There’s also the issue of legacy sequels – films that revisit the source material years after it was initially released in order to honor the franchise’s past while often passing the torch onto a new generation of talent. These productions can balance heartfelt farewells with the promise of a new beginning, but they can also render the very concept of “endings” meaningless.

But what happens when a filmmaker decides to think outside the box and go out on their own terms when it comes to ending their beloved franchise? Well, if you’ve been keeping up with our retrospectives on Full Moon’s underrated Subspecies films, then you’ll know that writer-director Ted Nicolaou was never one to follow in other artists’ footsteps – which is why it’s only natural that the final entry in his vampiric franchise would be something that no one was expecting.

It would be nearly a quarter of a century before the iconic vampire Radu would return to haunt our screens after the end of Bloodstorm, with the fan-favorite antagonist having already been burned, impaled and decapitated “for good” several times at that point. So when the time came for Nicolaou to get the band back together for a final entry in the series, he opted for a haunting period-piece exploring Radu’s past instead of yet another gothic thriller set in modern-day Romania.

That’s why I’d like to invite fellow readers to join me as we dive into Full Moon’s most versatile franchise for one final retrospective – this time exploring 2023’s surprise legacy prequel Subspecies V: Blood Rise.

A Prequel Decades in the Making

The film industry changed a lot during the decades that ensued between the release of Bloodstorm and Blood Rise. From the fall of video stores to the rise of online streaming, the market that had originally made it possible for the straight-to-video Subspecies franchise to exist was no longer viable. In fact, the first incarnation of Blood Rise was originally scheduled to be produced during the 2000s, but a series of financial issues stemming from changes to the home video scene led to Full Moon downsizing its productions and focusing on cheaper movies instead.

The project was only revived when legendary producer Charles Band finally managed bring Full Moon back from the brink during the late 2010s, with Band working hard to raise enough funds to allow Ted to shoot his long-gestating prequel without making it look cheaper than the previous entries. Unfortunately, money wouldn’t be the only limitation when attempting to revive the long-dormant series.

Not only did the pandemic interfere with the original shooting plans, but filming in in Romania was no longer as cost-effective as it had been in the 90s. That’s why, for the first time in the franchise’s history, a Subspecies film would have to be filmed outside the birthplace of Dracula. Serbia was eventually chosen as a suitable alternative, with the country’s moody wilderness evoking much of the same dark atmosphere that fueled the original films.

Naturally, both Anders Hove, who had since become close friends with the director he had once publicly feuded with on set, and Denice Duff would return for this long-awaited tribute to their work, though not in the way that you might initially expect.

In the finished film, which was released in March of 2023, we follow the life story of Radu Vladislas (Hove), a vampire borne from the union of undead royalty and the evil witch Circe (Yulia Graut) during the Middle Ages. When a group of Knights Templar conduct a raid of Circe’s lair, the Holy Order decides to kidnap the newborn hybrid and raise him as a warrior capable of fighting the forces of evil. It’s only decades later that Radu reunites with his mother during a monster hunting mission and discovers his true origins.

While he initially resists the pull of his dark tendencies, a bloody encounter with his father’s consort Helena (Duff) sets Radu on the path to become the monster we all know and love to hate.

Bringing Radu Back to Life

Like previous films in the franchise, Blood Rise treats series continuity more like general guidelines than definitive rules, with the film retconning and rewriting much of Radu’s implied history in order to present him as more of a tragic figure this time around. And yet, in a world dominated by generic franchise filmmaking where continuity is God even when it gets in the way of telling a good standalone story, Nicolaou’s antiquated approach to the script explains why Subspecies V is so much more entertaining than it has any right to be.

The movie suffers from janky effects and cheesy dialogue, but these blemishes feel more charming than anything else. At times, it’s easy to forget that you’re not actually watching a genuine b-movie from the early 2000s – and I mean that as a complement. Even then, the physical sets and meticulously crafted costumes help to make the flick seem slightly less indie than most other contemporary low-budget productions, and the cinematography still retains much of the expressionistic flare present in the previous entries.

Sure, the ’90s Gothic atmosphere is sorely missed, but I actually commend Nicolaou for going out of his way to try something different this time around instead of relying on the same formula. That’s why I find it easy to overlook flaws like nonsensical character reactions and bizarre continuity issues.

Personally, I love how Blood Rise explores Radu as an actual person with a rich inner life who slowly succumbs to madness due to his overuse of the Bloodstone and his obsession with Helena, which is meant to explain Radu’s treatment of Michelle throughout the original series. It’s also great to see Duff flex her villainous muscles here, as I always thought that Michelle’s darker side was more interesting than the more traditional “damsel in distress” shtick.

The only thing that really irks me here is how the filmmakers had to replace Jonathon Morris as Ash, especially since Morris was my favorite actor in the series apart from Hove himself. While his character is still interesting and it’s fascinating to learn exactly how he became Radu’s fledgling, Marko Filipovic simply doesn’t have the same gravitas as his predecessor.

A Fitting Legacy for Full Moon’s Vampire

I also wasn’t a fan of how abrupt the ending was, though that can be forgiven due to the fact that you can simply continue the story by rewatching the first Subspecies film (now with added context).

Due to its nature as a prequel, Blood Rise feels like the least necessary entry in the franchise since Vampire Journals, but it also somehow manages to encapsulate everything that made us fall in love with the series in the first place. From clever filmmaking that makes the production seem more expensive than it really is to memorable performances by actors who wouldn’t traditionally get the chance to shine, Subspecies V fits snuggly into the series in spirit even if it doesn’t traditionally adhere to continuity or even share the same gothic visuals as its predecessors.

Of course, only time will tell if this is truly the last time we’ll see Radu onscreen, as it’s already been established that he’s one of the most persistent villains in all of horror cinema.

The post ‘Subspecies V: Blood Rise’ Is a Worthy Farewell to Full Moon’s Greatest Vampire appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This phenomenon is precisely what makes Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm such a fascinating feature, as this strange entry in Full Moon’s fan-favorite vampire series is an undeniably satisfying farewell to Radu and the old-fashioned evil he represents despite being compromised by real world production issues. That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow horror fans to join me as we continue our journey through the Subspecies franchise and explore a film that feels torn between letting go of the past and exploring brave new heights.

As we discussed in our previous retrospective, the gothic romance of 1997’s underrated Vampire Journals may not have been an all-out failure, but it was clear that Full Moon fans were more interested in Radu’s villainous exploits than the undead plotting of his slightly less monstrous fledgling. That’s why it was only natural that Charles Band would once again approach series co-creator Ted Nicolaou with an offer to return to Romania and bring Radu back for one final vampiric romp.

Interested in the idea of developing a horrific coda of sorts, where the director could combine the Anne Rice-inspired politics and theatrical aesthetics of Vampire Journals with the more overt horror of the original Subspecies films in order to give his extended cast the farewell they deserved, Nicolaou soon came up with a script meant to get the band back together for the most ambitious Subspecies film yet.

Reuniting the Subspecies Team…Almost

Unfortunately, enough time had passed at that point that many of the series regulars couldn’t commit to another trip back to Transylvania. Not only did this result in the hiring of a different effects supervisor this time around (with the absence of genre icon David Allen explaining the lack of the stop-motion demon minions in this sequel), but it also meant that both Melanie Shatner and Kevin Blair had to be hastily written out of the story despite the new film taking place immediately after Bloodlust. Hell, the team even lost the original Bloodstone prop, leading to the use of a digital replica in this sequel.

Released in 1998, the finished Bloodstorm takes place immediately after the events of the previous film and once again follows Denice Duff as Michelle – an American student in Romania who was turned into a reluctant vampire after encountering the undead Radu (Anders Hove). When an unexpected car crash kills Michelle’s sister and her lover, the well-intentioned Doctor Ana Lazar (Ioana Abur) rescues the surviving vampire and takes her to the secluded hospital where she works. Unfortunately, Ana’s enigmatic boss, Doctor Niculescu (Mihai Dinvale), harbors secrets of his own, and his treatment of Michelle’s condition once again puts her at the mercy of Radu.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Radu has decided to permanently relocate to Bucharest in order to expand his empire against the wishes of his conniving fledgling Ash (Jonathon Morris, who reprises his role from Vampire Journals.

While it’s a little jarring to see the “definitive” death of Radu be so easily undone in the opening moments of Bloodstorm, the film at least gives us an explanation for the vampire’s stubborn refusal to die (he can apparently only be permanently killed by a mortal who is pure of heart). Of course, the most interesting ideas here come from the juxtaposition of science and the occult as Dr. Niculescu experiments on Michelle and slowly reveals his own villainous nature as a “reformed” vampire.

Combine these themes with Radu’s plans to invade a modern metropolis and wrest control of the city from his more urban fledgling, and you get the most Dracula-adjacent entry in the entire Subspecies franchise.

Practical Gore Still Saves the Day

Speaking of modernity, this is also the first Subspecies film to be shot entirely on video. This is something of a mixed bag, as the near-impressionistic visuals and artifacting can be aesthetically pleasing in their own ’90s way, but this cheaper approach often clashes with the established gothic setting – especially when compared to the gorgeous cinematography of the previous two movies.

Some of the effects also feel a bit rushed this time around, with Radu’s makeup varying from homemade Halloween prop to the scariest it’s ever been, often within the very same scene. Thankfully, a healthy amount of practical gore effects and plenty of narrative intrigue help to make this an effective send-off for the series even if it lacks the old-fashioned polish present in the original trilogy.

In fact, the absence of Blair and Shatner’s budding romance means that the film is free to explore its more speculative side with few distractions, with Ana Lazar being the only real human core of the movie until she realizes that she’s destined to become a vampire slayer. Romanian actor Mihai Dinvale also returns from Vampire Journals in a brand-new role that comes the closest to dethroning Radu as the de facto worst person in the franchise.

His scientific study of the vampire infection also makes for the most interesting addition to the franchise’s mythology in any of the sequels, with all of these seemingly contradictory ideas combining to make the best-paced Subspecies film so far. There’s never a dull moment as we switch between vampiric mutinies and bloody kill scenes in the blink of an eye – all without the need for exposition since we dealt with all that in previous films.

The digital imagery and more fast-paced approach to storytelling may not please hardcore fans of the early Radu movies, but this definitive exploration of everything the character stands for manages to be an impressive send-off despite years of existing near-death experiences involving impalings, burnings and decapitations.

Of course, you can’t keep a good vampire down, so stay tuned for the final entry in our Subspecies retrospective as we tackle 2023’s legacy prequel in the near future.

The post Flawed But Essential: Why ‘Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm’ Is The Definitive Radu Film appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

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.

The post ‘Bloodlust: Subspecies III’ Remains One of Full Moon’s Greatest Achievements appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

That’s why some of the most memorable horror sequels are the ones that actually manage to hold onto interesting survivors from previous films while also pushing the story forward instead of having the same thing happen again to a different group of people. From Scream 2 to Dream Warriors (and arguably even The Exorcist III: Legion), there are quite a few of these innovative sequels to go around.

However, if there’s one franchise that deserves more attention when discussing bigger and better continuations that make the most of episodic filmmaking, it has to be Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies.

The Full Moon classic spawned an indie horror icon, but bizarre sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II is even more beloved than its predecessor.

Building a Bigger Vampire Saga

While the film itself takes place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, Bloodstone only entered production a couple of years after the release of the original as both Charles Band and Nicolaou weighed the pros and cons of returning to Romania to continue the series. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the team decided to invest in a trilogy where parts II and III, now fully written by Nicolaou, would be filmed simultaneously over the course of a single grueling shoot.

Much like the first Subspecies, Bloodstone’s low budget meant that the filmmakers once again had to cut corners and re-use as many of their resources as possible. Thankfully, the process was much easier this time around as Nicolaou, with the help of Romanian cinematographer Vlad Paunescu and his wife Oana, became more acquainted with local customs and made new friends. Shooting abroad still came with its own unique set of challenges due to a lack of translators and the occasional safety concerns, but the crew managed to make things work by filming things guerrilla-style and setting up shop in abandoned caves and real medieval ruins.

The director’s newfound contacts, coupled with the relative success of the first movie, meant that he was basically given free rein over an assortment of shooting locations usually considered off-limits for indie horror. That’s why Bloodstone features insanely ambitious lighting and effects work even during scenes shot in the middle of a bustling Bucharest. The filmmakers went so far as to project Radu’s Nosferatu-like shadows over local monuments as if he were a Romanian boogeyman, an idea that was actually encouraged by local cinephiles.

In fact, many of the more elaborate scenes here had originally been planned for the first movie before being discarded due to the lack of available resources. It was only with the support of Romanian fans and filmmakers that Bloodstone was able to give Radu a chance to be even more menacing the second time around.

Michelle’s Transformation Takes Center Stage

However, when it came to the American part of the crew, not everyone was able or willing to return for another round of Romanian adventuring. That’s why Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) is unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of the film while the role of Michelle had to be recast. Denice Duff took over for Laura Mae Tate, with the character now being joined by her sister, Rebecca, played by Melanie Shatner (yes, that Shatner).

In the finished film, we follow Michelle as she awakens to her new life as a vampire and discovers that Radu has murdered her lover. Struggling with grief and her newfound bloodlust, Michelle contacts her sister overseas, with Rebecca soon travelling to Romania on an ill-advised rescue mission. Meanwhile, Radu (Anders Hove) reaches out to his undead Mummy (Pamela Gordon, underneath heavy layers of impressive makeup effects) and promises to deliver her the coveted Bloodstone artifact while also making Michelle his eternal consort.

Revisiting the movie, I was impressed with how introspective this story is when compared to the original. The sequel assumes that you’re already familiar with the previously established characters, so the story wastes no time in exploring the immediate aftermath of the previous film’s events. From Michelle’s reluctant transformation into a creature of the night to Radu’s obvious mommy issues, Nicolaou is way more interested in pushing these characters into new and uncharted territory rather than recycling existing plot points.

Practical Effects and Gothic Atmosphere Still Impress

Yet, much like the first film, it’s Romania itself that makes the movie worth watching. The ruins of Castle Vladislav are even more majestic now, and visiting the moody streets of Bucharest with its surprisingly punk-rock nightlife made for a nice change of pace when compared to the original film’s quiet village setting. Once again, the abundance of interesting locations makes the movie feel much more expensive than it really is, with the filmmakers surrounding our characters with a living, breathing environment that would be impossible to recreate in a studio.

The increased freedom also allowed Nicolaou to flex his filmmaking muscles and tackle more ambitious blocking/composition in the sequel. The low budget and tropey script mean that the visuals don’t always work, but it’s consistently clear that this neo-expressionist style could only come from a passionate team attempting to pay homage to the shadowy horror classics of yesteryear. If the retro atmosphere isn’t enough for you, there’s enough practical gore here to satisfy even the most demanding of horror hounds!

Radu himself is also far more interesting now that Hove is more comfortable working alongside an international crew, with the actor having gone on record explaining that, while he spent more time drinking vodka than working while shooting the first movie, the sequel was a much more creatively satisfying experience for everyone involved. The character’s relationship with his abusive Mummy is also a highlight of the expanded mythology, especially since the practical effects that bring her to life are just as freaky now as they were back in ’93.

My only real gripe with the horror elements of the picture comes from the glaring absence of the diminutive stop-motion minions from the first film, though I guess the surprisingly entertaining addition of Professor Popescu (Michael Denish) and his archeological antics mostly make up for that.

Bloodstone: Subspecies II is obviously the middle chapter of a trilogy, with the ending feeling a lot less definitive than its predecessor as several plot threads are left to dangle in the wind, but I appreciate how the flick explores new ground while remaining faithful to nearly all the ideas that made the original such a good time. While I don’t think it’s as big of an improvement over the first movie as some fans make it out to be, Bloodstone is definitely worth revisiting if you’re a fan of old-fashioned vampire yarns.

Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion to this initial trilogy, Bloodlust: Subspecies III!

The post ‘Bloodstone: Subspecies II’ Revisited: A Bigger, Bolder Follow-Up to Full Moon’s Vampire Cult Classic appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This isn’t necessarily a judgement of value, as blockbuster filmmaking comes with its own challenges and a good movie remains a miracle regardless of how big the crew is, but I’ve always been more interested in soulful b-movies produced by handfuls of passionate artists than blockbusters backed by creative armies.

That’s why I love exploring low-budget franchises that never left the hands of their original creators, as you really get to know the artists involved with these flicks and can accompany their evolution over a period of time. With that in mind, I’d like to invite readers to join me in this multi-part series as we look into a vampire saga helmed by one of the most fascinating auteurs of the 1990s. Naturally, I’m referring to Ted Nicolaou’s criminally underrated Subspecies!

The Birth of an Unlikely Horror Franchise

A proud graduate of the University of Texas’ Film program, Nicolaou got his start in the industry as a sound technician working on Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. From there, the filmmaker would go on to work for notorious indie producer Charles Band, the founder of both Empire Pictures and Full Moon Productions. According to Nicolaou, Band would usually contact him with an offer to direct a feature after more prominent filmmakers, such as the late, great Stuart Gordon, had already refused, meaning that his projects tended to have lower budgets and more inexperienced crew members.

The plans for Subspecies began almost immediately after the fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, with screenwriter David Pabian turning in an initial draft of the film after a Romanian producer contacted Band and explained that Romanian tax incentives could cover the cost of film production there so long as Full Moon took care of the post-production process. Since Stuart Gordon was unwilling to travel to Romania, Ted Nicolaou ended up taking over the picture.

However, while the financial incentives meant that this Romanian-American co-production could look and feel much more expensive than it really was, with Nicolaou scouting for locations in advance and selecting real castle ruins to be featured in the movie, the director was soon faced with an incredibly difficult shooting process. In interviews, Nicolaou would later describe the experience as something of a nightmare, with language barriers and the generalized distrust of capitalist outsiders sabotaging many of the team’s plans for the film.

In fact, the script, which had already been altered by Band, ultimately had portions of it rewritten by both Jack Canson and Nicolaou himself in an attempt to adapt the story to their unique limitations.

Radu Is One of Horror’s Greatest Underrated Villains

In the finished film, which was released directly to video in 1991, we follow a pair of American anthropology students, Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and Lillian (Michelle McBride), as they reunite with their Romanian colleague Mara (Irina Movila) in her native land. The group intends to study the folklore surrounding the secluded town of Prejmer, but their research is cut short by the return of Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove) – the evil son of a vampire king (Angus Scrimm) who had previously established a truce with the region’s human residents. It’s now up to Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) to protect the girls from a fate worse than death as the power-hungry vampire seeks to control a magical artifact known as the Bloodstone.

Right off the bat, you may have noticed that the film’s premise sounds decidedly old-fashioned when compared to other vampire movies from around the same time. While the 1990s saw the rise of cool-looking bloodsuckers with badass elements borrowed from Westerns, as well as the sexy aristocrats of Anne Rice’s stories, Subspecies has a lot more in common with Nosferatu and the Hammer Horror series than any of its contemporaries.

This is both a blessing and a curse, as the film falls victim to overly familiar genre tropes while also standing out as a rare example of a ’90s vampire flick that isn’t afraid to flex its muscles as a Creature Feature. In fact, I’d argue that the presence of age-old clichés is a small price to pay when confronted with one of the most compelling vampire antagonists in all of cinema.

Named after Vlad the Impaler’s real-life brother, Anders Hove’s Radu is such a fascinating character and the main reason why Subspecies is still worth watching 35 years later. From his animalistic mannerisms to the joy he feels in simply existing as a chaotic creature of the night, and that’s not even mentioning the iconic makeup that almost certainly inspired the undead from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Radu is a hypnotic presence harkening back to a time when audiences didn’t mind purely evil villains that couldn’t be redeemed through tragic backstories or sex appeal.

Gothic Atmosphere on an Indie Budget

Of course, the film’s Romanian setting and authentic art direction do a lot of the heavy lifting whenever Radu isn’t around. From the masked festivals of the village to the visually interesting selection of local extras, Subspecies’ multicultural elements help it to stand out when compared to similar flicks from the ’90s.

That being said, Nicolaou’s unique eye for special effects and exciting action sequences – as well as Vlad Paunescu’s excellent cinematography – make the movie a delight for fans of expressionist cinema and old-timey gothic horror. While the crew is obviously dealing with limited resources, many of the flick’s blemishes (such as the odd stop-motion demons that serve Radu) end up feeling more like charming idiosyncrasies than actual flaws.

I’d argue that the only real issue here is pacing, as there are long stretches of film where the protagonists are simply bumbling around without realizing what’s really going on around them. Thankfully, the gorgeous visuals and surprisingly effective soundtrack usually make up for this. Besides, how can you dislike a movie where shotgun shells are loaded with rosary beads and our lead vampires duke it out in a dramatic swordfight that would feel out of place during the golden age of Hollywood?

Your overall enjoyment of Subspecies will mostly depend on whether or not you find low-budget corner-cutting and janky practical effects charming rather than distracting, but I know I’ll keep coming back to this Full Moon feature again and again in the future.

That being said, while this first movie is worth revisiting by its own merits as the birth of an indie horror icon, I’d like to invite you to join us as we look into the cult sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II soon.

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