User reviews

I d'know, this one just didn't grab me like the wonderful second and third films of the series. Maybe I'm not quite sure the crossover with Full Moon's other fang epic, "Vampire Journals", worked smoothly, or maybe I'm reacting to the loss of several of the series regulars. But Huff and Hove are again just terrific as Michelle and Radu, with Ion Haiduc reprising the likable role of Lt. Marin (with a twist!); and the creepy Vitalis Institute, where vampires are strapped to tables and experimented on like lab rabbits, is a nasty notion indeed.

The big payoff of this one for fans of the series, though, has to be Radu's unswerving devotion to Michelle, and seeing it *finally* returned by her, however briefly. Michelle desires to be cured of her vampirism but is terrified by the Institute's agonizing treatments, and Radu, hearing her psychic cry for help, instantly shadows to her rescue. The moment in which he appears like an avenging spirit at the Institute's gate and swears, like Mick Jagger's Satan, to "lay your souls to waste" unless his fledgling is released, is simply magnificent. The real gem, though, is Michelle's own response on realizing she was used as bait to lure Radu into a trap. If you're like me and have been agonizing over their relationship through the first three movies, respecting her but aching with sympathy for her spurned paramour, you will just stand and applaud when you see and hear what she does. OK, it doesn't last, but it wouldn't be in character for her if it did; and for that moment I forgave her a lot of her past offenses against one of my all-time favorite vampires.

This ending sure looks final, but check out Ted Nicolaou's comments in the attached "FM Videozone"! There's hope!

(Postscript: by now we know that the term "Subspecies" refers not to vampires but to Radu's little blood-born servitors, who are responsible for several very timely rescues. We only know that, though, because we read the tape boxes/laserdisc sleeves; they're never called that name by anyone in any of the movies, and indeed are scarcely noticed or referred to at all. Wouldn't you think that if they're deemed important enough to name the entire series after, they should've gotten a little more attention by now?...)

The Subspecies films are a rare treat. They forego the nudge nudge wink wink of the modern (or should I say postmodern?) horror film and go straight for the jugular. Probably the only examples of the classic Gothic horror film made in the 90s, these films are slight but vastly entertaining and benefit tremendously from location footage, Romanian actors, and decent writing. And why isn't Anders Hove a star?

Subspecies can do no wrong. (V will be the next test). So you think Radu could not have come back this way....HEY....he is the ultimate vampire....The Master....and, like how many times has Dracula (not even half as creepy) and Frankenstein (not nearly as sharp) returned....with even feebler stories. Of course he's back...and thank goodness for the return of Anders Hove and Denice Duff, as they are the foundation of the Subspecies series...and so good at it. This holds up well to the previous 3 Subspecies movies, although there may be a shortage of story-line, I mean if that is what you are watching for. (I didn't miss it too much, but the person watching with me thought it needed more plot.) But there has to be something held back for next time...right? Buy this movie, watch it until it wears out, and buy it again. This is how we get "Subspecies V" made for us.

I don't know, it just seemed like it was a silly voice for me, like Radu watched way too many of the Godfather films, you know? Well, Subspecies, the series I haven't seen. I was never aware of the series, but this was the only film at the time that I found at my rental store, and I was looking for a good monster flick. I also like vampire movies, so I figured I would take a look at Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm. The cover was very promising and the story I will admit was pretty horrific and original. Although I'm a bit disappointed and not sure that I will see the rest of the series, I'm glad that at least I was able to catch on pretty quickly.

Radu was apparently killed in the third installment of the Subspecies series, but he is quickly brought back to life by the help of his blood stone. He goes back to his "friend's" chamber and requires his resting place and plays with his friend's protégé, Serena. Serena is plotting to get rid of Radu though and take the blood stone. In the mean time, Michelle's friends have crashed trying to escape Radu's castle, but it's too late, Michelle is turning into a vampire. But a nurse who finds her body takes her to the hospital where she is assisted by a half vampire, Dr. Niculescu. But Radu wants her and wishes to restore his birth rite.

Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm is a bit ridicules in my book, while it's a cool vampire movie, I would say that the movie itself was pretty bad. But it's one of those films that it's so bad that it's good, I'm not even sure how to rate this one. I hope that I do get ahold of the series, I'm somewhat interested in seeing it, just because I think I might have enjoyed this film more if I knew the entire story behind it. But it was a fun little horror flick to watch in the mean time, just Radu needs to calm down on the voice a bit.

4/10

Through insane editing, the opening credits pays tribute to all the previous films. And that's about as much as I enjoyed about this installment...

Five years after the trilogy ended, the story continues, and maybe it shouldn't have. How could the same director with the same actors make this mess of a film? Badly acted. Badly directed. Bad effects. Bad make-up. Bad story. Bad lighting. And Lieutenant Marin was an idiotic character of note, badly acted by Ion Haiduc. Why, why, why?

In the first film, Michelle became a vampire. In the second, she was coming to terms with her new life. In the third, her sister tried to save her from Radu. Now, in the fourth, a doctor tries to enable her to walk in daylight. Ugh, this was such a bad B-movie. This looks much cheaper than the previous films.

I think I'll conveniently forget I've seen this and disregard it as part of the story.

Bloodstorm: Subspecies 4, the 4th installment to the Subspecies series, will be a welcome viewing to fans of the first three subspecies pictures. Anders Hove returns as the drooling Radu, as does Denise Duff as Michelle. The setting again is in Romania and Michelle has been taken under the care of a doctor who promises to cure her of her vampirism. Ted Nicolaou is at the directing helm once again and does a satisfying job creating the dark and chilling ambience needed to carry the film along. He also incorprates the character of Ash from his previous years effort, and much less successful, "Vampire Journals". Hove gives another classic and memorable performance as Radu. The audience, yet again, is bombarded with the images of Radu's messy blood feasting and blood slurping. Denise Duff's return as Michelle is well done and she gives a believeable performance as the "tortured vampire" that we have come to know in so many vampire movies over the last 15 years. Nicolau should be applauded for his attempt in bringing a very competent and entertaining Vampire anthology to the screen. Bloodstorm is must viewing for Subspecies fans, and horror fans, alike.

In a generally consistent franchise as far as quality is concerned, this one is probably the best of the lot. As all movies in the franchise it has a thick atmosphere, excellent music and adequate performances from most actors. Personally I found Anders Hove's Radu to be in his best form in all the franchise, missing most saliva-dripping face-making that made the character a bit ridiculous in the previous movies. In any case, Subspecies IV is a worthy straight-to-video horror that in my opinion is the best of the 5 (Vampire Journals included) together with Subspecies 2: Bloodstone. All in all, a worthy 81 minutes for fans of cheap horror and Full Moon productions

I will admit that I am a fan of the Subspecies Series to start with. The enjoyable movie was greatly added to with the Commentary tracks on the DVD. The director, Ted Nicolaou, was surprisingly candid about the problems with the Site, budget, and some actors. Denise Duff's commentary was funny and at times a bit sarcastic. This movie looks much better than the other movies, I don't know if it was the production or because I was viewing it from a DVD. LOTS of blood and twisted humor.

This movie, I found, was a fascinating one. From the very opening titles, we get a feel for what has happened in the previous 3 installments...but is the best yet to come?? Well, I reckon it just might have done. Enjoyable is the somewhat "Star Trekkie" crossover between this series of movies, and the main characters from 'Vampire Journals', especially Johnathon Morris as Ash. Anders Hove is, once again, excellent as the evil vampire, Radu. Surely, the Subspecies "quadrilogy" of movies should be given recognition as probably the best contribution to the vampire genre this decade.

I admit, without shame, that I'm a big fan of the first three Subspecies films. They're tacky, exploitative, silly movies, but somehow they transcend these typical limitations of straight-to-video horror. Writer-director Ted Nicolau elevates the material with some thoughtful dialogue and characterization, and he uses Romanian locations and folklore to create a truly unique and compelling universe for his vampire films.

That said, he trips up a bit with Subspecies 4. Whereas Nicolau's previous vampire films had a rather polished look, considering the budgetary restrictions he labored under, this movie is crass-looking all the way, right from the silly montage-o-clips opening credits. The lighting, SFX, and set design are a noticeable step down from previous Subspecies films, and a huge step down from Nicolau's exceptionally slick-looking effort "Vampire Journals." I can only assume that Full Moon, or one of its descendant companies, was pretty low on cash when it came time to make this final entry in the series.

The film has plenty of problems that have nothing to do with the scarcity of cash, though. Our heroine, Michelle, is sidelined for too much of the story, leaving the campy Dr. Blood and his comely companion to carry the movie. These new heroes simply aren't charismatic enough to replace Michelle or her buddies from Subspecies 2 and 3. Even the mighty Radu has a diminished role, as he spends much of his time slinking about in a death robe and looking really old. On the whole, the movie simply lacks verve - the characters are static, and so is the action. And the actors have visibly aged, despite being immortal members of the undead realm! How depressing.

I do enjoy the middle of the film, though. Things pick up when Ashe begins to conspire against Radu, and Michelle's surprise rescue of her master is great stuff. But it collapses again at the end, when Radu is slain too abruptly and too easily. I think it would be more interesting if Michelle actually became his ally at last; if she's not going to be the hero anymore, she might as well be another villain.

Still, this is a cut above the norm for the genre. It's perhaps just too depressing for me; a lot of nice characters are killed off right away, and Michelle descends into complete vampire savagery. "Dark" is the operative word here - also "cheap." And "anticlimax." It's a shame they never got around to making Subspecies 5, which I believe was intended to be a period piece about Radu's origin.

...I must say, the Subspecies series is one of Full Moon's better series of pictures. It was kept dark and gothic and bloody. I was not as happy with this one as I was 2 or 3. Which, were made 6 years previous to this one. I do feel the elapsed time helped make the movie less enjoyable. This one picks up after 3, and in my opinion, Radu was dead in 3. He was impaled on the tree after he was burning from the sun. This ressurection just wanted us to throw too much to the winds and just except Radu was back. Still a good, stylish movie looking forward to 5 later this year.

8 out of 10

The lovely Michelle (Denise Duff) has escaped from master vampire Radu and is taken to a hospital by a Ana, a woman who discovers a poorly Michelle. A doctor claims he can cure Michelle of her Vampire tendencies and is face with the danger of Radu - fresh to Bucharest to find his true love. Meanwhile Ash and his helper Serena join forces with Ana and the doctor to destroy Radu.

This fifth film (originally a planned Trilogy) follows 'Vampire Journals' which was an off-kilter fourth instalment. Though Ted Nicolaou continues to write and direct it feels here like 'Vampire Journals' might have sent him off course with the sense of originality and gripping drama replaced by a slightly tedious and by now becoming tired battle between Radu and Ash. Ash, here played by British actor Jonathan Morris has never been better and with such fine leads it is a true shame that the film, here, lets them down.

With Subspecies: Bloodlust ending with them driving away, Subspecies: Awakening begins with them all having died in a car crash.

However, Michelle wakes up when a good samaritan opens up the body bag she's in, exposing her to the sunlight.

This is the exact moment you realize that the acting in this film is severely worse than in the previous films; and the special effects budget has been thrown out the window.

But I guess that's what you should expect when the first five minutes are a pure recap.

This film focuses on the mad doctor that Michelle has been brought to for treatment.

He's both a vampire- and sexual psychopath- who assaults his young accomplice at every given oppourtunity.

Somehow, he has has managed to discover a regimen of drugs that allow him to walk in the sun unaffected...though, he must still feed on blood to survive.

Considering this, he lusts after the bloodstone.

And, thus, seeks to use Michelle to lure Radu there...so that he can kill him, and take the relic for himself.

However, he's not the only one after it.

A fledgling of one of his fledglings also wants it for herself and her master...after being rejected by Radu.

But they must recruit a mortal to do the job.

So they turn to the young doctor.

Who they seek to ruse, so that they can retrieve the bloodstone for themselves.

But there's always a twist...

In all honesty, I'd only watch this if you've already invested time in the series...because it's definitely the worst of the four.

Although apparently not the last, as there seems to be another one in production.

So I guess the saga continues...let's see how that plays out.

5 out of 10.

Not the expected if you have watched the original. Part 4 has very poor effects & poor act.

****Look to cutting off Radu's head scene it's the "VAMPIRE JOURNALS" scene it was at the begin of the movie !!!!!!****

Anders Hove returns as the vampire Radu is the surprisingly good Full Moon Features Charles Band production. Most Band productions are rather tongue-in-cheek, but this Ted Nicolaou written and directed series took a more straight-faced approach and remained consistently good despite it's low budget and some weak acting from the supporting cast. This fourth and final film in the series has Michelle, the heroine from the previous films, finding herself turned into a vampire and seeking help from a scientist to cure her. This, of course, leads to a confrontation with Radu, who is also having his own royal court intrigue when a vampire fledgling of his, Ash, as well as Ash's fledgling, begin plotting against Radu. As with the others films, this was filmed during the time when producer Band owned an Eastern European castle, which Nicolaou made the most of to add scope and production value to his low budget endeavors. The Subspecies films also benefit from a better that average story than most Full Moon Features, and this series feels more like a continuous narrative than stand alone stories or rehashes of the first film, which is the path of far too many sequels. Overall, "Subspecies: The Awakening" and the series in general are by no means great vampire films, but they're better than the trashy direct-to-video horror film that you might expect and is well worth watching if you're a fan of low-budget horror.

I usually don't waste my time commenting on bad movies, but this is quite possibly one of the worst movies ever made. I've heard that the earlier series are much better, so I guess I'll still reluctantly give its predecessors the benefit of the doubt. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, because I love this genre, but come on? Call a spade, a spade! This movie is bad....real bad!!!

Its sad to know that there are many talented independent film makers out there who can't rub two pennies together to finance a film and stuff like this is in its 4th sequel.

That gives me exactly 4 reasons why this movie is so bad:

1. For starters, this movie almost looks like it was filmed with a cheap video camera.

2. The plot is super weak: Simply, Michelle must hide herself from the evil vampire "Radu" who wants the bloodstone- Wow!!! that is so provocative and original??? I highly suggest that Ted Nicolaou watch "The Cronos" and notice that there is a solid plot and story line there. Notice too that the protagonist has a goal and a counter goal. The plot in Subspecies 4 is so weak and tired it makes my head spin! One gets the impression, he wrote this "on the spot" as they where filming.

3. The cinematography is pathetic. Who did the cinematography in this film? Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles? The lighting tries to be cool almost like modern Film Noir, but fails miserably. The only thing I can honestly say that was visually appealing about this film is the shadow when Radu, the vampire appears, the rest is some of the fakest, un-natural, and obvious lighting in movie history.

4. Horrible acting!! I mean this is God awful acting at its finest!!!! The guy who played the doctor was a terrible actor! How could anybody take him seriously??? I mean really? Furthermore, you would think that a director with more than 15 films under his belt would have caught the fact that the vampire "Radu" sounded ridiculously like Marlon Brando in "The God Father." The first time I heard him speak, I almost died laughing!!!!!! From that point on, every time the vampire opened his mouth, I expected to hear the theme from "The God Father." -Laughs

I remember heard about how great are the vampire subspecies saga, and in fact the first three movies are great. Low budget films with a simple but good script and good acting. But nothing is forever, except the good acting of Anders Hove of course, the rest it's less than a shadow of the other movies. The acting of rest of the cast including Denice Duff is pathetic. There are many new good elements, but it doesn't fit well with the very bad acting of almost every member of the cast. In the end the director lose the good chance to make a very original sequel with something almost identic to the other previous movies. A real big shame.

Over six years ago I happened upon an unknown vampire series called Subspecies. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed them and have missed them ever since. Now, here is a way to revisit Romania and our favorite vampires portrayed by Denice Duff and Anders Hove.

Overall a classic. If you like Full Moon Pictures, a must see. If you've followed the Subspecies movies, ditto. If you are a fan of vampire movies double ditto.

Le'ts make a fifth movie in a series that has worked well with a strong sense of continuity, and yet somehow manage to completely toss all cohesion out the window. The story makes sense up till the last 20 minutes, and then it becomes a trainwreck of plot holes and confusion.

Avoid it, and protect the sanctity of the earlier movies.

Well, when I saw this movie and I was like, "what the heck?" I missed Subspecies and Bloodlust:Subspecies 3 but I really like Bloodstone:Subspecies 2. Even though the movie is not quite scary but the music is kinda spooky. I was shocked to see the nudity and stuff in Subspecies 4, and the way the stories goes..Boring! I fell asleep! But if you're a big fan of the subspecies series, I totally recommend subspecies V: The Awakening. The sad thing is that it's the last part of the subspecies series. Where in the end, Radu died and he's never going to come back as Michelle said "I finally could rest in peace".

and I totally adore Ash (jonathon morris) and Serena because of their acting. I don't know why but I like it! Serena must find a mortal to kill Radu and they found Anna.. But when Radu died, not very scary though as Michelle hit him w/ a weapon and Anna just chopped off his head, burn his body and take his head out in the sun until it turns to dust. Easy ending but overall the movie is kinda cool. Oh and by the way, the beginning, it's kinda easy to kill Michelle's sis and her boyfriend's (or whoever) part. Just died in the car accident. Hmmm....

Whilst I was unfamiliar with the 'Subspecies' franchise, I found it wasn't an impediment to understanding the straightforward plot of this supernatural vampire trope which unfortunately focusses too much on blood (gallons of it) and severed heads over storyline and logic.

Whilst the Romanian location photography is gothic and eldritch, the familiar bitey behaviour of the voracious undead who populate the city's underworld society isn't enough to hold the attention. Despite their attractiveness, there's only so many half-naked women having their necks (and other anatomy) gnawed which can be borne before it becomes dull and repetitive.

Aesthetically it's accomplished, the sinister set design, ghoulish makeup (check out those Nosferatu-esque talons on Hove's character) and excessive gore effects are all technically first rate, but unless you're a vampire devotee, this is unlikely to keep you entertained.

Gruesome yet elegant, if it were enough to succeed at just the audio-visual elements, then this film would be a minor achievement, but the plot is thin and cliched (e.g. The jerry can and matches which just happen to be laying around the tomb) leaving an overall hollow impression of a picture made exclusively for style over substance.