Bloodstone: Subspecies 2 — Triskaidekafiles

BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES 2

WRITER: Ted Nicolaou

DIRECTOR: Ted Nicolaou

STARRING: Anders Hove as Radu

Denice Duff as Michelle

Kevin Blair as Mel

Melanie Shatner as Rebecca

Pamela Gordon as Mummy

Michael Denish as Popescu

Ion Haiduc as Lt. Marin

QUICK CUT: Following the results of her trip in the first movie, Michelle tries to pull her life together and reconnect with her sister.

THE MORGUE

Michelle - A young woman turned vampire, struggling like a crack addict to get her first fix. She’s at her wits end, she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but she doesn’t want to die either.

Rebecca - Michelle’s sister, and I think saying that she jumps on a plane to fly all the way to Romania at the drop of a hat says everything you need to know about her.

Mel - The agent from the US Embassy sent to help Rebecca with her sister’s case. He’s affable and fairly innocent. A sceptic who doesn’t want to rock the boat any more than he has to.

Marin - The detective working with Rebecca, and probably wants all this weirdness to go away just as much as Mel does. His English is all learned from tv cop dramas, and it shows.

Radu - A raspy, drooly vampire who wants to impress his mother, and loves toying with people.

Who says you can’t get blood from a stone?

TRISK ANALYSIS: Welcome back, Triskelions! I guess it's time to get back to the Subspecies series, with entry #2, Bloodstone. So let's just take a big bite, and try not to drool all over ourselves.

The movie picks up immediately where the first one left off, with Michelle recapping the plot, as we watch Radu's filthy blood dolls attaching his head, in a pretty wicked effect.

Bits of muscle and blood vessels reach out, reattach, and pull Radude back together, and he gets on his feet. Although, he still has drooling issues.

Radu heads upstairs, stakes Sir Not Appearing In This Film, and drinks his blood as it gushes out like a fountain.

He goes to do much the same to Michelle, but dangit, the sun just so happens to come up at that precise moment. He scurries away for his coffin, forgetting to claim the bloodstone before he does.

The pair of vampires awaken once night falls, and since she is right there in the room, Michelle gets to the stone first, and takes it for herself. She manages to take it and run away before her creator can shamble up from the basement crypt. He is none too pleased once he finds out what she's done.

Runaway train, never coming back. Radu's shadow on a one way track.

She makes her way to a hotel in Bucharest, books a room, and calls her sister, back in the states. Michelle begs Becky to come get her, sobbing in tears, and she agrees.

Radu watches from afar, having followed his creation on her big city adventure. While he bides his time, he pays a visit to his mother, who is a shriveled up well, mummy.

Like everyone else, she doesn't want him there. Until he presents to her with the dagger he killed his father with, and this pleases her, for the time being.

What mummy dearest wants the most though, is the bloodstone. Her failure reject of a son makes excuses, and he doesn't want to kill Michelle.

So, mum takes a bite out of his hand...he certainy has enough to spare with his fingers...and uses some of his blood to get some guidance.

We learn the drooly chin thing must run in the family, and she commands him to set fire to some stuff as part of a ritual. He heads off to take care of that, while the rest of the plot goes along.

Damnit, I left my keys in my other shadow.

The sun comes up and shines on Michelle sleeping in her hotel room. She scurries into the bathroom to hide from the sun in the tub, like it's a porcelain coffin.

Unfortunately, the cleaning crew comes in to do their thing, and discover her resting. And think she's dead because, uh, she kinda is.

The cops find the bloodstone in her possession, and through a lot of reasonable guesswork, think she may have stolen an antique to pay for drugs, a habit which took her life.

I’m not dead! I feel better! I feel happy!

As her body is being transported to the morgue, Michelle suddenly wakes back up, much to everyone's surprise. The vehicle hilariously clocks a poor bastard on a bike, and Michelle makes her escape out the back.

Michelle wanders around until she finds her way to a theare, and sneaks down to their storage room, which JUST so happens to have a glass coffin in it. Good thing they did a performance of Snow White last Christmas, huh?

I'd normally complain about a glass coffin protecting a vampire, but she's far enough away in the bowels of the theatre I guess.

Rebecca finally shows up to the hotel, and tries to find her sister. Hooboy, do they have some news for her. The police, and someone from the US embassy eventually show up to fill her in.

Michelle wakes up and is feeling a bit peckish, so goes on the hunt. She finds a victim, but can't quite bring herself to do it.

Becky and the US embassy dude, Mel, visit with a professor the girls in the first movie worked with, and he leads them to the monastery they were staying at, also from the first film.

They find the place empty, because uh, everyone's dead, and head to the castle Vladislas next. On the grounds, they come across a fresh grave from the first movie, and the professor sneaks them into the castle to show them around.

However, the castle is not as abandoned as they believed, and find Radu skulking about. He tells them to leave, and they bugger out the door.

Oh no, bill collectors. Maybe they won’t see me.

As Mel drops Becky off, she sees Michelle in the shadows, but her sister is still too embarrassed to speak with her, and runs off. Becky chases after her, and eventually catches up.

Becky asks her sister what the bloodstone is, and hands it over. Before she can give any explanations though, she sees Radu taking his turn in the shadows, and she runs off.

Radu follows Michelle to her lair, and takes the bloodstone from her, leaving her to fend for herself, sure she will seek him out.

Becky, Mel, and detective Gomez meet back up with the professor to dig through his extensive book collection, for information on the Vladislasesees.

They find the book, hear the myths about the vampire lore, and find some images of the bloodstone, so things are at least moving along.

Later at night, Michelle goes back on the hunt, since her dietary supplement has been taken by Radu. This time, she does pick a victim from the nearby club scene, and feeds, out of necessity if nothing else.

Once again, Michelle calls her sister begging for help, and unwittingly saves her from the constantly skulking Radu.

The sisters meet in a nearby park, Michelle covered in blood from her dinner. Radu shows up to ruin the reunion, and spirits his fledgling away.

Becky and the professor share vampire stories, and decide to go hunting. Mel is less sure, and downright sceptical, and who can blame him?

They go to a tomb where they think Radu and Michelle might be spending the day sleeping, since dawn was coming when last they vanished. And somehow, they luck out and find them.

Just as the professor is about to stake Radu, he gets a knife through his back from mummy. Everyone scampers off somewhere in these catacombs for the climax.

Radu offers up Rebecca as a tasty treat, but Michelle would rather stab herself in the face. Well, actually, she would rather stab Radu in the face, and that's a much better idea.

While he's dealing with that, mummy tries to attack, and gets set on fire for her troubles. She spins out of the room like a fire tornado.

Radu is pretty sure of himself, and doesn't think his fledgling will attack him...but she does. Repeatedly. And makes many stabby.

He falls to the ground, surely dead for real this time, and the sisters escape, after Rebecca stabs him through the heart. Just to be sure.

Or they would make their escape, except it's daylight out, and Michelle can't leave the tomb. So Rebecca heads out to wait until the next movie.

But Michelle is grabbed from the darkness by crispy mummy, and dragged away into the sequel.

When are you going to give me grandkids??

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: I got this on Blu Ray, and it looks great. You can see the grain, the darks are dark, but you can still see what’s in them. Good times.

Audio: Sounds really good too.

Sound Bite: “Do you think this is crazy, professor?" "Well...yes. A little."

Body Count: Very light on the death, if we’re being honest, but not terrible.

1 - Five minutes in, and Radu kills his brother Stefan

2 - Michelle feeds on a random dude

3 - The professor is impaled by mommy

4 - Michelle sets the witch on fire

5 - And then Becky stabs Radu. I'm sure he's dead.

Best Corpse: Stefan, easily. We get some gnarly shots of him being drained and desiccated by Radu, and then they have some fun with the skeletal remains, which was a treat.

Blood Type - B: Some great effects of putting Radu back together, mummy is impressive looking, the aforementioned desiccation.

Sex Appeal: A few brief moments of Michelle nudity in the shower.

Drink Up! every time the detective mentions cop shows.

Movie Review: Oh, this was quite a delight. A very solid movie, from when Full Moon was at it’s peak. It takes the first movie’s plot, keeps it going, and is pretty great. It’s slower paced, which makes it feel like not much happens, and I would’ve liked a pinch more, but the interactions between characters keeps it going. And the characters are colourful, so that helps. Well directed, good effects, and slipping in a few other layers with the addiction/drug angle, and it’s just a good time. Four out of five bloodstones

Entertainment Value: Learning more about Radu is good, Radu’s presence is ALWAYS entertaining, so over the top. But Hoves also brings some gravitas to what is really a very corny character. It wouldn’t work with a lesser actor, or someone less willing to run with it. The hotel staff are entertaining, the effects are almost worth the price of admission, for this level of movie. Just a solid, solid movie. I miss this Full Moon. Three out of five salami sandwiches.