Editorials
Appreciating the Post-Apocalyptic Horror of ‘Terminator Salvation’
Hollywood has never really accepted that you can’t recapture lightning in a bottle. No matter how context-specific a blockbuster’s success was, you can always count on an executive to insist on making a follow-up even if that doesn’t make sense for the story. That being said, sequels aren’t always doomed to failure, and one of the most famous examples of this is James Cameron’s Terminator 2, a film that refused to do the same thing twice and became just as iconic as the original.
Naturally, Hollywood learned all of the wrong lessons from the success of T2, as most of its sequels would be repetitive cash-grabs simply reiterating on the same tired ideas of fate, time travel and robot assassins. The only real exception to this curse would be 2009’s controversial Terminator Salvation, a post-apocalyptic thriller that genuinely expands on the world of its source material despite having been commissioned as yet another generic franchise project.
After the middling reception of 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the Terminator franchise fell into legal limbo as the IP rights passed from company to company. After years of negotiations, the inevitable fourth instalment would end up being independently financed and distributed by Warner and Sony, but only after a complete narrative overhaul disconnecting it from Rise of the Machines.
With the producers assuring him that the new film wouldn’t be yet another time-travel flick, infamous director McG signed onto the film as an attempt to vary his filmography. Boasting a surprisingly dark premise that finally delved into the horrific war between humans and Skynet, Terminator Salvation ended up attracting quite a few big names (and an absurd $200 million budget) before production finally began in 2008.
Unfortunately, shooting was plagued by difficulties, and I’m not just referring to Christian Bale’s on-set meltdown where he yelled at a cinematographer for nearly 4 minutes. From constant rewrites (with Alan Dean Foster even being forced to rewrite his novelization of the movie due to how different it ended up being to the end product) to squabbling between the cast and crew, it seemed like fate itself was opposed to the idea of another sequel.
Nevertheless, in the completed film we follow Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright, a death row inmate who wakes up in a ruined world dominated by murderous machines and discovers that he’s now a cybernetic hybrid. Meanwhile, human resistance leader John Connor (Christian Bale) embarks on a mission to destroy Skynet’s base of operations before they can assassinate key figures to the resistance – including his future time-travelling father, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin).
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Terminator Salvation wasn’t exactly a failure, raking in nearly double its budget at the box office, but it wasn’t the hit that the producers had intended. Not only was the critical reception middling, with media outlets accusing the film of being a disjointed mess, but even the original power trio of Cameron, Schwarzenegger and Hamilton dismissed the flick as a soulless cash-grab after release.
However, despite its reputation as a generic 2000s blockbuster, the years have ultimately been kind to Salvation. After even more formulaic sequels like Genisys and Dark Fate, folks have started to look back on McG’s film as an underrated high point of the franchise that dared to tread new and refreshingly mean-spirited ground even if it couldn’t quite deliver on its lofty ambitions.
After all, there’s no denying that the flick features quite a bit of atmosphere, with this oppressive world being brought to life by detailed sets and stylish cinematography that would be sorely absent from future instalments. McG even went so far as to insist that the entire cast and crew read bleak sci-fi stories like The Road and Blade Runner in order to prepare them for a darker take on the future, and though they were held back by a PG-13 rating (despite the director later claiming that the film was never meant to be gory), the action sequences here are still legitimately thrilling – especially when they involve practical robot effects.
The high-profile cast is also a delight, with Christian Bale giving Connor some much-needed pathos and Yelchin stealing the show as a younger and more charismatic Kyle Reese. And while Sam Worthington was only really cast because James Cameron convinced McG that he was the next Tom Cruise, he ended up delivering one of his best performances as a man struggling with his own monstrous identity.
The movie may have its flaws, but I still think it’s a huge shame that the planned trilogy of post-apocalyptic Terminator flicks never panned out. I would have loved to see this world expanded on, especially if they had gone with the original leaked ending which saw Marcus take a deceased John Connor’s place by wearing the dead man’s skin over his metallic endoskeleton in order to keep the resistance motivated.
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
After decades of action films, it’s easy to forget that The Terminator was originally meant to be a terrifying movie monster inspired by a nightmare of a skeleton walking through flames. And while I think the first film is the only that really captured this idea, Salvation comes in at a close second with its grimier depiction of Skynet’s robotics.
This was actually the final project of special effects maestro Stan Winston, who partnered up with frequent James Cameron collaborator Martin Laing to design grittier and more degraded takes on our metallic antagonists. This led to an almost diesel-punk-inspired aesthetic which really hammered home the fact that this was technically a prequel despite being set in the future.
Having our protagonist be a Terminator hybrid also adds a bit of body-horror to the mix, especially if you consider the gruesome original ending. In fact, in recent interviews, McG has claimed that his original intention was for Marcus to be taken over by Skynet after replacing Connor and infiltrating the resistance, which would have been one of the most horrific finales in Terminator history.
At the end of the day, Terminator Salvation clearly isn’t the film that McG and company had originally set out to make, but once you consider the long road from pre-production to release (with the script even having survived a writer’s strike), this is a much more entertaining film than it has any right to be. While there’s likely an alternate timeline where Salvation became as big of a hit as T2, I still think that the movie we got is the last truly enjoyable Terminator and worth revisiting even if you didn’t like it the first time around.
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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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