Movies
[Review] ‘Sinister 2’ Fails to Capture Spirit of its Predecessor
In 2012 true crime novelist Ellison Oswalt doomed his family by moving them into a house where a horrifying incident had occurred involving the previous residents. While he was investigating the circumstances, hoping that his research would lead way to a new book, both he and his loved ones fell prey to the powers of Bughuul, a mythical monster that has been viciously decimating families for centuries, all without ever lifting a finger. Instead of killing people himself, Bughuul enlists the aid of children, luring them into his dark world and manipulating their impressionable minds into murdering their own families, and joining him and the rest of his ghost children on the other side. Bughuul, known to the kids as “Mr. Boogie”, may have staked his claim on the Oswalt family, but a certain deputy that Ellison called on for help may be the one who can finally put an end to this sinister creature’s ruthless reign.
Fast forward to 2015 and Deputy so-and-so has a new family to save: the Collins. Courtney Collins has taken her two boys to the country and away from her abusive husband, Clint, where they can hopefully hide out in this tiny, rural Illinois town until all of the legal procedures are worked out, and she can truly escape him. What she doesn’t know is, her and her boys, Zach and Dylan, have just moved into one of Bughuul’s hot spots, and have thereby inserted themselves into his deadly chain of events. The deputy, thinking that this old house is abandoned, makes his way out to the property to burn it to the ground in hopes of ridding the world of this demon once and for all. However, once he arrives on the scene, he realizes that to push this family out of their new home would only put the events in motion, by making the family members targets for both Bughuul, and for Clint. Now, the deputy, Courtney, and the boys, must band together to fight off the powers of darkness, and break the chains, before the violence that these two entities carry with them devours the Collins family whole.
Like its predecessor, this film works on two levels: the threat of the supernatural and the troubles of reality. Just as Sinister found its roots in reality by showing Ellison struggle with the choice that so many people face between work and family, Sinister 2 finds its humanity in the circle of violence that comes with a broken household. While the idea of an ancient spirit coming into people’s homes by way of 16 mm cameras and tricking children into murdering their families may seem too outlandish to have any basis in reality, the terror that comes with fearing your own father is a real issue that many families unfortunately face, and only makes the Collins appear that much more sympathetic when they have to deal with Bughuul’s evil presence on top of all of their daily problems.
With Clint currently out of the picture, as Courtney tries her hardest to keep her husband away from the boys, Bughuul seizes the perfect opportunity to make Zach and Dylan part of his own little family. Watching over him like a deranged surrogate father, Mr. Boogie guides Dylan down the path of the criminally insane, as his ghost children encourage him to watch the home movies they have made. Each one is worse than the last; little snuff films directed by pre-pubescent murderers projected nightly in the basement with the intention of slowly driving Dylan mad. His father is on the hunt for custody, while Bughuul eerily creeps in the corners, two boogeymen both out to claim a boy too young and fragile to defend himself against such powerful predators.
To really drive the parental parallels between the man and monster home, Sinister 2 would have greatly benefitted from focusing more on Bughuul and less on his undead minion children. The first film gave the impression that it was Bughuul himself who coerced and manipulated the kids of each family he came across, taking them under his wing and making them think that they wanted to kill their loved ones and join Mr. Boogie in the darkness. Even Sinister 2 goes on to explain in a certain scene how in each of the examples of the boogeyman, the child was required to give a sacrifice to him, relating the recent murders in the film to the old folklore. It’s strange how the filmmakers seem to realize that Bughuul is the star of the franchise, and yet, they choose to highlight the ghost kids.
Perhaps it would have been more effective watching the ghost kids try to persuade Dylan to join them if they hadn’t been so upfront about their evil plans. Each kid hands Dylan their reels of film, telling him with devious eyes and smoky voices that they made that one in particular, and he has to watch all of them to finish the process and make his recurring night terrors stop. After all, these kids were innocent patrons themselves before Bughuul entered their lives and convinced them to commit acts of murder. To bring Dylan to their side, and just to act more like young people, it would have made more sense to hear each of them talk about their families and relate stories of how their lives were unfair, and what drove them to engage in such horrifying acts in the first place, something that he would have found very easy to identify with as a child of abuse. Either way, the ghost kids just seem to make everything that’s about to happen that much more obvious.
Such as is the problem with any sleeper hit, the sequel to the surprisingly disturbing original Sinister movie is bound to be faced with some harsh judgment from critics and fans alike. While Sinister 2 doesn’t quite reach the high bar that the first film set, mostly due to the failure to capitalize on the parallels between the guardians, the straightforward, excessive dialogue of the ghost kids, and honestly, the lack of believability in the snuff films that made the first so unnerving, it does serve up some real intensity with its hard R rating and merciless use of kid killers. This entry may not keep you up at night, but it will certainly make you jump in the theater.
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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