Review: Bloodstorm: Subspecies 4 (1998)
Directed by: Ted Nicolaou
Starring: Anders Hove, Denice Duff, Jonathon Morris
Written by: Ted Nicolaou
Music by: Richard Kosinski, William Levine, John Zeretzke
IMDb
Ok, I checked it off my list: I’ve watched all four entries in the main Subspecies franchise. Radu somehow survives his fiery tree impalement from Bloodlust: Subspecies III and is now off to find his escaped fledgling Michelle. Stopping him are two duos: a vampire doctor and his assistant (who saved Michelle after an off-screen car accident that unceremoniously killed off all the heroes from part three — presumably due to the inability to get the actors to return) as well as Radu’s former fledgling, Ash, and Ash’s fledgling, Serena (who are apparently the main characters in series offshoot Vampire Journals). They all want Radu destroyed so they can take the Bloodstone. The final film in the series has few redeeming values. There’s a new cinematographer, which is unfortunate because Subspecies II and III looked great and this one looks like a bad TV movie, and much of the film is shot at an upward angle, from beneath everyone’s noses. And everything is too bright. There is no storm of blood, as promised; in fact, there’s almost no gore. Understandably, Radu has been through a lot over four movies, but Anders Hove looks aged a decade, though only four years have passed since part three, and he’s kind of mailing in his performance this time. He just seems so exhausted. Like parts two and three, Bloodstorm is hampered by a script that goes nowhere, with lots of characters just doing random stuff until a final confrontation occurs. There’s probably a Subspecies drinking game to be played, with shots every time Michelle gets left behind in a crypt because the sun is out or a vampire dramatically goes to bite a neck oh so slowly to allow time for a deus ex machina plot pivot. I still don’t understand why this series is named after creatures that barely appear in any of the films. Anyway, I really don’t enjoy disliking movies as much as I disliked this one. I’ll probably never get around to watching Vampire Journals, because I can’t imagine watching a whole movie centered on Ash and Serena, who are just dull Bohemian Anne Rice vampires standing around doing a lot of quiet-voiced lamenting.
Rating: 2 out of 10