Bloodstone: Subspecies II [Blu-ray]

“You can’t destroy me, Stefan. Nothing can.”So are the dying words of Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove) at the climax of Subspecies. Picking up right where that film left off, Stefan and his new vampire bride, Michelle Morgan (Denice Duff) lay down for the day while Radu’s headless corpse lies in the next room. With the help of his little minions (making their only appearance in the film) Radu reattaches his head to his body and bee-lines for Stefan’s resting place. Once there, he pushes a stake through his half-brother’s heart, destroying him. He then turns his vengeful sights to Michelle to do the same, the early morning rays of the sun come streaming through the window forcing Radu to retreat. When night falls, Michelle escapes the castle, grabbing the bloodstone from her now deceased loved one’s ashen hands and makes her way to Bucharest where she makes contact with her sister, Rebecca (Melanie Shatner). When Rebecca arrives, instead of finding her sister, she finds police lieutenant Marin (Ion Haiduc) and American Embassy worker Mel Thomspon (Kevin Blair) who inform her that Michelle has gone missing and the only thing left behind is the coveted bloodstone.Most sequels tend to either be carbon copies of the original or are so completely different you wonder why they weren’t just marketed as an original film. Bloodstone walks that careful line of being a faithful sequel while still introducing a few new things to the mix, like Radu’s Mummy (Pamela Gordon). It actually feels like the next chapter instead of re-treading old ground. Ted Nicolaou who directed the first film also returns as writer as well and while the great mythology from the first film is neglected with hammy dialogue, we still get Radu in all his badassdom. Unlike some more recent “vampire” flicks where the bloodsuckers sparkle in daylight and look like they belong in a Kalvin Klein ad, the vampires of Subspecies are ugly, mean and the most unglamorous things you could possibly imagine. Any yearning to become a “child of the night” is quickly squashed when Radu slobbers all over the screen.Okay, these films are cheesy, low budget and won’t leave you with any thought-provoking messages. What they are are entertainment at its lowest. That’s not to say these films are bad, but even their most supportive fans will admit they won’t win any awards.Acting wise, this film fares better than your average low-budget schlock, though only marginally. Anders Hove (once again) steals the movie with his raspy-voiced portrayal of the evil Radu. Even through pounds of make-up he’s able to emote better than most A-list actors could under similar circumstances. Denice Duff does an admirable job as the troubled Michelle, though her acting is too over-the-top when a more subtle approach would have been much better. Another stand-out performance is Pamela Gordon as Mummy. She’s literally covered head-to-toe in make-up and makes the most of it. She cackles in a high-pitched voice that is reminiscent of the witch from The Wizard of Oz, though much more diabolical.Onto the special features. We get a nifty little bundle. First up is the commentary track featuring writer/director Ted Nicolaou, Denice Duff and Anders Hove. It’s a lively track recollecting stories from making the films in Romania, though one wishes that Anders would have spoken up a bit more. He spends the majority of the track just sitting back and letting Nicolaou and Duff speak. At one point Ted tries to get Hove to speak about a certain scene to which Hove ho-hums and falls silent again.Making Subspecies is a brief talk with the three main principles: Ted Nicolaou, Denice Duff and Anders Hove. It’s basically a summation of the commentary with the three nearly begging Charles Band to pony up the cash for a fifth film.Killer Subspecies Montage is simply that: a montage of the first three films accompanied by the main theme with selected dialogue over the images.Full Moon trailers are a bunch of trailers that oddly enough doesn’t feature anything for Subspecies II or III. Instead we get previews for Puppet Master 1-3, Castle Freak, Subspecies, Grindhouse series promo, Puppet Master X: Axis Rising, Kill Joy goes to Hell and Reel Evil trailers all in HD.Finally, we get the original Video Zones that accompanied most of Full Moon’s movies back in the nineties. This is a real treat for those who rented these and other films back in the day. They are behind-the-scenes for the films they accompany. They also feature interviews with actors in upcoming (back then) films and several trailers for their films.The picture and sound quality are far more superior than even the DVD’s that rolled out a few years ago. Colors, whether bright or dark, pop off the screen. To put it simply, this film looks gorgeous. Fans will want this simply for the picture and sound quality alone.Bottom line is, if you’re not a fan this film probably won’t win you over. If you are, you owe it to yourself (and poor Charles Band) to pick this up with the first and third films as well (Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm has yet to see a blu-ray release).

Picture quality is awesome !

First of all, if you haven't seen the first of the Subspecies movies, this review mentions things that happened in it, so go rent it first and then come back for more.At the end of Subspecies, we left Radu impaled and decapitated by his brother Stefan and Stefan's love, Michele. Stefan bit Michele so that she could be with him forever, and retired to his casket clutching the Bloodstone.Bloodstone:Subspecies 2 picks up exactly where the first movie left off, with Radu's headless body lying upon the cold stone floor of the castle. But Stefan missed Radu's subspecies, the little gargoyle type creatures of Radu's creation. The subspecies push Radu's head back onto his shoulders, where it knits back into place, and pull the stake out of his chest.Welcome back, Radu! The first thing Radu does is kill Stefan as he sleeps in his coffin, then moves to kill Michele also. But the sunlight comes in and chases Radu away, not just from Michele but from the Bloodstone still clutched in Stefan's hands.Michele awakes, and grabbing the Bloodstone, leaves the castle and heads out to Bucharest. She calls her sister Becky, who immediately jumps a plane to find out what's wrong. Michele knows what she is now, and desperately wants to be human again.Radu follows Michele, and now we are introduced to Radu's "Mummy", a skeletal creature to whom he brings the blood of his father. Radu admits to his mother that he wishes to keep the girl Michele instead of kill her, and with mother's help and a lot of manipulation, they all return to Transylvania with Becky in tow.This is a great sequel to the first Subspecies movie, and as I said before, Radu is the best vampire ever. Anders Hove does a great job acting, and Denise Duff takes over the role of Michele here in part 2, a role she continues with through the end of the series.There is more biting, more drooling, more blood, more beautiful scenery; just as we saw in the first movie. In the ending, Michele must fight Radu for her sister's life, even knowing that it is too late to save her own.Well, don't just sit there, go and watch it for yourself. This is vampire cheese at its tastiest peak, smelly and pungent and terrific with crackers. Enjoy!

Bloodstone: Subspecies 2 is a sequel worth jumping straight into. Kicking off where Subspecies left off, we see the vampire Radu (Hove) being reassembled by his little red minions. Radu awakes and slaughters his sleeping brother, but is chased away by the encroaching sunlight before he can kill his brothers’ mate Michelle (Duff) and before he can take the Bloodstone. What follows is a chase through the streets of Bucharest.Denice Duff takes over the role of Michelle from Laura Mae Tate, but it isn’t one of those cast changes that some may find particularly jarring. The biggest shock is just how long Michelle’s hair has grown. Duff gives a more innocent and vulnerable performance, but is also able to hold a sultry and seduction presence.

Charles Band and his shoddy quality control strikes again. In 2012, Full Moon re-released the Subspecies films separately (not in a box set) for the first time on blu-ray and DVD with new widescreen transfers. However the DVD version of Subspecies II is botched. The re-release of Subspecies 1 & 3 have the correct, new remastered widescreen transfers, however Subspecies II has the same, full screen laserdisc transfer as the older box set releases, despite claiming the transfer to be 16x9 widescreen on the box artwork.Full Moon never responded to my inquiry about the issue so there is no replacement program in sight and no doubt due to Band's shady history, there never will be. No wonder the DVD has dropped to $7.99 on most retail sites as they try to sell off the stock of falsely advertised discs. Either buy the blu-ray versions, or better yet, stop supporting Band and his shady tactics and poor customer service.

This Sure Had🧛Vampire Enjoyment An Old Era 90’s One I Enjoyed Better Then The First I Believe😃

(I touch on some spoilers here, particularly for the first film but also for this one)I didn't much care for the first Subspecies - it was predictable, dull, badly acted and completely underwhelming. Only the Romanian locations worked for it - Anders Hove and Angus Scrimm were even dull as their vampiric characters! The Full Moon US Blu-ray release didn't help matters - much as the DVD looked like VHS (because it was taken from a VHS/laserdisc master), the Blu-ray looked only slightly better than a DVD!Still, I'd read a few reviews of this movie, Bloodstone: Subspecies II, that said it was "much better than the first", including the trusted  The Psychotronic Video Guide to Film  which said "Believe it or not, this is one of the best vampire movies in years". So, hesitantly I bought the 88 films disc and have to say I don't regret it at all.Things start wonderfully with the killing off of the worst characters from the first film, an excellent selection of grue effects (a still living vampire head, another vampire head reattaching itself to it's body in a clever and gross inversion of the famous spider-head scene from 'The Thing') and quickly we realise director Ted Nicolau is out to make up for the mistakes of the past. The direction here is excellent - this actually feels like a real movie with every shot done with enough takes to get it right, rather than the "rush and get it on camera" feel of the first film, which was among the worst of Direct to Video stylings.The actors are almost completely replaced - Radu remains played by Anders Hove and he's much creepier here, and Michelle, the heroine, is now portrayed by Denise Duff, who is both prettier and a better actress than the model who played the character in the first film. The new additions to the cast - including Kevin Blair (aka. Kevin Spirtas) and William Shatner's daughter, Melanie (from "Syngenor") - are also far better than in the previous film. If there's a complaint I have about the movie itself, it's that the score is the same one from the first film for most of it's length, and while it's not a bad score, I do get sick of hearing the same thing over and over.The 88 Films blu-ray is fantastic - the picture quality is excellent, a true high definition feast, and the lossless 5.1 DTS sound is wonderful too. For the purists, there's a lossless stereo original mix too. A commentary track, featurette and a montage of the series' moments are included too. I don't much care for the Twilight-inspired new artwork on this film (the Full Moon releases use these too), but because 88 films are a great bunch of guys and gals, they include the original artwork on the inverse!If you like Full Moon movies or vampire films, you will enjoy this movie. The Psychotronic Video Guide to Film

Being a closet Charles Band fan for a number of years now, I've usually seen his prolific output upon release, but for some reason these 'Subspecies' sequels had passed me by. With that in mind and the fine fellows at 88 Films kindly releasing the movies on blu ray to help, I decided to don my garlic decorated codpiece and dive right in...Picking up mere moments after the first film, a decapitated Radu (a clearly in need of a Werther's Original Anders Hove) has his head unceremoniously glued back on by those pesky subspecies creatures in a funky prosthetic triumph. After he is is resurrected, his first nefarious deed is to open his brother Stefan's coffin and give him the stake (brotherly love goneout of the window, then) and claim the 'bloodstone' for himself. However, before he can stake series heroine Michelle Morgan (Denice Duff]) the sun rises and its coffin time for our fangy villain. The next evening, Michelle awakes, nicks the old bloodstone and flees to Bucharest where she begins her fight to stay human and avoid becoming a vampire. Her only hope is her sister Becky (Melanie Shatner) whom she begs to come and save her from the grip of not only her impending transformation but the rubber fingered charms of Radu...The film, although low budget and a little clunky - does offer the viewer an early 90s gothic horror that oozes eerie style with wonderful locations and atmospheric cinematography (the many uses of Radu's shadow are particularly impressive). Director Ted Nicolaou knows his onions and ensures his movie has enough gooey gore and overblown amateur dramatics to fill the running time, never allowing you to get bored or question how silly this tosh actually is.88 Film's blu ray presentation is topnotch with a striking picture and confident audio. The extras are plentiful and include the usual Full Moon Entertainment trailers, Videozone, reversible sleeve and an informative commentary track from Nicolau, Duff and Hove that highlights the ups and downs of working on a low budget production. All in all, an okay movie given the premier treatment by a company that seems to care about cult horror flicks. Recommended for that alone.

Unlike many other 'cheap' movie series, I found the Subspecies series improved from movie to movie.I was glad to find this (and part 3 and Vampitr Journals) at a great price as well.Now, if only 88 Films could release part 4 (and Trancers 4 and 5) ;-)

great movie