Editorials
‘Scream’ Got the Bollywood Treatment in 2003 Remake ‘Sssshhh…’ [Horrors Elsewhere]
Horrors Elsewhere is a recurring column that spotlights a variety of movies from all around the globe, particularly those not from the United States. Fears may not be universal, but one thing is for sure — a scream is understood, always and everywhere.
While remakes seem like a strictly Western idea, make no mistake — every film industry does them. Almost surpassing Hollywood in terms of numbers, though, is the Indian film industry. A consistent source of remakes has been foreign horror, and many of these films’ inspired plots are often hidden beneath cultural particularities. A prime example is the 2003 remake of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s Scream. The bones of the original story are here, but everything else feels absolutely unfamiliar to Ghostface fans.
Director Pavan S. Kaul and writer Arshad Ali Syed’s Sssshhh… begins with the murder of two college students, Malini (Simone Singh) and her boyfriend. Malini is slaughtered on campus by a knife-wielding stranger wearing a black cloak and a clown mask. The killer, dubbed the Joker, goes dormant until six months later when he returns to stalk Malini’s sister, Mehak (Tanishaa Mukerji). She and all her friends are now on the Joker’s to-kill list.
There is nothing too remarkable about the cold open; a woman is pursued by a masked assailant, then murdered without leaving a trace of their own true identity. This has happened before in the genre, and it will happen again many times over. Matching Drew Barrymore’s signature death is a tall order, and Kaul’s interpretation does not even come close. The patented element of menacing phone calls is avoided altogether until the next scene, and after that, it is ignored entirely for other more pressing ingredients like music sequences. Yes, Sssshhh… has several musical numbers during its hefty runtime.
For the uninitiated viewers, they will be surprised to learn that even Indian horror productions include these lively, foot-tapping performances. The film wastes no time either seeing as the music video-style opening credits feature the killer dramatically frolicking with backup dancers atop a snowy mountain. Anyone opposed to the idea of song-and-dance routines in their horror should be relieved to know Sssshhh… uses them sparingly in the first two acts. Be careful, though: there are some serious earworms on the soundtrack.
Next up is connecting the past to the present. With no closure about who murdered her sister, Mehak is trapped in a state of intermittent paranoia. Her uncle and police inspector Kamat (Shivaji Satam) has hit a wall in the investigation and hopes these killings are a thing of the past. Yet it only takes a single phone call to end the calmness. The Joker calling Mehak inside of a random convenience store rather than at her house is unusual. After all, a good slasher knows invading personal spaces and robbing people of their daily security are what really get under the skin. Sssshhh… corrects this miscalculation later on as the terror hits closer to home.
In the meantime, Mehak’s friends are introduced: Gehna (Suvarna Jha), Rocky (Dino Morea), Rajat (Gaurav Kapur), Nikhil (Kushal Punjabi), and Riya (Tina Choudhary). They all attend Simon College, the local university in this wintry, mountainside town that looks distinctly European. Joining the clique is transfer student Suraj (Karan Nath), who Mehak already met earlier when panicking in a convenience store. Both he and Rocky vy for Mehak’s affection, and their rivalry escalates when it comes time to narrowing down suspects in the latest Joker kill: a teacher is picked off in a public restroom like in Scream 2. Kamat urges both of Mehak’s suitors to place their feet next to the killer’s bloody footprint in hopes of gaining a match. Like everyone watching at home, the police realize how flawed such a test is when determining the Joker’s identity, but the film has to plant those seeds of doubt somehow.
The director absolutely loves tilting the camera to create tension. Even though this angle is indiscriminately used, it is cranked all the way up in scenes like Mehak’s first physical run-in with the Joker. She does the wise thing and immediately calls her uncle for help as the killer forces his way into her room. The tables are turned, though, when Mehak pins the Joker against a lit fireplace and incidentally sets him on fire. It is a crowd-pleasing move on the writer’s part considering how uninvolved Mehak is in her own survival going forward.
Upon the Joker’s escape, Suraj suspiciously shows up at Mehak’s house. Scream fans know where this is probably going, and Sssshhh… does not disappoint in following similar narrative beats and indulging the same red herrings. From there Sssshhh… transforms into a quasi-remake of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. As in, the characters suddenly vacation overseas after the Joker’s apparent death in another perilous encounter. The snow-white mountain town is replaced with a small and secluded island off the coast of Thailand. This is of course where the remaining cast members are picked off one by one when they are not second-guessing each other’s intentions.
By now everyone is asking whether or not Sssshhh… is a faithful remake of Scream. Without giving the ending away, this film loves to color outside the lines while also retaining quintessential concepts. There is still a high amount of unpredictability going on here, though. A film like this is at its most effective when the viewers are forced to ponder what else could happen in such an offbeat and uniquely Indian reimagining of an American cult classic. While it is definitely not a patch on the original, and a number of things get lost in translation, Sssshhh… is a loud remake rich in regional charm and bold choices.
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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