GL84 Arriving at a Romanian castle, several American scholars visiting the area to study relics left behind when they come across a resurrected vampire looking to take over the family legacy of terrorizing the area while his brother attempts to stop him in order to protect a long-held pact.This was quite the enjoyable vampire entry. One of the more enjoyable aspects of this one is the fact that there's an overbearing and relentless Gothic atmosphere throughout the film. The setting at a real castle, complete with the rocky terrain, wooden cabinets, stone construction and Olde-World charm, really manages to make this one feel like it's lost in that time-frame. It really helps to sell the shenanigans later on with the idea that this type of location forces these action scenes to emerge which is where this one really gets plenty to like. The idea of the vampires confronting the students inside this large setup causes some great scenes of the initial confrontation with the demonic creatures he creates from his fingers, the race to stop him from feeding on the clueless girls sleeping in the cabin while he drinks them at his leisure and the glorious scenes of the vampires crawling out of their crypts or coffins to create some stunning visuals. Likewise, the inclusion of the series of folkloric customs and traditions shown to be practiced here, from the celebration within the town looking to overcome the illness of the locals which includes all the jovial music and dancing with people in their costumes as well as the intent behind their actions to other scenes featuring the different methods of combating the vampires around them. The last half is where this one really whips up some incredibly fun action with several storylines converging at once to leave quite an impression, from the turned friend now attacking them as a vampire, the chained-up one stuck in the basement being tortured by the demonic beings under his control to the series of battles across the castle with the brides and the creatures. The big battle in the underground hideout where this one really manages to generate some entertaining confrontations and battles between the two sides while putting their tactics to good use in the right place. Alongside some fine nudity and a tolerable amount of gore, these help hold this one up over it's few minor issues. The film's main problem is the fact that there's just not a whole lot of action throughout the first half here to really dig into. The halting nature of the action showing them running around meeting the castle drags on with a lot of fine Gothic atmosphere but little else, and that really highlights how taken aback the main vampire really is. He doesn't really do much beyond looking intimidating, and the few chances he gets to really let loose are always interrupted so it doesn't really feature any kind of threatening main vampire to dive into. The other real issue is the low-budget feel that doesn't really let this one get any kind of really intense feel with its overall appearance since there's not a whole lot of blood and gore and the make-up effects are inconsistent which drags the look of the film down somewhat. Otherwise, there's not much really wrong here.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and Nudity.

Stellarvore This is easily #1 in my favorite vampire movies. Without any further ado, let's get into the story.It starts out with King Vladislas (Angus Scrimm) in his castle, drinking from a relic called the Bloodstone. His firstborn son Radu (Anders Hove) comes in, confronts him and kills him.Three college students, Michelle (Laura Tate), Lillian (Michelle McBride), and their foreign exchange student friend Mara (Irina Movila) travel to Transylvania to study the local folklore and, by chance, run into the ancient evil vampire Radu Vladislas.Definitely recommended for people who love vampires and B-movies. There should really be more vampire movies like this these days, not the crap like Twilight that we get instead. Great special effects, too! 10/10

Scott LeBrun An effective enough vampire tale from Charles Band's Full Moon productions, this has the benefit of being shot on location in Romania, which gives it the kind of truly "stuck in the past", atmospheric feeling inherent to such European locales. Anders Hove plays the incredibly creepy main character Radu, an animal like vampire highly reminiscent of Max Schreck's Count Orlok, with striking long fingered hands. Radu has obtained the Bloodstone, an ancient relic that drips the blood of the saints, and he's addicted to drinking from this thing. Setting his sights on a trio of lovely young female students doing research on the local folklore, he's opposed by his half brother Stefan (Michael Watson), a much nicer vampire. Written by Jackson Barr and David Pabian, based on an idea by Band, and directed by Ted Nicolaou, this is very straight faced stuff and can be taken quite seriously, with a somber mood established right from the beginning. The local colour is extremely effective, with the music score (credited to five people!) giving the proceedings just the right touch. It's sometimes sinister, sometimes touching and romantic, yet does have an air of tragedy to it. The makeup effects by Greg Cannom are well done, and David Allen supplies the stop motion animated title characters. It's hard to feel much sympathy for the three girls - Mara (Irina Movila), Michele (Laura Mae Tate), and Lillian (Michelle McBride) - as they often act pretty senseless (then again, many horror movies would play out quite differently if they didn't have such characters). The actors are okay, for the most part; it's definitely the Danish actor Hove (recommended for this movie by co-star Watson, with whom he'd worked on the soap opera 'General Hospital') that takes centre stage, and he's quite good, giving his villain a real feral quality, not so much speaking his dialogue as hissing it. Genre icon Angus Scrimm, sporting a funny, ridiculous wig, is written out of the movie much too quickly; it would have been nice to see a little more of him. Incidentally, the amusing little title creatures, created out of Radu's blood, really don't have much to do in this story, not as much as naming the movie after them would seem to indicate. But this is still an entertaining enough low budget effort; Nicolaou and Hove would both return for all three sequels. Seven out of 10.

The_Void As soon as this film kicks off - you already know that you're going to be in for some extreme high camp, and indeed the rest of the film doesn't disappoint. Full Moon Entertainment isn't exactly well known for high quality horror; but from the few of their films that I've seen, I have to say that they're actually not as bad as their reputation suggests and although Subspecies certainly isn't completely successful and has its fair share of problems; it's actually a decent old-style vampire flick that will surely be appreciated by fans of the genre. The plot focuses on the town of Prejnar; former home of the vampire Radu, who returns to face his father and steal the precious blood stone. He kills his father and takes the stone and shortly thereafter a couple of schoolgirls turn up to study the local culture and team up with a local girl. The vampire Radu is initially attracted to the girls, but things are complicated when his brother Stephen - also a vampire - steps in to help them.The style of the film is undoubtedly the best thing about it - director Ted Nicolaou seems to have wanted to imitate the classic vampire styling, and has just about succeeded. Lead actor Anders Hove cuts an amusing figure as the central vampire and looks like he took the wrong turn on the way to some crusty old rock concert; although he does at least deliver a decent performance that is very in keeping with the rest of the film. The main problem is the pacing as the film is not particularly exciting on any occasion and mostly relies on its plot to keep things interesting; and this is not always managed. Despite an interesting take on the vampire mythology, the film really could have used some suspense! The special effects are liable to be a talking point too and not for the right reason - as they're completely amateurish. The demons featured in particular are awful. The film does feature a nice ambiance, however, and this is helped nicely by the moody and atmospheric score. Overall, this is certainly a decent vampire flick; but it could have been a lot better and I doubt I'll bother with any of the sequels.