Subspecies (1991) – A Movie A Day 2021 #33
Subspecies (1991) – A Movie A Day 2021 #33
For today’s movie I decided to try something a little different. Rather than just pick some random movie based on little more than a whim, I thought I’d pick something to watch based on what I watched yesterday. So yesterday I watched Dead Space, and today I decided to watch a movie featuring one of the main actors from that movie. No, I didn’t go with the obvious and choose another Bryan Cranston film even though he was the only actor I really wrote about yesterday. Instead, I picked something starring Laura Tate who, in Dead Space, stars as Dr. Salinger, the level-headed love interest of the space cowboy main character. In today’s movie of the day Laura Tate plays Michele, the mostly level-headed love interest of a friendly vampire. The movie I chose is the Full Moon cult-classic vampire tale, Subspecies.
I’ve heard about Subspecies for years and have its home-video cover artwork set in my memory, but I’ve never actually watched it. That is, until now. Subspecies is a gothic-inspired vampire movie that seems to borrow its aesthetic from some of the classic Hammer horror films with a bit of 1922’s Nosferatu thrown in. The movie focuses on a trio of young women, Michele, Mara, and Lillian, who travel to Romania to study local folklore. Meanwhile, Radu, an evil vampire with fangs and extra-long fingers reminiscent of Count Orlok, has traveled to the same Romanian village to kill his vampiric father (played by Angus Scrimm of Phantasm) and steal the legendary Bloodstone. The young women inevitably cross paths with Radu during their explorations, and what follows is a fun and familiar vampire story with skittish villagers, secretive vampire attacks, and a buildup to a final showdown in an ancient castle.
The first thing that struck me about Subspecies is how good it looks. It was shot on location in Romania, so the visuals are fantastic. The special effects can be somewhat hit and miss, but even some of the lesser effects are charming in a b-movie way. The cheesiest effects are easily Radu’s tiny stop-motion minions, but I think they give the movie a classic feel. Radu is the only vampire that is ever made up to look inhuman, and he looks and acts convincing in the role. His long fingers seem to be an annoyance for him and make it look kind of silly when he tries to hold things (especially when he attempts to sword fight), but the neat visual effect his fingers give when he’s vamping through the scenery is a valid trade-off. Also, his fingers help make his shadowy entrances and exits from rooms that much more fun in a German-expressionism-esque way.
While Radu is definitely the most fun and memorable character in Subspecies, everyone else does a good job as well. Michele becomes the focus of Radu’s benevolent brother Stefan (who is also trying to get his hands on the Bloodstone), and Stefan’s interest in Michele makes her a target for Radu. There’s a bit of cat and mouse chase throughout the movie that climaxes with a fun final battle and a satisfying ending. The love story between Michele and Stefan feels a bit light, but the ambiance of the movie as a whole made me not care about that so much. I just had fun with the classic feeling of the movie and the plot that felt so familiar that I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen well before it actually happened.
There are four total Subspecies movies and one spinoff. I’m probably going to pick tomorrow’s movie in a similar way to how I picked today’s, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll pick the next Subspecies movie in the series. I definitely do want to watch them all at some point, but I might space them out a little.