Movies
Doctor Blood’s Coffin
“With a title like ‘Doctor Blood’s Coffin’, I was expecting something cheesier than the film offered; it was closer to melodramatic thriller than full blown horror, and kept the body count relatively low.”
With a title like Doctor Blood’s Coffin, I was expecting something cheesier than the film offered; it was closer to melodramatic thriller than full blown horror, and kept the body count relatively low. Hell, the title wasn’t even being lurid for the hell of it – the character’s actual name was Peter Blood, and he was a real doctor. So I guess his decision to turn to mid-century horror movie mad science was probably for the best; it’s not like anyone is going to go to a chiropractor or podiatrist named Doctor Blood.
Anyway, the movie’s OK. Shaving 10-15 minutes from the runtime and/or adding another kill scene couldn’t hurt – there really isn’t a lot of meat on its bones, rendering its 91 minute length a bit excessive. They could have had a lot of fun with the idea of constantly asking former resident/poorly named doctor to help out on the deaths he himself was committing, but there are less than a handful of them over the course of the movie. And the only cop in town starts to suspect him around the halfway point anyway (though not as quickly as he should, considering his name is DOCTOR BLOOD), so there’s not enough to it to warrant making up for the movie’s dull spots.
It’s funny how the composer took it upon himself to make things more exciting though. During a transplant scene near the end, Doctor Blood just calmly does his thing, and the camera isn’t really moving much or anything – but if you shut your eyes and listen to the score, you’d swear you were listening to an incredibly tense chase scene or something. I mean, the whole movie is coming down to him trying this surgery – obviously SOMETHING’s going to happen, so there’s not really much excitement in seeing the process. And that’s part of the problem with the movie – it’s a Frankenstein tale where the monster doesn’t awake until the final 5 minutes.
In fact, it actually works more as a tragic romance, since Blood falls for a woman who (spoiler) was married to the guy he is trying to resurrect. Obviously if his experiment works, he will probably lose his new girlfriend in the process – an angle I wish they explored more, but instead save the resurrection of the guy for the final sequence, when it’s too late for any sort of quirky character stuff like that. I propose a remake where the dead guy is resurrected at the end of the 2nd act at the latest! I mean, we’ve seen a zillion Frankenstein wannabe movies, but none that were also love triangles, right?
It also works as a travelogue for Cornwall, as the ocean-side scenery is just wonderful to look at, and the village itself looks charming as all hell. The film was directed by Sidney J. Furie, whose name should be familiar to anyone who watched 80s and 90s action movies (including Iron Eagle!). Furie’s filmography is more random than Alan Smithee’s, so he doesn’t exactly have a noticeable style or anything. If you found an old Michael Bay horror movie and it didn’t have a bunch of orange-filtered shots or low angles that swoop around the actors, it’d be one thing, but there’s no signature Furie style for his fans to look for in this early work. “Ah, classic Furie shot.” – something no one has ever said.
MGM has released the film via their on demand service, and it looks pretty damn great. The film had been available on a few budget packs in the past, but from what I understand they were washed out (and full-frame – this is an anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer), so if you’re a fan of this film it’s definitely worth the upgrade. On the other hand, they didn’t provide the trailer like they did for Quatermass, and once again it’s the sort of disc that won’t play in your DVD-rom drive, which just baffles me. Plus it’s hardly a movie you’d want to watch over and over. But the lurid title and intriguing love/Frankenstein mix definitely lends itself to a remake, so if that ever comes you should check it out so you’re not that guy saying “I never saw the original”. Even for not very good movies, you still sound like a chump!
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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