Blu-ray Review: SUBSPECIES (1991)

 

SUBSPECIES
Directed by:  Ted Nicolaou
Distributed by:  Full Moon Entertainment

SUBSPECIES is one of those films I have always known about, but had never seen before.  I remember seeing it years ago on the shelves at my local movie rental store, but I just never got around to renting it.  Well, it's 20 years later, and what better way to see it for the first time than on an excellent remastered Blu-ray!  (click here to watch a short video to see the difference in the original version and this newly remastered HD version).  For those of you not familiar with this film, here is the basic plot courtesy of imdb.com:

The evil vampire villain Radu returns to his hometown of Prejnar, after spending years in exile. He steals the precious blood stone which is said to be bleeding from all saints, from his father and kills him. Meanwhile two American schoolgirls teams up with a local girl for a work on Roumanian culture. Radu becomes attracted to them but runs into trouble when his brother Stephan helps the girls.

This is one of my new favorites when it comes to the Full Moon films.  Now let me say, Full Moon films are an acquired taste, I know.  Much like how Troma films have their fans, Full Moon has their fans as well, and you know what you are getting yourself into when you pot a Full Moon film into your DVD player.  I personally, love the Full Moon films.  While some are super silly, (GINGERDEAD MAN anyone?), they are still a lot of fun, which is what I want out of a horror film.
This one is actually one of the more serious efforts from Full Moon.   This is Full Moon's signature vampire film and they have given us a nice edition to the vampire genre.  

Veteran horror actor Angus Scrimm brings some major credibility to the film, although he is only in the film a very short time.   The main vampire, Radu, is played by actor Anders Hove, and is one of the  most menacing vamps I have seen on film in a long time.  His elongated hand and fingers made me think of on of the first on screen vampires,  F.W. Murnau's NOSFERATU.  The makeup effects for Radu are excellent, and his creepy, raspy voice gets my vote for the creepiest vampire voice of all time.

My only downfall with the film is that I would have liked to have seen a little more bloodletting....I mean, it is a vampire movie right?  I think I only counted 2 or 3 neck biting scenes in the entire film.  Also, I would have liked to have seen more of the actual subspecies, Radu's evil minions that were created from his fingertips that he broke off and brought to life.  These are cool little stop motion creatures  (reminded me of Full Moon's PUPPET MASTER film) that I really wanted to see be more of a vital part of this film.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed SUBSPECIES and recommend it to all my readers, especially those that are fans of the other Full Moon features.

Special Features on the DVD and Blu-ray include:

*  Subspecies VIDEOZONE:  Making of Documentary
*  6 Full Moon trailers



CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD or Blu-ray




CLICK HERE to visit the official website of Full Moon Entertainment