Bloodlust: Subspecies III

I was fortunate enough to watch the third installment in the "Subspecies" franchise back-to-back with the previous two movies, making a whole evening out of it. And it was interesting to find out that parts II and III were also filmed back-to-back.

Again, this is a direct continuation of the events that transpired in "Bloodlust: Subspecies II" and continued where part II left the audience. This is really something that is unique and definitely is a defining event for the franchise.

"Bloodlust: Subspecies III", like the previous two movies, while being in the horror genre, is not a movie that is made to scare the audience or gross out the audience with over-the-top special effects and ways to kill or maim characters. No, again, this is about character development and about story progression. Those are factors to the franchise that I immensely enjoy and it make for some very good entertainment.

Needless to say that Anders Hove carries the movie phenomenally as he did with the previous two movies. He definitely puts so much energy and personality into the Radu character and makes it for a very memorable character in the vampire genre.

"Bloodlust: Subspecies III" makes for good entertainment, and it is delivering a straight forward storyline and script, much alike the previous two movies. There are little surprises or plot twists along the way, but the previous two movies weren't known for that either. The introduction of Bob, a soldier of fortune-like character, seemed very forced and misplaced in the movie. Especially because the character served very little purpose and was brought to a most sudden and random demise.

If you have watched the previous two movies in the "Subspecies" genre, then you definitely should sit down to watch the third movie as well. "Subspecies" is a gem within the vampire genre.

Though not quite as great as "Subspecies 2," and with an unsatisfying ending, it was still better than the original.

It picks up where the last one left off, with babe Michelle in the vampiric clutches of Radu and his shrivelled, cackling mother, and the forces of good attempting to save her. There were some great and legitimate moments of tension, mostly due to characterization, and that's always welcome. Anders Hove does a fantastic job as the pitiful, all-too-human vampire, Radu, in love with Michelle who can only hate him. It was well-written, although a lot slower-moving than "Subspecies 2," but definitely worth a look.

Now I know that most of the Subspecies fans prefer the second movie over Bloodlust: Subspecies III, but I think this was actually my favorite of the series. This is where we see a little bit of Radu's weakness and that he can have mortal feelings for another, even love. Weither or not he's in love with Michelle, I think he admires her innocence and beauty, the power she holds over him, she knows it and definitely takes advantage of it, who can blame her, right? But I love how the story goes into Radu, he fears this emotion, understandably, and it blinds him. This is strangely a tragic love story that really intrigues me, it goes from teacher/student to love/hate. Radu though I promise still delivers the good scares like the other Subspecies movies.

Radu and his student, Michelle, are up to a lot, while he teaches her what it means to be a vampire, Radu's mother thinks it's a bad idea to keep her. Michelle's sister, Morgan, will not give up and she will do anything to save her sister's should. Michelle tells Radu that she can never love him, that she hates him and would rather just die instead of being a vampire but Radu wishes for her to stay with him forever.

Bloodlust: Subspecies III is just continuing where the second Subspecies left off. My favorite scene was where Michelle is outside and Radu comes from behind her and she asks what can kill them, the dialog he delivers as well as his expressions, for a low budget film, Anders Hove is a good actor and makes Radu very believable. The scene was beautifully done between him and Denise. This was a fun series to get into, I really have enjoyed it, these are the horror films I've been looking for and would highly recommend them for a good scare.

7/10

Conclusion to the planned trilogy directed by Ted Nicolaou this third film ends rather openly suggesting that Full Moon Productions were already sizing up future instalments. This time Radu kidnaps Michelle and takes her to the castle that he shares with his mother, a Sorceress. He teaches her to master her vampire powers, willing to sacrifice everything to empower his true love when Michelle's sister Rebecca attacks his stronghold.

The trilogy is weakening here with little original storyline and little excitement. However the series still - at this point - remains highly unique and still fantastically riveting. Once again the acting is of a high standard, the Romanian locations breathtaking and the script, score and direction, even in this 'weaker hour' surpass many larger budget films. Stable stuff.

Continuing directly after the major cliffhanger of the previous film (well after a short recap of the aforementioned movie at least) Subspecies 3 jumps right back into the thick of it. With Rebecca trying to save her beloved sister/recent vampire Michelle from evil vampire Radu and his witch of a mother.

While there are parts of the film that I really enjoyed, this third film as a whole is a bit too padded and i believe that it would've been better served (artistically if not financially) by trimming it down and combining the footage left with part 2 to make a much better film. As it is, the film was OK, it just could've been such better.

Eye Candy: Elvira Deatcu gets briefly topless and Melanie Shatner provides T&A