BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES 2

Kicking off from right where its predecessor ended, BLOODSTONE sees sexy Michelle (Denice Duff) offering a quick narration over the events that took place in the original SUBSPECIES. That she manages to sum that film up in a mere couple of sentences is really rather telling...

Anyhow, Michelle now lies in a coffin in the crypts of Castle Vladislas. Her love, the noble vampire Stefan, resides in the box beside her. But not for long. He's staked through the heart by his vengeful brother Radu (Anders Hove), who is desperate to inherit the family's birthright: the all-powerful, life-giving bloodstone.

Having slain Stefan, Radu prepares to do the same to Michelle before robbing the aforementioned stone from where it lies in Stefan's coffin. However, the sun suddenly rises and Radu is forced to bid a hasty retreat into his own bed.

As dusk sets in later that day, Michelle awakens to discover her love has been reduced to dust. Understandably upset, she grabs the bloodstone and flees the castle. As Radu wakes, he realises what has happened and gives chase.

This leads the pair of them to Bucharest, where Michelle is able to hide out in a hotel for a short while. It's there that she makes an international call to her sister Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) in America. Babbling incoherently about not wanting to turn out like "him" (she has been bitten and is presently in limbo somewhere between being human and vampire), our heroine begs her sister to get a flight out to Romania and rescue her.

Rebecca, bless her cotton socks, obliges.

Meanwhile, Radu pays a visit to his witch mother (Pamela Gordon) for advice on how to get the bloodstone back without having to kill Michelle. After all, he's decided that not only does he want to take away his brother's inheritance but now also wants to claim his woman for himself. Or something like that. Mother is even more fucked up than Radu, incredibly, and agrees to help him ... if only to get her own hands on the stone. But that's good enough for Radu, as we gradually learn that at the end of the day he's little more than a lonely, frightened boy trapped in a hideous blood-sucking monster's frame. Aw, bless.

As Radu sets about trying to win back the bloodstone along with Michelle's unwilling heart, she makes efforts to stay one step ahead of him while using every ounce of her determination to combat the spreading of vampirism within.

Fortunately for Michelle, her allies come in the form of Rebecca and hard-nosed, vampire-hunting Romanian cop Marin (Ion Haiduc). Well, in a game of cat and mouse where the stakes are so high, you'll take whatever alliance you can find ... right?

Shot back-to-back with BLOODLUST: SUBSPECIES 3, the big plusses on this sequel’s side are the fact that executive producer and story developer Charles Band has re-enlisted the director and lead actor from the original film.

Consequently, the action picks up from where that film ended and flows evenly, with Hove expanding on his villainous character and becoming truly comfortable in how Radu should think, act and feel. The progression feels natural and satisfying. Writer-director Tim Nicolaou, also being on familiar territory, maintains the zany mish mash style of the first instalment, adopting an "if it ain’t broke" mentality which serves the breakneck pace and openness to try anything in the name of trashy entertainment well.

Band, of course, has a knack for making low budget films look and feel like something more. He opts to film again on Romanian soil and, once more, the locations and landscapes bring a great deal of style to a film that otherwise could’ve seemed very cheap indeed. His brother Richard lends added class with an accomplished, atmospheric classical horror score.

Most of the cast members are new, including Duff – who replaces Laura Tate from the preceding film. Both girls are easy on the eye and bestowed with negligible acting talents, so there’s nothing much to differentiate one from the other. Elsewhere, Shatner (yes, daughter of William) does her father proud by carrying on the family tradition of delivering lines in a stilted, confused manner. Haiduc stands out the most from the new arrivals – but, make no mistake, this is very much Hove’s show. As mentioned above, he becomes Radu and the character is given more depth for him to play with this time around.

Some fans have previously bemoaned the fact that good vampire Stefan is killed off at the start of this entry. But, let’s face it; he was a fairly boring character anyway. Although the real reason for his unceremonious slaughter appears to be that actor Michael Watson was tied up at the time shooting episodes of TV’s "The Bold and the Beautiful" …

Ultimately, BLOODSTONE offers much of the same for fans of SUBSPECIES: decent aesthetics, frequent action and gore, a tinge of Gothic fantasy and even the odd pair of boobies. It’s fun, it’s cheap and it’s good to look at. If anything, it takes the ingredients of the original film and delivers something slicker, more assured and more accomplished.

88 Films’ region free blu-ray disc presents BLOODSTONE uncut in a healthy-looking 1080p transfer which preserves the original 1.78:1 aspect ratio in MPEG4-AVC file form. Colours are deep and blacks are handled well, while a sharper veneer than its predecessor gives the impression of more detail being offered.

English audio comes in reliable, problem-free DTS-HD Master 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 mixes which both sound finely balanced and upfront throughout playback.

The disc opens to a static main menu page. From there, pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

Extras are a fairly similar bunch to those proffered on the SUBSPECIES blu-ray:

Nicolaou provides a credible, detailed and easy-going commentary track alongside co-stars Hove and Duff. The laughs are mixed evenly among the fluent, informative chatter in what is an above-par chat track.

8 minutes of cast and crew interviews repeat stuff from the above commentary but are still interesting to watch regardless. Hove and Nicolaou both recall that they left the heavy drinking to in-between shoots, as opposed to the volatile drunken circumstances that they shot the first film under.

"Killer Montage" is a bizarre 105-second succession of clips and audio bites from the film.

A 10-minute episode of old cable programme "Videozone" is better, even if it is just an on-set plug for the film.

The film's original trailer is window-boxed and brief at 104 seconds in length.

We also get a trailer reel for some of the other films available from 88 Films: PUPPETMASTER, PUPPETMASTER 2, PUPPETMASTER 3, THE DEAD WANT WOMEN, CASTLE FREAK and ZOMBIES VERSUS STRIPPERS.

BLOODSTONE is a low budget vampire flick that benefits from a producer who knows what his audience wants and is savvy enough to deliver those ingredients at regular intervals. It always looks nice thanks to the Romanian setting and use of a real-life castle location. Okay, the performances are largely of the daytime soap opera variety and the script is pure tosh, but there are far less entertaining ways to spend 86 minutes of your time. Better than the original SUBSPECIES, this is undemanding and surprisingly stylish fun.

Also available on DVD.

Review by Stuart Willis