Bloodstone: Subspecies II Year: 1993 Director: Ted Nicolaou Written by: Ted Nicolaou Threat: Vampire Weapon of Choice: Dagger Based upon: nothing IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
Subspecies
Bloodlust: Subspecies III
Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm

Rish Outfield's reviews
Recently, I've gotten into something of a horror movie funk. It seemed that every movie was either terrible, awful, or terribly awful. So, I didn't expect to break the cycle with Subspecies 2. It's been a while since tyranist and I saw the first film. As I recall, it wasn't too good. At least my review wasn't very positive. But either my standards and intolerance have really diminished, or Subspecies 2 was a great movie.
In Transylvania, American cutie Michelle (who I don't remember from the first film, but ah well) has been bitten by a vampire, and has to endure the internal tug-of-war between her dark new desires and her humanity. She calls on her sister to help her, who enlists the aid of a couple of cops and a Hungarian professor. Meanwhile, evil, spider-fingered vampire Radu (Anders Hove) is stalking Michelle for the powerful Bloodstone she possesses . . . and I think (you can admit it, Radu, we won't judge you) because he likes her.
While it wasn't really scary, and wasn't as dirty as some of Full Moon's releases, it had something unheard-of in the last batch of videos I've watched--a good script. Radu, so dim-witted and slobbery in the original, is actually intelligent and well-written here. I found myself liking him and enjoying his dialogue (which may have been intentional), even though I didn't dislike the heroes. Denice Duff as Michelle does a good job, and looks nice, even when covered with blood. Radu's mom (played by Pamela Gordon) is very, very cool. Unfortunately, Melanie Shatner appears here as Michelle's sister (while she doesn't suck like in Cthulhu Mansion, she ain't exactly Meryl Streep), though she's kinda cute from time to time.
The tiny subspecies are only in the first minute of the film, then never seen again. This also featured some gruesome, but impressive makeup effects and a really literal blood fountain. There were a couple of weak moments in the film, but by and large, this is a real keeper. It gave me faith when mine was starting to shake. I might have found the cliffhanger ending a letdown, but the film was immediately followed by a preview for Bloodlust: Subspecies III, filmed at the same time. And I consider myself lucky to have a copy lying around.
I'd Recommend It To: You good old horror movie fans, especially of vampires.
Note: Even the standard Full Moon documentary at the end of the tape was more fun and more interesting than usual. So I may be biased.

The tyranist's thoughts
I wouldn't qualify myself as a vampire film connoisseur, but I do enjoy this particular sub-genre quite a bit. Unfortunately, it seems to have been run into the ground a little with the growing goth/vampire movement and the subsequent desire to make vampire hero movies. The Subspecies series is a little bit of a throwback to the old vampire stile, but in the second entry we get the beginning of that new goth tradition. Fortunately, this is handled very, very well and instead of the vampire hero giving in to the only too glamourous night life there is still horror afoot.
Anders Hove is back as Radu and does a very nice job of portraying the evil but distantly human vampire. Often I found myself wondering at his character. His lusts and thoughts were somewhat the same as mine, but he is never portrayed in a totally positive light. Kudos to Anders and Ted Nicolaou for maintaining the integrity.
The two girls arent' bad either. Well, Denice Duff isn't. Melanie Shatner is virtually a cardboard cutout and I have to believe that this is because of her lack of ability rather than anyone else's fault. Too bad she'll be back for episode 3. Ms. Duff, on the other hand, plays a wonderfully confused and frightened young vampire who remembers enough of her humanity to not want to be the way she is. It probably helps that she is attractive.
Filmed again in Hungaria (in fact, I think all of them were so maybe I won't mention it anymore) the setting was perfect. Away from the glitz of American cities, the struggle between humanity and vampirism was lent more of an air of reality. I thought that the scenes in Bucarest were quite nice and added an age to the movie that would have been otherwise unachievable.
The series is definitely getting better with this entry.

Total Skulls: 16

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?