Starring Anders Hove, Laura Tate, Irina Movila, Michelle McBride, Michael Watson, Mara Grigore, Adrian Valcu, Ivan J. Rado, Angus Scrimm
Directed by Ted Nicolaou
Expectations: Moderate.
On the general scale:
On the B-Movie scale:
It had to happen at some point. With all the horror films coming out of Full Moon, it was inevitable that they’d pump out a vampire flick sooner or later. Subspecies came around fairly early in their life cycle and ended up being one of their most popular series, spawning three sequels and side story spin-off film. I’m getting ahead of myself though, as today I’m only here to answer the question, “Is the original Subspecies worth all that fuss?”
Subspecies opens with a great scene between the evil exiled vampire Radu (Anders Hove) and his father, The King (Angus Scrimm). The King tries to imprison Radu by dropping a metal cage on him, but Radu has a trick up his sleeve in his fingers. Radu is no joke; he fuckin’ breaks off his fingertips, dropping them to the ground. They wriggle and ooze blood, slowly transforming into three-inch high demons called Subspecies! It’s fuckin’ awesome! From here, Radu gains control of his father’s bloodstone, a red crystal that eternally oozes life-giving blood for the vampire that doesn’t get out much. Meanwhile, three college students come to Romania to study the local folklore. They soon find themselves wrapped up in a struggle to stay alive against the evil that is Radu!