As with most movies of this type (i.e. B-grade horror), my hope is to find one that is unintentionally hilarious, every step of the way. One that promotes constant riffing from me and my friends. Picking a good "bad movie" appears to be more difficult than picking a good "good" movie (if that makes any sense). Unfortunately, "Bloodstone: Subspecies II" [B:S2] is neither bad enough to be good, nor good enough to be good.
This might sound weird, but B:S2 was written, directed and acted by folks with a modicum of intelligence. I will also begrudgingly admit there's a small degree of artistic talent exhibited as well. The best bad movies are made by people who have no business making movies (for an example of what I'm talking about, rent "Troll 2" or "The Keeper of Time" -- those movies are priceless. Nay, they're National Treasures).
Don't get me wrong, this movie is bad. But it's not bad enough. The brand of "bad" portrayed in this movie is the slow, plodding, monotonous variety -- not the "insanely stupid bad" that I crave. It's for the same reasons that it's not "good" either. The pacing is too slow for a B-grade horror (IMO). It starts on a strong note, and then slowly dwindles into nothingness -- until its brief resurrection near the very end. I believe this came about due to Mr. Nicolaou's attempt at "creepy/moody atmospherics". There's very limited dialogue, and what little there is makes no attempt at driving the story.
Most of the movie centers around Michelle Morgan (Denice Duff) shambling around Bucharest looking scared and sedated. I also got the strong impression that Mr. Nicolaou wanted to make the most of his "on location" shoot, by shoe-horning every piece of gothic architecture he could find into the movie. Another thing we found weird was the "Bloodstone" itself. Ostensibly it's the centerpiece of the story, even though they never mention, or discuss it, for a good 2/3rds of the movie. Huh? Apparently the Bloodstone can dispense the "blood of the saints" for a vampire to suckle on. Okay, so what? They never really describe why it's so important to Radu. Does it make him into a super vampire? No. Does it give him extra powers? No. What the heck does it do?
I've wasted enough time discussing this.
Good movie score: 5/10. Bad movie score: 6/10. In short: mediocre... no matter how you look at it.
This might sound weird, but B:S2 was written, directed and acted by folks with a modicum of intelligence. I will also begrudgingly admit there's a small degree of artistic talent exhibited as well. The best bad movies are made by people who have no business making movies (for an example of what I'm talking about, rent "Troll 2" or "The Keeper of Time" -- those movies are priceless. Nay, they're National Treasures).
Don't get me wrong, this movie is bad. But it's not bad enough. The brand of "bad" portrayed in this movie is the slow, plodding, monotonous variety -- not the "insanely stupid bad" that I crave. It's for the same reasons that it's not "good" either. The pacing is too slow for a B-grade horror (IMO). It starts on a strong note, and then slowly dwindles into nothingness -- until its brief resurrection near the very end. I believe this came about due to Mr. Nicolaou's attempt at "creepy/moody atmospherics". There's very limited dialogue, and what little there is makes no attempt at driving the story.
Most of the movie centers around Michelle Morgan (Denice Duff) shambling around Bucharest looking scared and sedated. I also got the strong impression that Mr. Nicolaou wanted to make the most of his "on location" shoot, by shoe-horning every piece of gothic architecture he could find into the movie. Another thing we found weird was the "Bloodstone" itself. Ostensibly it's the centerpiece of the story, even though they never mention, or discuss it, for a good 2/3rds of the movie. Huh? Apparently the Bloodstone can dispense the "blood of the saints" for a vampire to suckle on. Okay, so what? They never really describe why it's so important to Radu. Does it make him into a super vampire? No. Does it give him extra powers? No. What the heck does it do?
I've wasted enough time discussing this.
Good movie score: 5/10. Bad movie score: 6/10. In short: mediocre... no matter how you look at it.