Editorials
‘The Medium’ Is One of This Halloween Season’s Best Horror Movies You Might’ve Missed [Indie Horror Spotlight]
The content space is more crowded than ever, making it challenging to keep up with all of the genre titles available via streaming platforms, VOD, and theatrical releases. It can be overwhelming just to browse. To help prevent great indie horror from slipping through the cracks, we’ll spotlight our favorites every month.
True to form, October marked another insanely busy Halloween month in terms of horror releases. So much so that it became tricky to keep up, mainly thanks to the return of significant franchises on both the big screen and small. One of the most under-the-radar titles of October happens to be one of its most startling, the Shudder release of The Medium, a documentary-style nightmare hailing from Thailand.
The Medium introduces us to Nim (Sawanee Utoomma), a Shaman possessed by the spirit of Bayan in the Isan region of Thailand. Nim explains to the documentary crew that Bayan has been inhabiting women in her family for generations. She came to become the vessel for the deity after older sister Noi (Sirani Yankittikan) refused and turned to Christianity to ward off Bayan. The documentary crew decides to stay and use the family as the sole subject of their feature when Noi’s daughter Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolpech) starts demonstrating signs of possession. What’s first suspected as Bayan choosing her next successor gives way to worries of something more sinister afoot.
Sawanee Utoomma as Nim – The Medium – Photo Credit: Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Shudder
Producer and co-writer Na Hong-jin first thought of creating a follow-up to his hit, The Wailing, with a story that would center on Il-gwang (Hwang Jung-min), the shaman hired to help the village and exorcise the demon. It then evolved into Mink’s story, a narrative of someone’s first encounters with shamanism and the road to becoming a shaman, inspired by what Il-gwang’s origins might’ve looked like had he written the sequel. The Medium, which Na Hong-jin wrote with Chantavit Dhanasevi, ultimately isn’t connected to The Wailing, but it does bear some thematic resemblances stemming from its initial conception.
The Medium‘s lengthy two-hours and ten-minute runtime might seem intimidating, but it breezes right by thanks to its infectious and engaging cast. In an interview with Screen Daily, Na explained that this was achieved through a loose script that required improv. Director Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter) gave his actors scene objectives and let them improvise their dialogue. That direction and the mockumentary setup infuse authenticity, making for a more immersive entry point into this world. It puts the characters first, engendering rooting interest long before the real horrors arrive.
At first, the scares are subtle. The horror begins with tell-tale signs of possession in Mink, a young woman raised by a mother who long ago rejected her family’s spiritual beliefs. The more Nim and her brother Manit (Yasaka Chaisorn) try to intervene to help, the more Noi angrily rebuffs, choosing denial until Mink grows violent. The halfway point marks one of the most chilling moments involving a reflection in a vehicle window, but it’s so understated that it’s easy to miss.
Then it builds. Eerie found footage-style video of Mink’s nighttime activity grows more disturbing. Even still, it can’t prepare for the absolute insanity of the climax, an onslaught of spiritual exposition and gruesome horrors. It’s gory, shocking, and unpredictable.
Much like The Wailing, faith plays a prominent role in The Medium‘s events. Local cultural beliefs clash with Christianity, muddying the fight for Mink’s soul. But there’s a more personal tragedy underpinning Pisanthanakun’s film; this is the direct fallout of events that transpired so many years ago, before Mink was even born. Noi’s selfishness, her refusing her duties of accepting Bayan and purposefully shaping events for Nim to take her place, irrevocably altered the family’s future. Noi’s choices removed any for Nim and then Mink. The Medium dangles the question of whether Mink’s plight is Bayan seeking retribution, course correction, or abandoning the family altogether for the offenses committed.
The ultimate answer manages to break your heart regarding some of the characters we grow attached to, and leaves your jaw on the floor.
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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