SUBSPECIES (1991)

 

(Director: Ted Nicolaou. Screenwriters: Jackson Barr and David Pabian, based on Charles Band’s idea.)

 

Review

In fictional Prejnar, Romania, Radu Vladislas, monstrous offspring of a twisted sorceress and a briefly ensorcelled King Vladislas, returns home and kills his elderly father for the Bloodstone, a mystical gem that contains the blood of saints—a powerful, addictive elixir.

Radu’s vampiric half-brother (Stefan, played by Michael Watson), arrives and finds his father dead. He, good, kind, and half-human, seeks to avenge his father’s death, and poses as a college student studying local “nocturnal creatures”.

Stefan is not the only new arrival in Prejnar. Three medieval-history-studying college students—Romanian native Mara (Irina Movila), free-spirited Lillian, and bookish and especially resourceful Michelle—show up and stay at a local fort near Castle Vladislas, where Radu lurks.  

When Lillian takes to her bed with “anemia” after secretly being visited by Radu, the blood-fueled sibling conflict between sensitive Stefan and his ruthless, more virile brother (as well as his devilish, pint-sized minions) ratchets into full-blown war, with all around them—including local groundskeeper Karl (Ivan J. Rado, PUPPET MASTER II, 1990)—caught up in their designs.

SUBSPECIES has an authentic Romanian feel, strong writing (a lot of its dialogue comprised of interesting Romanian bloodsucker mythology and real-life history), tight editing (credit Bert Glatstein and William Young), and great cinematography (Vlad Paunescu, whose work adds to the realistic feel of SUBSPECIES) and striking, spooky scenes. The rest of the behind-the-scenes crew nailed it as well. When combined with the strong acting of its cast, particularly Anders Hove’s shadowy, hiss-whispery Radu, all of this makes SUBSPECIES a fun, well-made take on bloodsucker tropes, one worth checking out. 

SUBSPECIES‘s other noteworthy actors include:

Angus Scrimm (PHANTASM, 1979) as the visibly ailing, spirited King Vladislas;

Michelle McBride (THE MASK OF RED DEATH, 1989) as just-do-it Lillian;

Laura Mae Tate (DEAD SPACE, 1991) as the studious Michelle, whose mutual attraction to Stefan might save them.

Followed by four sequels and a spin-off movie, its first sequel BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II (1993).

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

SUBSPECIES is the first American movie to be shot in post-Communist Bucharest, Romania (called Prejnar in the film).

According to IMDb’s Trivia page, Radu’s character was inspired by Radu the Handsome, real-life sibling of Vlad the Impaler.

In Justin Beahm’s article “From TerrorVision to Subspecies: Ted Nicolaou Interviewed (Part One)” (Scream magazine, issue 56, September/October 2019), Nicolaou said that Michael Watson (who played Stefan Vladislas) recommended his GENERAL HOSPITAL co-star Anders Hove to play Radu, and Full Moon head/producer Charles Dance almost immediately cast Hove after meeting him.

Nicolaou also mentioned how Laura Tate (SUBSPECIES’s Michelle) “left the shoot two weeks” before it was completed, after she slept-walked into Nicolaou’s hotel room where she woke and freaked out. Tate’s remaining scenes were shot with a double.

Also noted in Beahm’s article: Nicolaou was a boom operator/sound guy on Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974). Nicolaou owned the van that Sally and her friends traveled in.