Topic: "Subspecies" Vampire Film Series

[Ratty]

So I've recently watched the first two films in this 1990s vampire series from Full Moon Features (from back when their movies had budgets and plots) the people behind the soon-to-be-rebooted "Puppet Master" franchise, and found them enjoyable and enjoyably cheesy. It's nice to see a Nosferatu-inspired vampire who is unrepentantly, joyfully evil. Add in an old castle in the Romanian countryside, some neat stop motion animation (in part one) and practical effects (in part 2) and it's a recipe for straight-to-video fun. Any other Dungeonites like this series? If you're in the USA parts 1 ( http://www.hulu.com/watch/903977 ) 2 ( http://www.hulu.com/watch/938955 ) 4 ( http://www.hulu.com/watch/688820 ) and the "Vampire Journals" spinoff ( http://www.hulu.com/watch/760967 ) are currently available to view for free on hulu with ads.


Lol "Starring... Angus Scrimm of Phantasm!" Angus is in it for only one brief scene, and yes he really does wear that ridiculous wig. Ahh good old deceptive VHS marketing.

Though it is a nice touch that they gave the Nosferatu-inspired star of the series Vlad Tepes's brothers first name, Radu.

[AlexCalvo]

They are great!  All 4 of them, and Vampire Journals, which is a spin off that takes place between 3 and 4.  Some other good b-horror you should check out with a similar vibe are Shrieker, Rawhead Rex,  The Howling 2 5 and 6, and Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight.  Love these kinds of movies.

[piscesdreams]

I love the first two.  I haven't seen 3 or 4, but I just bought the whole series on Amazon a few weeks ago. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

[Ratty]

Well, just an update for anyone in the US who was interested but thrown off that they couldn't watch the entire series for free. Subspecies 3 has been added to hulu, at first it was hulu+ Subscription only but made it free today. So, at least as of this writing, you can watch all 5 movies for free if you don't mind a lot of ad breaks. http://www.hulu.com/watch/946564



EDIT:

So, having watched Subspecies 3, then the "Vampire Journals" spinoff, and then finally "Subspecies 4" I have to say I think the series peaked with 2-3. I don't want to spoil too much but 4 obviously had budget problems and seems constrained in many obvious ways. Still, it's far from the worst thing I've ever seen, just a bit of a let-down to end the series on. The fact that it's as watchable and enjoyable as it is though is a testament to the talent of the filmmakers, considering this was released the same year Full Moon perpetrated the execrable "Curse of the Puppet Master" upon the world. Released a year before, "Vampire Journals" has much better mood and production values but not enough actually happens in the film. I probably would've really dug it if I'd been a Vampire the Masquerade player back in 97 though. That said VJ seems to fit into the timeline much better as a sequel to part 4, not the other way around.