Movies
‘The Outwaters’ Review – A Singular, Experimental Descent Into Depravity and Gory Chaos [Panic Fest]
Despite a familiar initial setup, there’s nothing conventional about found footage nightmare The Outwaters. Nothing will prepare you for the disturbing journey writer/director Robbie Banfitch has in store, either. Banfitch mercilessly lulls viewers with a soothing intro before ripping open a dark abyss beneath them, flinging them into an immersive pit of visceral madness.
The Outwaters unfurls its tale over three memory cards found in the Mojave Desert. They contain footage of a foursome that set out to make a music video while camping, filmed by LA filmmaker Robbie (also Banfitch). The quiet, peaceful trip is mostly uneventful, except for sporadic strange sounds, vibrations, and odd animal behavior. Then one night, that calm savagely flips, sending them all on a mind-bending trip through terror.
Unlike the typical found footage setup that sees its characters seek out urban legends or reputedly haunted spaces to satiate their curiosity, the characters in Banfitch’s feature exhibit no such ambitions. They weren’t intentionally seeking out danger. Banfitch spends a lengthy amount of time on introductions to instill a feeling of normality; these four friends only expected a chill time in the desert. It’s a refreshing break from the format’s tropes, but, more importantly, it creates a jarring contrast that makes what’s ahead induce shocking whiplash.
Banfitch rewards patience with a full-blown sensory assault, plunging viewers into the depths of gag-inducing insanity. A conventional found footage movie transforms into an experimental cosmic nightmare, with only a camera and flashlight to guide the way through the pitch black. The limited scope gives glimpses of screeching creatures slithering across the desert sand, of the copious amounts of blood and carnage saturating everything, allowing the imagination to run wild with the shadowed spaces. The sound design kicks into overdrive, further immersing you in this hellscape. It builds and builds in maddening ways, drifting further away from anything resembling reality.
The full-tilt into hellish horror means a severe lack of handholding. Banfitch provides visual clues for the audience to piece together what’s happening or form theories but never bothers to explain. That choice presents the solid potential to polarize. Instead, the filmmaker is far more interested in creating experiential horror. The Outwaters is experimental, preferring to relay a nightmarish descent through disturbing imagery and audio. It revels in uncertainty and unpredictability, rendering its lead’s panicked, terrified, and confused state of mind palpable.
In addition to starring, writing, and directing, Banfitch produced, edited, did the cinematography, and handled the special effects and sound design. It’s a singular effort with an impressive level of craft. He exerts and maintains control over a surreal voyage into depravity and keeps pushing the boundaries further and further. The way Banfitch transforms the found footage format into something far more transgressive impresses. There’s no guessing where or even how Robbie’s journey will end, though you might reach for a barf bag once or twice along the way. While it dwells a little too long on the serene setup, washed in pastel pink and purple sunsets, the full-throttled plunge into a black and red viscera-drenched personal hell embeds itself deep into your skull and remains long after the credits.
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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