Subspecies (1991)

Subspecies (1991)

Directed by:  Ted Nicolaou

Starring:  Anders Hove, Angus Scrimm, Irina Movila, Laura Mae Tate, Michelle McBride, Ivan J. Rado, Michael Watson

Format:  Private Collection NTSC Region 1

(out of 5)

           

The Subspecies trilogy is by far one of my all time favorite vampire stories in all of cinema. 

Yes there is a fourth but really I'd just rather not mention it.  Radu is so disrespected in

that film I pretend it doesn't exist mostly.  Anywho back to Subspecies and it's greatness. 

I gave the movie 3 out of 5 Bloody Handprints simply because it is not possible for me to

give the movie any more than that given some of the terrible fx used computer wise, even

for the time they were just garbage.  I've said it a thousand times I don't hate cgi, in fact I

love it when it's used right, but in this movie it was just bad and a bad cgi effect is far worse

than any rubber doll any day of the week.

            We start with a family of vampires living in Romania and obsessed with an ancient
artifact known as the Bloodstone that not only drips blood for them to drink but gives
them power.  Angus Scrimm plays a cameo role as the father of Radu and Stephan two
very different vampires.  Radu is evil and ugly sporting the longest finger claws since
the silent era's Nosferatu film by F.W. Murnau while Stephan is a calm and collected
handsome good guy type straight out of Interview With A Vampire.  Radu kills his
father for the birth rite of te Blood Stone and assumes control of the castle while S
tephan is pre-occupied with a beautiful young woman named Michelle (Laura Tate)
whom has just arrived in Romania to do research with two of her friends. 

           

Radu of course begins to fall for the same young woman and the fight over her hand
or in this case her blood continues on throughout the film.  The typical vampire love
story is cliche' to be sure but it never bothered me in this series.  It sure wasn't anything
like any sparkling vampire movie I've ever seen.  Overdone and bad acting in these
movies seems to be a bit of the norm for Full Moon as it is this way with the grand majority
of their films but for me that's part of their charm.  Some of them obviously go too far a
nd I cannot stand them like any of the Puppetmasters beyond 3 but Subspecies never really
got that way.  I didn't like the way the story went in 4 but it still pretty much followed the
flow of the first three films.

Radu played by Anders Hove is the reason I love them.  One of the coolest and most evil
vampires ever created.  His constant slobber of blood, the elongated fingers, his whole look
is just what I see in my head when I think of a vampire.  Plus the raspy way in which he
speaks is great, now some of his speaking goes a bit overboard with the hisses and
extra moans but again part of the charm.  The fact that these films were actually shot in
Romania is another plus...shooting in the actual location of your film's background is better
every time.  Oh and for the booby men out there yeah you get some scantily clad ladies with
some breasts hanging out.  For me I stopped getting oogley many many years ago, not that it
isn't a nice bonus but that's all. 

Apart from some really bad cgi and overacting I can't say too many bad things about
Subspecies.  For it's time and for being a Full Moon movie it's pretty darn good. 
Highly recommended for any fan of vampires or Full Moon movies.  Part 2 only gets better.