I've watched a lot of random old/bad horror movies on Prime Video, to the point that Prime now recommends even more old/bad horror movies to me. I guess the algorithm is working. Anyway, Prime suggested Subspecies to me and the cover looked like a perfectly bad horror movie so I gave it a try. And it was a fun vampire movie; I really enjoyed it. Not a "good" movie of course, but a "fun" movie. So then Prime suggested I watch Subspecies 2. So I did. And then Subspecies 3. And then I was hooked. I finally looked online for this series that I had never heard about in any discussion of vampire movies and found there were 6 movies, with the most recent being from 2023!
The series even has a surprisingly cohesive storyline and each movie directly leads into the next. It's primarily about a vampire named Radu who falls in love with a woman and spends 4 movies desperately trying to convince her to join him as a vampire. He doesn't want to kill her; he wants her to join him. He's tired of being alone and wants to share eternity with her. Throughout the entire series Radu is played by the same actor. The woman he falls in love with was recast after the first movie but then is the same actress for the rest of the series. And the same person wrote and directed all 6 movies. So it's surprisingly easy to binge watch. Also, most of the movies end with at least one other character surviving but then I guess those actors didn't want to return so the next movie just starts with "oh them? they died" and we never mention those characters again. For example, there's one movie that ends with some people escaping in a car and the next movie starts with that car flipped over and everyone is dead except the main actress. It's fantastic.
Now, with a title like Subspecies, you may be thinking "is Radu a Subspecies"? Nope! The subspecies are supposedly these little stop-motion guys:
I say "supposedly" because these creatures are never actually called "subspecies" at any point. I don't even think the word "subspecies" is said aloud in any of the 6 movies.
So if the series is called Subspecies, do these little creatures play a prominent role? Nope! If they even show up, it's typically for less than a minute. And most movies don't have them show up.
So if these subspecies aren't prominent in the series or even named, what are they? Well, in the first movie, Radu briefly gets captured. He pulls off some of his irritatingly long fingers, and they magically turn into those creatures.
So even though Radu has these irritatingly long fingers throughout the entire series, he only ever pulls them off to create these little guys early into the first movie... and never again. It's best to just ignore the name of this series and pretend the whole thing is called The Vampire Radu.
Now, if you noticed, I said Radu was trying to turn this woman for 4 movies yet there are 6 movies in the series. Well, one of these movies is just called Vampire Journals and is basically a spin-off. It has some recurring characters from previous movies but is focused more on a single vampire coven. It's pretty fun. And the final movie (Subspecies 5) is a prequel that is about Radu's creation. The actors who've played Radu and the woman he loves are still in the movie but now they play those characters' parents/ancestors. It's crazy to me that these people spent 30 years making these movies and I'd never even heard of them. That's some crazy dedication.
I personally think this series is best consumed in order, but James Wan's Vampire Watchlist only has Subspecies 2 on it. So I guess that's the best movie in the series? I don't know. Also, RiffTrax made a riff of Subspecies 4 if you're into that sort of thing.
Anyway, here's a trailer for Subspecies 1. I could go track down the trailers for the entire series but I don't want to. You're capable of doing that yourself.
If you're interested, Prime Video still has Subspecies 1, Subspecies 2, Subspecies 3, and Subspecies 4. The same movies are also on Roku if you have that. Unfortunately, Subspecies 5 and Vampire Journals aren't currently streaming anywhere so you'll need to find another way to watch them if you've stuck with the series that long.
Not good but fun describes most of the full moon movies. Their movies were a staple of my teenage years. They also did puppet master, dollman, meridian, and trancers.
Looks like they also made the Gary Busey classic Gingerdead Man!