Review of Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993) by Allan C — 05 May 2018

The vampire Radu return for this Charles Band produced sequel. Radu's head is reattached, the wooden stake removed from his heart, and he is then good as new, ready to unleash his undead malevolence upon the unsuspecting populace.

The titular bloodstone serves as the film's MacGuffin, in which all the characters, both human and undead, are chasing after. I'm a huge fan of Charles Band's Full Moon Features and this film was made during the production company's heyday, when they actually had an Romanian castle at their disposal, which they inserted into the story of a number of their films ("Trancers 5: Sudden Deth" being the most forced).

Not only did the European location shooting give the film added production value, this film features some better acting than most Full Moon films, which more often than not tend to be rather hammy. I also appreciate that writer/director Ted Nicolaou set out to make a more serious and straight-faced horror film than most Band productions, although there are still some elements of camp here and there.

Overall, this is a classier of production than most Full Moon films, and although it's not among their best (that would be "Pit and the Pendulum," "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge," "Shrunken Heads," or "Trancers" if that one counts as a Full Moon release), it's far better than their worst (i.

E. "Evil Bong," "The Creeps," "Prison of the Dead" and many others [although I must admit that I still enjoy even the worst Charles Band production]).