SUBSPECIES V: BLOODRISE (2023)

 "FLEDGLINGS . . . . KNEEL BEFORE YOUR MASTER!"

  At long, long last the new SUBSPECIES movie was released this year after debuting first on Full Moon's streaming service as one of the 'Deadly Ten'.   The poop is that, despite the script being written as far back as the late 90's, Full Moon wasn't able to make the film "as intended" and took the patient approach not to make it until they could do it the way they thought it should be done. 

Which begs the question, after all this time, was it worth the wait?  Frankly, any chance to see Radu again is worth the wait but it helps that this fifth film in the franchise is pretty good. If you don't already know, this film is a prequel and shows us who Radu was and how he came to be the nasty vampire we know and love!  Of course, from the previous films we know Radu is the son of vampire Vladislas and the witch Circe (or 'Mummy' as we've come to know and love her).  The movie opens with Circe giving birth to the little demon.  Fighting knight/monks burst in, stake Circe with a giant cross and take the baby to raise in the church.  Thus Radu becomes a Crusader Knight! 

Radu and his sidekick Brother Marius are on a mission to vanquish the vampire Vladislas when they discover the vamp's 'consort' Helena and her son Stefan by Vladislas.  You remember Radu's half brother Stefan from the first movie?  Anywho, Radu rescues Helena and Stefan and takes them away; not knowing quite for sure if Helena has been bitten.  Examining her neck, Radu sees no bite marks on Helena -- but she DOES like to stay in a darkened cave during the daytime.  I don't think it's THAT much of a spoiler to find that Helena DOES have a vampire bite SOMEWHERE on her person.  Helena eventually vamps out and puts the chompers on Radu thus making him a vampire too.  I'm not really going to go any further into the plot as it's still a very new movie and not everyone may have watched it yet.  However, though he's getting a little long in the tooth (pun intended), Anders Hove returns as Radu and it works.  Hove spends the first half hour of the movie as the human Crusader knight and the fact that he's a little old still works.  I mean, no one said Radu was young when he became a vampire. 

And naturally, Hove owns the screen every minute he's on it.  But another really nice thing is that Denice Duff is back as well; just not as the same character we've loved as Radu's fledgling Michelle from the second film on.  Because this is a prequel, she couldn't be.  But she too owns her new role as Helena and it's a nice twist that it's Denice Duff who makes Anders Hove into the vampire Radu; reversing the two actors' previous relationship.  But old home week doesn't end there as Kevin Spirtas returns from the other SUBSPECIES movies but this time he place Prince Vladislas (who was previously played in the first film by PHANTASM's Tall Man himself:  Angus Scrimm). 

Here, Vladislas looks entirely different -- more of a 'Nosferatu'-faced vampire rather than Scrimm's cotton-topped old man.  But hey, Vladislas was younger here, wasn't he.  And then we also get to see Ash & Ariel -- Radu's first fledglings -- whom we first encountered in the SUBSPECIES-adjacent VAMPIRE JOURNALS.  Here Ariel & Ash are played by new faces Staša Nikolić and Marko Filipović respectively.  They both look great in the parts; first as painfully naive and innocent musicians and then as corrupted, decadent and evil vampires.  Then there is Olivera Peruničić who is wonderfully kickass as new character Diana.  Ted Nicolau, of course, directs SUBSPECIES V as he has all the others and ain't that fitting?  And (super)naturally, the Bloodstone itself is back.  As someone who has been watching Full Moon flicks since the very early 1990's, I've always said that the SUBSPECIES movies are the best Full Moon has to offer; no matter how much I enjoyed wacky stuff like SEEDPEOPLE, DOCTOR MORDRID and DEMONIC TOYS, it was the SUBSPECIES movies where the actual quality lay.  Now, in the present day of enjoying the ridiculousness of GINGERDEAD MAN and EVIL BONG, SUBSPECIES V:  BLOODRISE still stands above all Full Moon's other output in terms of quality. 

This is a legitimately good movie which pays fan service to those of us who've been with the franchise since the beginning but also manages to be a great watch in its own right.  I was admittedly a little tentative during the first hour of 'human Radu' but things kick into high gear when the first 30 minutes are behind us.  When I first learned Full Moon was making a fifth SUBSPECIES movie, I had no desire or wish for a 'prequel' but, having seen this, I'm on board for HOPEFULLY more SUBSPECIES movies in the future.  I don't know if Full Moon plans to make any more but, if this film is anything to go by, I really hope they continue.