Finally, the birth scene of Radu we’ve all been waiting for with his mummy mommy and… the crusades. We learn that the infant was saved by monks who made him look human and he joined their sect of crusaders who specialized in killing ancient monsters. He has no idea that he is a vampire, that is until he and his crusaders end up in his father’s castle where he is told by mommy who he is, and he finds the child Stefan (he is called Stephen here).
I admit that it didn’t cross my mind that this 30-years-later sequel would be a prequel since it keeps it stars. Anders Hove is Radu and Denice Duff who now portrays Helena which explains the obsession Radu had with her previous character, Michelle—that old “the vampire was in love with someone who looked like you” trope.
It does make sense, since it finally gives Anders Hove to shine in feature length as the tortured vampire instead of being cast in the shadows, so to speak. Hove shines as we follow him from a semi-mortal to a vampire, to the master vampire he would end up becoming as we saw him first in Subspecies (1991). Anders looks eerily like Klaus Kinsky, so his slow transformations reminds one of Kinsky in Nosferatu (1979)
Ted Nicolaou manages to recreate that special feel and atmosphere of his first three Subspecies movies, something that the previous two films, Vampire Journals (1997) and Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm (1998), lacked. I’m sure Charles Band gave him total freedom here, and he did what he did best: make a kick ass vampire film.
