Editorials
Why It’s Possible That ‘Beetlejuice 2’ Won’t Be Terrible!
A few weeks ago Michael Keaton sorta kinda confirmed his involvement in Beetlejuice 2. Tim Burton appears to be directing. Seth Grahame-Smith is currently writing the script. While the film is still many, many steps away from a green light it’s certainly in development and there’s a reasonable chance it could happen. And, while there’s no guarantee this thing will be any good, it’s also not yet the assured disaster that Ghostbusters 3 is (should that film ever actually get off the ground).
But I’m actually hopeful it will be good. For one, Beetlejuice 2 seems to be retaining its main attraction – Michael Keaton. While you could make an argument that the concepts and worlds of both Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice have merits that would attract their respective fanbases no matter who was involved, there’s a big difference between attracting your fanbase and pleasing it. Ghostbusters 3 will be catastrophically hobbled by Bill Murray’s absence. Beetlejuice 2 may or may not bring back Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder or Catherine O’Hara (I seriously doubt they’d bring back Jeffrey Jones), but at least it has its marquee name. And Keaton’s recent work in films like The Other Guys suggests he still has the comic chops to pull it off.
But the main reason I’m able to be cautiously optimistic? Frankenweenie. Last year Tim Burton made a creative comeback by going back to the beginning of his career and reassessing it with new eyes and the result was wonderful. And unexpected. I honestly didn’t think he had a picture like that in him after Alice In Wonderland and Dark Shadows. Of course, like all of the best Tim Burton movies*, Frankenweenie underperformed at the box office. But I’m hopeful that he doesn’t let the sting of that perceived failure smother whatever may have reawakened inside of him.
Of course, Seth Grahame-Smith is writing the movie and I haven’t really been a huge fan of his film stuff thus far (I haven’t read his books but mashups most assuredly aren’t my thing). He even wrote Dark Shadows for Burton – which admittedly isn’t a great example of what these two are capable of when paired up. But I’m not prepared to disavow his ability to do good work just yet. Francis Lawrence, a director who has had several creative misses with films like I Am Legend and Water For Elephants, appears to have fashioned a truly great film out of the upcoming Catching Fire – so there’s always a chance for people to up their game. Plus, the world of Beetlejuice is fairly ripe with possibility.
So… yeah. There are hurdles here, I won’t lie. But if you had asked me if I thought Frankenweenie was going to be any good at this stage in its development I would have rolled my eyes. Instead, I saw the film and nearly cried them out. So while I’m not placing all of my chips on Beetlejuice 2 just yet, I at least feel semi-reasonable in my hope that it’ll work out. Every creative person has fallow periods, perhaps Burton has found a way out of his.
* Seriously. When your best film (Ed Wood) makes less than six million dollars and your worst (Alice In Wonderland) makes over a billion worldwide, that has to be a bit of a mindf*ck. Not every artist’s fallow period is so wildly successful.
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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