Movies
Devil
“Devil ranks as one of the year’s best genre films – it’s the most suspenseful one since Frozen, the first since Crazies to actually make me jump at a scare, and most importantly it’s just plain entertaining…”
While it’s not exactly a difficult feat, Devil is the best thing M. Night Shyamalan has been involved with since Signs, which is fitting as it explores similar themes at times (I won’t go into specifics, potential spoiler material). Which is ironic, because I am of the opinion that he needs to let someone else write his scripts and just direct, but this is sort of the opposite: it’s his story, but it’s directed by John Dowdle, who made the STILL unreleased Poughkeepsie Tapes, which I quite liked, and Quarantine, which isn’t a BAD film by any stretch of the imagination, just a bit on the needless side. And if this film is any indication, he’s headed for bigger/better things.
The only real flaw the film has is that it might not have much repeat value, as much of its success depends on the audience trying to figure out which of the people in the elevator is the Devil before the people in the movie can (and, since this is M. Night’s story, find the other twist you know has to be in there somewhere). Luckily it’s short enough (barely 80 minutes with credits) that a future viewing won’t be too much of a bother. But man, is it one near perfect, sometimes almost unbearably suspenseful thriller. Brian Nelson’s script never makes any character more or less obvious a choice as the Devil, which is a genius move on his part. Rather than make it the person you “least” expect, or “most”, he simply keeps them all on a level playing field, and really, any of the 5 options would have been satisfactory in the end.
A while back I watched another elevator-set movie called Black Out, and that movie failed in this regard, by making the bad guy seem innocent – it was a dead giveaway. In Devil, we meet everyone around the same time, and since the elevator stops almost instantly, we know little to nothing about them prior to the understandable panic and paranoia that sets in when they realize they are stuck and begin pointing fingers and grilling one another on who they are, what they do etc. So there’s no obvious hero, but more importantly, there’s no obvious “they’re trying to make you think this person is totally innocent” maneuvers either.
And yes, it’s scary. I damn near jumped out of my seat at a scare involving a maintenance guy who is trying to figure out why the elevator stopped, and the occasional Devil “sightings” are brief enough to be scary/creepy but not long enough to be silly. I also like how pretty much every scare happens in total blackness. Obviously it has to be that way in order to preserve the mystery, but it also allows your imagination to run wild, using just the sound design (which is superb) to guide you.
Like The Descent, it also works as a claustrophobic nightmare, to the extent that even without the Devil stuff, the movie would still work. Admirably, the 5 of them never leave the elevator to engage in silly rescue/escape missions that you know won’t be successful anyway. There are a number of POV shots and Dowdle (and his DP, the amazing Tak Fujimoto, who has shot most of Night’s films) makes terrific use of the elevator’s mirror to work everyone into a shot despite the cramped location. And I don’t think it’s spoiling much to say not everyone survives, so when the living have to share this tiny space with the dead, it becomes even more nerve-wracking.
But we can’t stay on the elevator the whole time, because there’s not enough there to work with for a full 80-90 minutes. Thankfully, Nelson’s script provides a couple of security guards and a cop (the terrific Chris Messina – get this guy a starring role on a TV show or something!) that are interesting enough in their own right, so that when the movie focuses on what they’re doing (trying to get the people out, trying to figure out who they are, etc) it’s just as compelling as the elevator stuff. Some of Messina’s character moments seem to be lost (the lovely Caroline Dhavernas appears as a forensics officer who Messina appears to have a relationship with, but her role is limited to 3 nearly wordless scenes – seems silly to hire a known actress for such a thin role), and I’m guessing some if not all of the deleted scenes on the eventual DVD will be about him and Dhavernas.
Now, one caveat – you might have noticed that this has some ties to religion (if the title didn’t give that away from you). If the idea of God/everything happening for a reason bugs you, then don’t see the movie. It does factor into the twist and if you don’t believe in any sort of divine intervention or things of that nature, you’re liable to hate the 3rd act revelations. Everyone else will be rewarded with a film that uses religion as a backdrop but doesn’t force it down our throats or come across as preachy. This is never more than a movie about real people stuck in a horrible situation; it’s not some sort of Catholic propaganda masquerading as a horror film.
It’s been a pretty slow year for major release horror films, but the odd thing is most of them have been really good for a change. Now that it’s Halloween-time, we literally have them coming out every week, so this could change by November, but for now, Devil ranks as one of the year’s best genre films – it’s the most suspenseful one since Frozen, the first since Crazies to actually make me jump at a scare, and most importantly it’s just plain entertaining – can someone tell me how a movie about 5 people trapped in an elevator managed to be more exciting and fun than the one about God sending angels down to kill us all? Or the one about a bunch of hot chicks killing zombies in 3D? I just hope future “Night Chronicles” (it actually has a “1” after the logo) are as strong, because the bar has been set quite high.
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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