Movies
How To Start Getting Into Horror Part 1: Introduction
I’m sure it’s pretty much totally obvious to everyone here but, just in case you didn’t realize this, horror is a huge and incredibly important part of my life. I love watching horror movies, I read horror novels, I study critical essays on various related topics, I listen to the scores, I play the games, etc… It’s a lifelong passion that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. I honestly can’t think of a time when I wasn’t deeply connected to the genre and all that it had to offer.
However, not all of us start that way. Some get into the genre a little later in life, finding their own way and making their own path that leads them into the dark, foggy forest that holds our favorite tales. And we welcome them with open arms, accepting them into our fold, nurturing them and educating them so that they can further venture down the rabbit hole, experiencing titles that they never would’ve heard of otherwise.
In Judaism, there is a belief that those who convert are given great leeway with their thoughts and sayings. The idea is that they could not know otherwise until they have been educated, so why berate them for making a mistake? In fact, applaud their interest and encourage their curiosity so that they feel embraced and welcomed. In a way, that’s what I want to do.
Starting this week, I will be posting a piece that explains, in my opinion, how one can start getting into horror. I will be offering titles that I believe are gateways into the genre, allowing non-horror fans the opportunity to dip their toes in safely, relatively speaking.
What I will not be doing is throwing you into the deep end. The worst thing one can do is hit you with the complex, terrifying, most intense titles that the genre has to offer. After all, what would that accomplish? Were I to do this, it would destroy the very purpose of this series.
To the Bloody-Disgusting readers, take these posts as a way to introduce your friends and family who hate horror to the genre. They may not love it as much as you do but in the end they will hopefully have a greater understanding of why you hold this passion so near and dear to your heart.
Now, let’s get started, shall we?
To begin this journey, I recommend starting on the outskirts, the films that genre fans, such as myself, don’t really regard as being part of the horror world. However, these are films that have elements, little tastes and teases, which will hopefully draw your interest, igniting that spark that has burned in us for so long.
It is because I believe this is the best way to begin that I recommend films such as The Mummy, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing, Underworld, and the like.
These are films that are fun, they’re exciting, and the scares and tension are easily handled because they’re not meant to really be scary, just something to make you squirm for a moment before the action continues. And really, the “scares” are on par with many summer blockbuster “tension moments”. If you can stand seeing the big explosive summer films, you’ll do just fine here.
Let’s take as an example 1999’s The Mummy, with Brendan Frasier and Rachel Weisz. The film is a loose pseudo-remake of 1932 film that starred Boris Karloff, who played the title character.
This is a great start, okay? It’s got the earmarks of a horror film, such as a seemingly unstoppable villain and a “haunted housed” in the form of Hamunaptra, the city of the dead. But it’s also got likable characters, plenty of fun action, and loads of lighthearted comedy. It gives little bursts of horror but that’s not the focus, which makes it a great choice when you want someone to, as I stated before, dip their toes in.
Or how about The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen? While it’s far more in the realm of adventure, the presence of Mina Harker and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde allows for a bit of interest, a little peek into classic horror characters. Additionally, the practical FX when Jekyll transforms into Hyde, and vice versa, can be a talking point for how horror fans appreciate realism over CGI, specifically the craft of actually making something that isn’t real actually appear, well…real!
What it boils down to is that introducing someone to horror shouldn’t be about scaring the pants off of them right away. Watching someone grow to love horror is an amazing experience because we get to see that passion, the same one within us all, ignite within them.
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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