Editorials
Looking Back on the Mundane Monsters of MTV’s “Death Valley” 10 Years Later
Here’s a question no one’s ever asked before: what do you get when you hire one of the minds behind Scrubs (Curtis Gwinn) and the creator of Fat Guy Stuck in Internet (Eric Weinberg) to create a TV show based on an idea by Powerman 5000 frontman Spider One? Well, you get the criminally underseen Death Valley, a short-lived MTV program about ordinary cops living in an extraordinary world. Ten years after its final episode, I’d like to shine a light on this overlooked gem and explore how it paved the way for contemporary hits like Wellington Paranormal and What We Do in the Shadows.
Taking place in an alternate version of the San Fernando Valley where zombies, vampires and werewolves are about as common as drug deals and armed robberies, Death Valley is a Cops-styled mockumentary show chronicling the misadventures of the Undead Task Force. With a single 12-episode season that aired throughout 2011, the show explored the daily struggles of law enforcement having to deal with absurd and horrific crimes, all the while being followed by a drama-hungry documentary crew.
While the show was never a certified hit, garnering only modest ratings and a small but dedicated cult following, I believe it was one of the best horror comedies to come out before the TV horror boom of the mid-2010s. With more than a little inspiration from that one episode of The X-Files where Mulder and Scully find themselves being hounded by a reality TV crew during an investigation (Season 7’s excellent X-Cops), Death Valley was a creative departure from your usual supernatural-based programming.
Unlike most shows featuring modern-day monster hunters, the heroes of Death Valley aren’t super-powered chosen ones or even members of a proper special forces unit, they’re just regular cops who happened to deal with the occasional man-eating creature of the night. They may pack UV flashlights and retractable wooden stakes (as well as the occasional baseball bat and grenade launcher), but this is still a down-to-earth romp about a world where society has had to adjust to the existence of the supernatural.
How do you arrest a dead suspect?
The show’s nonchalant approach to world-building is actually part of its charm, with characters claiming that the undead has been plaguing society for about a year now, with no real explanation as to how it happened or why. Werewolf attacks and zombie infections have become so common that they’re treated like a nuisance, more akin to public intoxication and disorderly conduct than a threat to civilization. This setup is meant to be comedic, but it also makes the show feel like a more realistic take on how most people would react (or refuse to react) to real-world monsters.
The clever scene transitions are a great example of this, showing brief glimpses of the undead wreaking havoc across town as citizens go about their day. These moments really help with the atmosphere, further elucidating how the undead have become just another quirk of life in California. The documentary-style presentation also keeps things believable as we accompany these police officers on their quest to break up vampire parties and reprimand werewolves that aren’t abiding to the mandatory curfew.
The show even gets a little serious at times, often using the undead menace as clear analogues for real-world issues like HIV, drunk driving and even the opioid epidemic. Hell, one episode even introduces us to vampire prostitutes who sell themselves for a taste of blood, showing the grittier side of a world where people have to deal with Vampiric curses alongside traditional STDs. While these situations are mostly presented as tongue-in-cheek satire, there’s no denying that some of it hits close to home.
Of course, the real backbone of Death Valley is comprised by the officers themselves and their quirky personalities. Featuring cops like the over-enthusiastic John-John (Texas Battle), the honorable everyman Joe Stubeck (Charlie Sanders) and the secretly bad-ass rookie Kirsten (Caity Lotz), the show’s unique character dynamics had enough potential for several more seasons, with some moments being reminiscent of a more horror-centric Brooklyn 99. Personally, my favorite character was the batshit-crazy Captain Dashell (played to perfection by Bryan Callen), though his constant sexual remarks were a bit too much even for 2011 standards.
A bit more action-packed than your average workplace comedy.
Curiously, the documentary crew is often dragged into the action as well, with sound technicians and cameramen finding themselves in constant peril as they attempt to record the action. With most mockumentary productions opting for a “fly-on-the-wall” approach to justify the aesthetic, it’s fun to see a show embrace the crew as a part of the narrative, even if it makes some of the inconsistent camera setups and impossible angles a little more noticeable (though that’s a nitpick I have with almost all mockumentary shows).
Unfortunately, that’s not Death Valley‘s only shortcoming, as some of the humor is a bit hit-and-miss, with quite a few dated references and some arguably offensive stereotyping. Some of the action sequences are also a little lacking, though that has more to do with the limited budget than anything else. Even so, I think it’s safe to say that most of these issues would have been addressed in future seasons had the showrunners been given the opportunity. As it stands, the show is still worth a watch for genre fans, especially with its smorgasbord of practical gore and monster effects, but I can’t help but wonder where these stories could have gone next.
While there’s little chance of a series revival at this point, I really appreciate what the show did for televised horror comedies and wish we could have seen more. That’s why I’d argue that Death Valley is still worth checking out a decade later despite ending on a demonic cliff-hanger. The show might have been aiming for comedy, but I think there’s something truly frightening about the idea that, even if vampires, werewolves and zombies were real, regular people would still have to get up and go to work in the morning.
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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