Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Quintology II: Subspecies 2

Here we are again, this time with Part 2 (aka Bloodstone) of the series. This one stands out in a couple of ways. First off, Full Moon did not plan this out as a series, hence the reason for this being made two years later. This leads to a couple of problems that will be addressed early on. What has stayed the same is the director and lead actor (Anders Hove as Radu). They also went back to Romania, although they use some newer locations on top of the castle. We also get a ton of new characters, some of which have staying power and some that don't- more on that later, as well. It also bears mentioning that this was made in conjunction with Part III (aka Bloodlust), showing some planning on their parts. With all that out of the way, let's return to the world of vampires with...
The film begins with a short recap (about 2 minutes) and our villain managing to come back to life. The tiny 'subspecies' monsters help him put it on, but the real worker is his spinal column, which extends itself, hooks his head and pulls it back on. Just to be anti-climactic, he gets up and skewers the hero from the first film. The man explodes into fire...for some reason and becomes a really strange effect. He even manages one more 'pop-up' moment before his real death. He goes over to the other coffin and opens it to discover...a different actress in a more revealing outfit. What the hell? You book-ended the films, but did not keep the same cast?!? The rising sun scares Radu away, since he can't just close the curtains. This gives us the most anti-climactic suspense scene ever as Radu goes downstairs to his coffin and rests, while our heroine does the same. Being an early riser, she gets up before the monster, runs to her old room and flees to a train. The dumb guy is always right behind her, now with the aid of some weird 'shadow' effects that will become cliches for the series from this point on. Fleeing to Bucharest, she checks into a hotel, but is taken for dead in the morning. Maybe you shouldn't take a nap in a bathtub when you are pale and have no pulse. Fortunately, her sister is on her way to help out.

Our new heroine arrives in town to help out her sister, but is too late. She woke up in the ambulance and ran away in mid-day, since the sun does not affect her that much, apparently. She takes refuge in what appears to be a prop warehouse, but is never actually explained. Her sister is given the hard facts and shown the Bloodstone, which our heroine made sure to take with her when she left. Radu is pissed about this, but mostly just appears in random places and lurks. For a long time, only Michelle (the newbie vampire) sees him, which does not help her case. In the film's sub-plot, the sister and an envoy of the American Embassy investigate the events of the first film. They meet up with an old professor who tells them about the Bloodstone, which the guy does not believe to be more than just a piece of junk. Incidentally, the look has vastly improved on this artifact in the last couple of days- hm, I can't imagine how. They go into the castle via a secret entrance and come across the chaotic remains of the Subspecies finale battle. Another sub-plot introduces the mother of Radu, who vastly resembles the evil witch from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, albeit if she was a zombie. She pushes Radu to kill Michelle and regain the stone, but he has feelings for her. At least, as much as he can muster.

Finally, the two sisters reunite, but it does not last long. Radu appears and takes the vampire girl away, with Bloodstone in tow. He tries to coerce her to his side, but she resists. This pushes the sister to really try and save her sister, now with the knowledge about Radu and the Vladislaas clan. The envoy does not believe it and chooses not to go, leaving it down to the woman and the old man. They find the crypt with Michelle and Radu, but the man is killed by the mother, who apparently is not bound by the normal vampire rules for some reason. Michelle awakens and learns that her sister is going to be used as a sacrifice to get rid of the woman's last aspects of humanity. Desperate, she manages to find her convictions and stabs Radu in the face! The mother fights back, but gets lit aflame by a torches and does the 'Wonder Woman spin' to exit. Radu is stabbed many times, the last one coming from Michelle's sister (a point for later). They both go to exit, but the morning sun forces Michelle to stay. As she backs up into the crypt, the mother pops up and grabs her! To be continued...

This movie is not bad, but definitely suffers from some casting shock. The whole idea of the film is that you invest in the Michelle character, since she is the only connective thread of the series aside from Radu. I applaud them for this, but question the re-casting of the role. This is actually never addressed in the Making Of segment, which is a strange omission. As a story, it is solid, even if there are some questions left unanswered still. Radu is an effective villain, although his mother (credited as Mummy) is too over-the-top for this movie's tone. There are still very few vampires in the movie (the mother never acts like one), which works as a highlight for the vampires appearances. At the same time, a film like this could use more vampires. One of the films in the series manages to address this, but most of them stick to just Radu and Michelle. No matter how many times they do it, the shadow effects are still silly. I will leave you today with this illogical effects shot...

Will Michelle escape with her soul? Will her sister save the day? Will the movie include a pointless ass shot of our heroine? Stay tuned...

2 comments:

  1. Liked this one, but this and the third just get so friggin tedious and redundant.

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  2. Yeah, I tried to make this point in my review of IV actually. Radu just never learns his lesson! He has lived for hundreds of years and survived looking like Nosferatu's ugly cousin, but it all goes downhill in about a month's time (in the films).

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