a great follow-up project to Child’s Play, with Chris Sarandon in the villain’s role and Tommy Lee Jones as the hero for Holland’s dream casting.
When the project fell through, director Mary Lambert was the next prominent horror director to show interest. Her vision would’ve drastically changed the story, which entailed making the Demon Knights enslaved people, and her dream casting would’ve had Willem Dafoe as the villain and Edward Furlong as Uncle Willy. The financial failure of Pet Sematary II meant financial backing for her vision of Demon Knight evaporated. The script even passed through Charles Band’s Full Moon Productions for a brief stint, but finally found its way onto the desks at Joel Silver’s Silver Productions, who were looking for a script to round out their package of three Tales from the Crypt features.
Next came director Ernest Dickerson (Bones, The Walking Dead), a lifelong horror fan who’d been searching for a genre project to tackle. Unlike those who came before, Dickerson was a fan of the script, though he did work with Reiff, Voris, and Bishop to refine it. The mythology behind the demons, as well as the character work, were fleshed out further. So too, were the kills and the method in which the demons had to be killed; taking a page from Alien, Dickerson wanted these demons to have an extra level of difficulty to slay. Shooting their eyes, therefore, wasn’t such a simple task anymore. Most of all, though, Dickerson infused the script with his love of Ray Harryhausen. The scene that sees the Collector (Billy Zane) birth demons from hell is an homage to Jason and the Argonauts.
The group wrote two scripts with budgetary limitations in mind — one with monstrous demons, and the other with a more human-like take on demons. The Collector, who was initially called Travelling Salesman, would be a bible salesman and fellow traveling salesman would be his legion. Only the removal of their sunglasses that exposed their demonic eyes would indicate they weren’t human. The Demon Knight novelization by Randall Boyll, written from an earlier draft of the script, features the Salesman and numerous changes to the characters and their deaths.
Luckily, Universal Pictures realized the need for actual demons in a movie called Demon Knight and granted extra funding, much to the relief of special effects makeup designer and creator Todd Masters (Tales from the Crypt series, Slither). The stellar designs and work by Masters and his special makeup effects and creature crew contribute a large part of what makes the film so memorable. The unique and intricate designs, and the gore, of course. Masters and some of his crew watched Dead Alive (aka Braindead) during production and fell so hard for it that they brought one of the more outlandish deaths into Demon Knight; The Collector’s fist going straight through Sheriff Tupper’s (John Schuck) head. As for the creature performers, they had the tough task of being enclosed in the monster suits and perform on stilts- to keep balance on the stilts, the performers kept in constant motion.
Well executed creature and gore work, great direction, and a tight script were pushed over the top by a fantastic cast giving it their all. From Zane’s scene-stealing turn as the Collector opposite William Sadler’s grizzled hero Brayker and Jada Pinkett Smith‘s fierce Jeryline to supporting characters like Dick Miller’s Uncle Willy or CCH Pounder’s tough-as-nails Irene, there’s not a single character or actor involved that’s not compelling. Everyone’s a necessary and robust player in one of horror’s best ensembles. They were having a blast making this film, and it’s infectious to see on screen.
The Tales from the Crypt film trilogy never panned out according to the original plan. The film teased in the post-credit scene, Dead Easy, never came to fruition. Nor did Body Count. Producers even considered From Dusk till Dawn and The Frighteners as Tales from the Crypt features, but ultimately went with Bordello of Blood, a screenplay penned by series’ producers Gilbert Adler and A.L. Katz. Love it or hate it, the film had an arduous task of following on the heels of Demon Knight.
Every single facet of Demon Knight’s production is perfection; the soundtrack, the cast, the crew, the creatures, the direction, and the screenplay all work in unison to deliver one seriously entertaining entry in pulp horror. Full of endlessly quotable lines of dialogue, too. Twenty-five years later, anyone involved with the film reflects fondly of their experience working on it, which is a significant testament to its enduring longevity.
Demon Knight is an all-time great. Fangs for the memories, ghouls.
Editorials
‘Bloodstone: Subspecies II’ Revisited: A Bigger, Bolder Follow-Up to Full Moon’s Vampire Cult Classic
Horror sequels are a peculiar thing. In most cases, follow-ups to scary movies tend to retread the same formula with different victims and more over-the-top scares. This is because audiences tend to be more interested in the antagonists of these pictures than anything else, with even main characters becoming disposable when the time comes to produce a sequel.
That’s why some of the most memorable horror sequels are the ones that actually manage to hold onto interesting survivors from previous films while also pushing the story forward instead of having the same thing happen again to a different group of people. From Scream 2 to Dream Warriors (and arguably even The Exorcist III: Legion), there are quite a few of these innovative sequels to go around.
However, if there’s one franchise that deserves more attention when discussing bigger and better continuations that make the most of episodic filmmaking, it has to be Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies.
The Full Moon classic spawned an indie horror icon, but bizarre sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II is even more beloved than its predecessor.
Building a Bigger Vampire Saga
While the film itself takes place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, Bloodstone only entered production a couple of years after the release of the original as both Charles Band and Nicolaou weighed the pros and cons of returning to Romania to continue the series. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the team decided to invest in a trilogy where parts II and III, now fully written by Nicolaou, would be filmed simultaneously over the course of a single grueling shoot.
Much like the first Subspecies, Bloodstone’s low budget meant that the filmmakers once again had to cut corners and re-use as many of their resources as possible. Thankfully, the process was much easier this time around as Nicolaou, with the help of Romanian cinematographer Vlad Paunescu and his wife Oana, became more acquainted with local customs and made new friends. Shooting abroad still came with its own unique set of challenges due to a lack of translators and the occasional safety concerns, but the crew managed to make things work by filming things guerrilla-style and setting up shop in abandoned caves and real medieval ruins.
The director’s newfound contacts, coupled with the relative success of the first movie, meant that he was basically given free rein over an assortment of shooting locations usually considered off-limits for indie horror. That’s why Bloodstone features insanely ambitious lighting and effects work even during scenes shot in the middle of a bustling Bucharest. The filmmakers went so far as to project Radu’s Nosferatu-like shadows over local monuments as if he were a Romanian boogeyman, an idea that was actually encouraged by local cinephiles.
In fact, many of the more elaborate scenes here had originally been planned for the first movie before being discarded due to the lack of available resources. It was only with the support of Romanian fans and filmmakers that Bloodstone was able to give Radu a chance to be even more menacing the second time around.
Michelle’s Transformation Takes Center Stage
However, when it came to the American part of the crew, not everyone was able or willing to return for another round of Romanian adventuring. That’s why Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) is unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of the film while the role of Michelle had to be recast. Denice Duff took over for Laura Mae Tate, with the character now being joined by her sister, Rebecca, played by Melanie Shatner (yes, that Shatner).
In the finished film, we follow Michelle as she awakens to her new life as a vampire and discovers that Radu has murdered her lover. Struggling with grief and her newfound bloodlust, Michelle contacts her sister overseas, with Rebecca soon travelling to Romania on an ill-advised rescue mission. Meanwhile, Radu (Anders Hove) reaches out to his undead Mummy (Pamela Gordon, underneath heavy layers of impressive makeup effects) and promises to deliver her the coveted Bloodstone artifact while also making Michelle his eternal consort.
Revisiting the movie, I was impressed with how introspective this story is when compared to the original. The sequel assumes that you’re already familiar with the previously established characters, so the story wastes no time in exploring the immediate aftermath of the previous film’s events. From Michelle’s reluctant transformation into a creature of the night to Radu’s obvious mommy issues, Nicolaou is way more interested in pushing these characters into new and uncharted territory rather than recycling existing plot points.
Practical Effects and Gothic Atmosphere Still Impress
Yet, much like the first film, it’s Romania itself that makes the movie worth watching. The ruins of Castle Vladislav are even more majestic now, and visiting the moody streets of Bucharest with its surprisingly punk-rock nightlife made for a nice change of pace when compared to the original film’s quiet village setting. Once again, the abundance of interesting locations makes the movie feel much more expensive than it really is, with the filmmakers surrounding our characters with a living, breathing environment that would be impossible to recreate in a studio.
The increased freedom also allowed Nicolaou to flex his filmmaking muscles and tackle more ambitious blocking/composition in the sequel. The low budget and tropey script mean that the visuals don’t always work, but it’s consistently clear that this neo-expressionist style could only come from a passionate team attempting to pay homage to the shadowy horror classics of yesteryear. If the retro atmosphere isn’t enough for you, there’s enough practical gore here to satisfy even the most demanding of horror hounds!
Radu himself is also far more interesting now that Hove is more comfortable working alongside an international crew, with the actor having gone on record explaining that, while he spent more time drinking vodka than working while shooting the first movie, the sequel was a much more creatively satisfying experience for everyone involved. The character’s relationship with his abusive Mummy is also a highlight of the expanded mythology, especially since the practical effects that bring her to life are just as freaky now as they were back in ’93.
My only real gripe with the horror elements of the picture comes from the glaring absence of the diminutive stop-motion minions from the first film, though I guess the surprisingly entertaining addition of Professor Popescu (Michael Denish) and his archeological antics mostly make up for that.
Bloodstone: Subspecies II is obviously the middle chapter of a trilogy, with the ending feeling a lot less definitive than its predecessor as several plot threads are left to dangle in the wind, but I appreciate how the flick explores new ground while remaining faithful to nearly all the ideas that made the original such a good time. While I don’t think it’s as big of an improvement over the first movie as some fans make it out to be, Bloodstone is definitely worth revisiting if you’re a fan of old-fashioned vampire yarns.
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion to this initial trilogy, Bloodlust: Subspecies III!
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