Paul Andrews
Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm starts as Romanian doctor Ana Lazar (Ioana Abur) notices a crashed car as she drives along in the countryside, she stops to assist & finds three dead bodies & a body-bag containing Michelle Morgan (Denice Duff) who reacts violently to the sunlight. Fearing Michelle may need urgent treat meant Ana drives her to a nearby clinic to seek help from Dr. Niculescu (Mihai Dinvale) who instantly recognises the symptoms of Vampirism. Meanwhile evil centuries old Vampire Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove) wasn't as dead as Michelle had hoped & seeks sanctuary in the graveyard hiding place of fellow Vampire Ash (Jonathon Morris) as he sets out to (yet again) capture Michelle who is receiving treatment from Niculescu to try to cure her of Vampirism...Also known as Subspecies: The Awakening this Ramanian American co-production was written & directed by Ted Nicolaou who ended up directing all the Subspecies films for Charles Band's Full Moon Entertainment & they are some of that companies better looking films with a strong continuity running through them although I must say I am not a particularly big fan of them having watched all four of them (& the spin-off film Vampire Journals (1997)) quite recently. The first two Subspecies films were alright but Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994) & this instalment are pretty average Vampire films to be honest, Radu again spends the entire film pining after Michelle who tries to get medical help for her Vampirism & the film doesn't do or feel anything different than it's predecessors. The heroes of the last film Mel & Rebecca don't even get death scenes here & we are merely informed that they are dead while the Vampire Ash from Vampire Journals turns up here in a small role. The pace is lethargic, to understand & follow Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm you will need to have seen at least a couple of the other Subspecies films & I must admit that it bored me. More of the same really which wasn't even that good to start with, hopefully Radu will stay dead this time.Like the story the visuals are very familiar with the same Romanin castles & graveyards used as in the previous Subspecies films, although the Subspecies films look better than the usual Full Moon product the style & look is getting dull now. Gore wise things aren't much better with a couple of decapitated heads & some fairly standard Vampire neck biting & blood drinking antics. The first Subspecies film not to feature any of those little stop-motion animated monsters. The films is fairly moodily lit & nicely shot but the story is rather dull & not enough happens.Filmed on location in Bucharest in Romania this has reasonable production values but little else to talk about. Anders Hove reprises his role as Radu for the fourth time, Denice Duff plays Michelle for the third while minor character Marin also makes a come back & gets to eat a rat.Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm is a fairly average end to a fairly average series of Vampire films that only have some nice locations going for it, after watching four films with these character's I should want to know what happens to them now but quite frankly I don't. For die hard Subspecies fans only.
BHorrorWriter
...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
John Seal
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?
eighties
I'm a huge fan of the "Subspecies" movies and I was very excited when I saw the fourth film in the video store, so I quickly picked it up and I wasn't let down at all! The fourth installment is probably the best one out of all the "Subspecies" movies. It takes place right after the third one and it's one exciting scene after another! Anders Hove is the best vampire, and he deserves an Oscar! "Radu" lives!!!!!! Great movie, I recommend this to everyone.
