CBB Presents The Bear Cave of Terror - Ep. 21 - Bloodstone: Subspecies 2

This week, Steve is joined in the Bear Cave of Terror by Casey Kelderman of the Screams from the Basement podcast, bringing with him the 1993 film sequel, Bloodstone: Subspecies 2, the second part of an initial trilogy (now a 5-film series) from legendary studio Full Moon Studios, directed by Ted Nicolau. Part 2 picks up minutes after the end of the original Subspecies film, and plunges headlong into the main character's emotionally devastating transformation into a vampire, all while being pursued by the archvillain and master of the Subspecies, ancient vampire Radu, joined in his nefarious plans by his 1,000-year-old mother, an undying sorcerous rotting and scheming in a Bucharest crypt. They cover the history of the Subspecies project, including being the first major Western film production to shoot in Romania after the fall of the Soviet Bloc, the depiction and design of the Radu vampire and his decomposing "Mummy", the brilliant direction-on-a-budget of Ted Nicolau, and of course, the truth that the real subspecies were the little stop-motion puppets we met along the way. It may seem strange to focus on the middle film of the original trilogy, but we think you'll find that it works as a great standalone film, and is a gem of the straight-to-video heyday of the early 90s horror.

Additional Resources for this episode:

In Search of Darkness 1990-94 (2024), directed by David A. Weiner, produced by CreatorVC

Full Moon Videozone: Subspecies II (1993), produced by Full Moon Entertainment

"Memory Movies: Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993) Bluray", 3/31/23, published on Forthehellofitreviews.wordpress.com

"Multiplying Subspecies" by Anthony C. Ferrate, Fangoria 122, May 1993, pp 40-44,74

You can find more from Casey and the Screams From the Basement podcast at Screamsfromthebasement.com