Subspecies: The Awakening

I admit, without shame, that I'm a big fan of the first three Subspecies films. They're tacky, exploitative, silly movies, but somehow they transcend these typical limitations of straight-to-video horror. Writer-director Ted Nicolau elevates the material with some thoughtful dialogue and characterization, and he uses Romanian locations and folklore to create a truly unique and compelling universe for his vampire films.

That said, he trips up a bit with Subspecies 4. Whereas Nicolau's previous vampire films had a rather polished look, considering the budgetary restrictions he labored under, this movie is crass-looking all the way, right from the silly montage-o-clips opening credits. The lighting, SFX, and set design are a noticeable step down from previous Subspecies films, and a huge step down from Nicolau's exceptionally slick-looking effort "Vampire Journals." I can only assume that Full Moon, or one of its descendant companies, was pretty low on cash when it came time to make this final entry in the series.

The film has plenty of problems that have nothing to do with the scarcity of cash, though. Our heroine, Michelle, is sidelined for too much of the story, leaving the campy Dr. Blood and his comely companion to carry the movie. These new heroes simply aren't charismatic enough to replace Michelle or her buddies from Subspecies 2 and 3. Even the mighty Radu has a diminished role, as he spends much of his time slinking about in a death robe and looking really old. On the whole, the movie simply lacks verve - the characters are static, and so is the action. And the actors have visibly aged, despite being immortal members of the undead realm! How depressing.

I do enjoy the middle of the film, though. Things pick up when Ashe begins to conspire against Radu, and Michelle's surprise rescue of her master is great stuff. But it collapses again at the end, when Radu is slain too abruptly and too easily. I think it would be more interesting if Michelle actually became his ally at last; if she's not going to be the hero anymore, she might as well be another villain.

Still, this is a cut above the norm for the genre. It's perhaps just too depressing for me; a lot of nice characters are killed off right away, and Michelle descends into complete vampire savagery. "Dark" is the operative word here - also "cheap." And "anticlimax." It's a shame they never got around to making Subspecies 5, which I believe was intended to be a period piece about Radu's origin.

I couldn't believe that Ted Nicolaou could resurrect the evil master vampire Radu one more time and make it work, but he did it! Continuing directly after part 3 left off, Radu goes off to Bucharest to claim his old stronghold from his old fledgling Ash and reclaim his reluctant fledgling Michelle. An awesome movie incorporating Vampire Journals and Subspecies lore. A must see!

Bloodstorm: Subspecies 4, the 4th installment to the Subspecies series, will be a welcome viewing to fans of the first three subspecies pictures. Anders Hove returns as the drooling Radu, as does Denise Duff as Michelle. The setting again is in Romania and Michelle has been taken under the care of a doctor who promises to cure her of her vampirism. Ted Nicolaou is at the directing helm once again and does a satisfying job creating the dark and chilling ambience needed to carry the film along. He also incorprates the character of Ash from his previous years effort, and much less successful, "Vampire Journals". Hove gives another classic and memorable performance as Radu. The audience, yet again, is bombarded with the images of Radu's messy blood feasting and blood slurping. Denise Duff's return as Michelle is well done and she gives a believeable performance as the "tortured vampire" that we have come to know in so many vampire movies over the last 15 years. Nicolau should be applauded for his attempt in bringing a very competent and entertaining Vampire anthology to the screen. Bloodstorm is must viewing for Subspecies fans, and horror fans, alike.

In a generally consistent franchise as far as quality is concerned, this one is probably the best of the lot. As all movies in the franchise it has a thick atmosphere, excellent music and adequate performances from most actors. Personally I found Anders Hove's Radu to be in his best form in all the franchise, missing most saliva-dripping face-making that made the character a bit ridiculous in the previous movies. In any case, Subspecies IV is a worthy straight-to-video horror that in my opinion is the best of the 5 (Vampire Journals included) together with Subspecies 2: Bloodstone. All in all, a worthy 81 minutes for fans of cheap horror and Full Moon productions

...I must say, the Subspecies series is one of Full Moon's better series of pictures. It was kept dark and gothic and bloody. I was not as happy with this one as I was 2 or 3. Which, were made 6 years previous to this one. I do feel the elapsed time helped make the movie less enjoyable. This one picks up after 3, and in my opinion, Radu was dead in 3. He was impaled on the tree after he was burning from the sun. This ressurection just wanted us to throw too much to the winds and just except Radu was back. Still a good, stylish movie looking forward to 5 later this year.

8 out of 10