Bounding Into Halloween Salutes Full Moon Features For 90s Week On Night 7 With ‘Bloodstone: Subspecies II’ & ‘Bloodlust: Subspecies III’
This double feature of the evening comes from our old friends at Full Moon Features. An independent horror film company that ruled the direct-to-video market in the 90s with B-movie classics such as the Puppet Master series, Demonic Toys, Dollman, and the amusing Doctor Strange knockoff, Doctor Mordrid.
These movies might be a shadow of the bangers that were dropping in the ’80s, but they still charmed the childhood of many millennial fans, and Full Moon gave us one of the most underappreciated takes on the vampire lore.
Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)
It all started when American college student, Michelle (Laura Tate), decided to take a trip to the country of Romania with her friends to study the local folklore. She quickly finds herself at the center of a feud between two vampire half-brother princes, Radu (Anders Hove) and Stefan Vladislas (Michael Watson).
Having long coveted the throne and the family’s ancient heirloom (aka “The Bloodstone”) that grants unlimited free refills to whoever wields it, Radu slays their father, the king (Angus “The Tall Man” Scrimm), then seizes both for himself.
Michelle enters the equation and begins an awkward, pre-Twilight romance with the more benevolent Stefan, but the sadistic older brother decides that he wants to take a sip of some imported New World nouveau.
With the aid of his miniature stop-motion devil minions, Radu turns all of Michelle’s friends into clot-sucking coeds of the night. Then he manages to mix his blood with hers before getting staked and decapitated by Stefan, who stops Radu from turning her into his fledgling vampire love slave.
Stefan finishes turning her himself before they retire to separate coffins before sunrise, and that pretty much sums up the first Subspecies (1991). Subspecies II begins the following sunset when the devil-minions resurrect Radu before the two lovebirds awaken, and he’s back in the game.
Radu immediately rips open Stefan’s coffin and rams the same stake used against him through his brother’s heart, but the newborn vampire Michelle (now played by Denice Duff) is able to get away. She flees to Bucharest and contacts her sister, Becky (Melanie “Little Kirk” Shatner), for help while trying to fight off the urge to attack innocent people.
Radu is hot on her trail, and that stubborn strigoi just won’t take “no” for an answer, but this time he’s bringing his Mummy (Pamela Gordon).
The budget for these films has never been shared with the public, but it’s obvious that there was an increase after the first entry, and this is where the entire mood of the series becomes established. Anders Hove returns to the role with intense, vitriolic enthusiasm that wasn’t as present before, but love will do that to a person, and getting beheaded doesn’t help things either.
Denice Duff would play Michelle in the remaining three movies, and compared to her predecessor, let’s just say that she looks more like the type of person who would ignite a brawl between two skinny goth vampires – something which only becomes clearer in the next movie.
Bloodstone: Subspecies II is resting in the crypts of TUBI, and the trailer is ready to rise right here:
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Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994)
Immediately following the events of the last movie, Mummy (Pamela Gordon) abducts Michelle (Denice Duff) before Becky (Melanie Shatner) can rescue her, and brings the twice-killed Radu (Anders Hove) back to life.
The trio withdraws to Castle Vladislas, and Michelle begins to accept her fate as a fledgling to the ancient Romanian ghoul. She promises to obey him if he teaches her how to hone her new fangbanger abilities, and Radu happily agrees.
While that’s going on, Becky regroups for another rescue mission with her new boyfriend (Kevin Blair from Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood), a bumbling Inspector Clouseau clone (Ion Haiduc), and a soon-to-be-dead CIA operative (Michael Dellafemina).
They storm the castle to once again wrest Michelle free from the long, spiderlike clutches of her new master, but how much of her is left to save?
As far as quality, this is where the series peaks before plummeting into the deepest depths of mediocrity with the next three installments. Hove is in complete control of the character, and he adds more layers to Radu’s megalomaniacal personality.
Michelle embraces her vampire status, and she looks like the type of dark-haired gothic beauty that Peter Steele from Type O Negative used to sing about when he was still alive, but that’s enough simping for one article. See for yourself on TUBI, but watch the trailer first:
NEXT: Bounding Into Halloween Night 19: More Bloodsuckers With Bite In ‘Thirst’ & ‘Fright Night’
