History Film / Subspecies

* CardCarryingVillain: In the first two movies, Radu is unabashedly evil and doesn't even try to hide it in his vernacular. Downplayed in the third and fourth, where he admits to being an irredeemable monster, but doesn't take as much pride in it.

* FirstInstallmentWeirdness: The first film goes by ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' rules and depicts Radu's bite as TheVirus, with Radu seemingly able to override the original personalities of those he turns, with them becoming willing and eagerly evil servants. Michelle only avoids this fate by having Stefan turn her instead after she's bitten by Radu. The later films go more by Creator/AnneRice rules instead, with vampires retaining their original personalities and free will and even often plotting against their sires (though some do still succumb to TranshumanTreachery simply due to no longer being bound by human laws or morality).

* EvilerThanThou: Radu is regarded as an insane monster even by other evil vampires. Whereas Ash and his vampires maintain a semblance of humanity more like the sophisticated Bela Lugosi type vampires Radu is a horror right out of the Dark Ages.

* NegativeContinuity: The vampires' ability to walk in the sunlight appears only in the first movie. The backstory on how Radu was sired changes a couple of times throughout the films. Radu even claims to have sired Stefan in ''Bloodstorm'', despite being his father's spawn.

* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler:Radu in ''Bloodlust.'' He is shot with silver bullets, burned by the sun, falls off the roof of the castle and onto a tree, where he is impaled. Subverted in that he's resurrected shortly after. Then played straight again when he's finally KilledOffForReal in ''Bloodstorm.'']]

* TheStarscream: Ash in ''Vampire Journals'' has the dubious distinction of having ''two'' subordinates who want him dead – [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Iris]] (who runs the nightclub) and [[TheDragon Cassandra]] (his oldest vampire childe). Ash himself aspires to be this to Radu in ''Bloodstorm''.
* StartOfDarkness: ''Blood Rise'' will serve as this to Radu.

* FallenHero: He started off as a warrior of the Catholic Church sent to retrieve the Bloodstone from his father, whereupon he became a full-blown monster.

* {{Foil}}: Stefan, to Radu. Both of them share the same father, but whereas Radu was born from a sorceress, Stefan was (presumably) born of a human woman. They both feel some sort of affection for Michelle, though Stefan's was purely altruistic and he appeared to love her as a human; Radu's had a childish understanding of love and only felt any real love for her once she was turned. Radu embraces his vampiric nature; Stefan tries to be as human as he can.

* KickTheDog: In ''Vampire Journals,'' Ash [[spoiler:beheads Anton for stealing his money, knowing full well that it was for his children.]]

* NegativeContinuity: The vampires' ability to walk in the sunlight appears only in the first movie. The backstory on how Radu was sired changes a couple of times throughout the films.

* VillainousCrush: Radu for Michelle. He seeks her affection, and would [[spoiler: even kill his beloved mother to prove his love for her.]]

Subspecies is a series of four horror movies, with a fifth upcoming entry, directed by Ted Nicolau, produced by Creator/FullMoonFeatures and starring Anders Hove as vampire Radu Vladislas.

The story involves young Michelle, who came to Romania with her friend Lilian to study its folklore and ends up involved in a war between ancient vampires for the possession of the Blood Stone, a stone which drips the blood of saints. Not related to the 1995 film ''Film/{{Species}}'' or it's sequels.

* LoveMakesYouDumb: Radu, oh so very much.

* TheStarscream: Ash in ''The Vampire Journals'' has the dubious distinction of having ''two'' subordinates who want him dead – [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Iris]] (who runs the nightclub) and [[TheDragon Cassandra]] (his oldest vampire childe). Ash himself aspires to be this to Radu in ''Bloodstorm''.

* TooDumbToLive: Michelle, Lt. Marin and Radu. Also, Stefan when he tries to confront Radu while walking about in broad daylight.

Subspecies is a series of four horror movies directed by Ted Nicolau, produced by Creator/FullMoonFeatures and starring Anders Hove as vampire Radu Vladislas.

* TragicMonster: At the end of the day, Radu is just a sad, unloved creature who has been rejected by both vampires and humans, and has likely embraced his evil nature because of his ostracization. He hides behind a mask of contempt for humanity when ultimately, he seeks love.

* PetTheDog: In ''Bloodstorm,'' Radu gives a homeless man a coin in exchange for his robe. This was probably the first act of genuine decency that he ever performed in the series.

* TheStarscream: Ash in ''The Vampire Journals'' has the dubious distinction of having ''two'' subordinates who want him dead – [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Iris]] (who runs the nightclub) and [[TheDragon Cassandra]] (his oldest vampire childe). Ash himself aspires to be this to Radu in ''Bloodstorm''.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Radu was portrayed as ''pure'' evil in the first movie and...for most of the second. Later he becomes a bit of a lovesick puppy who talk how much he loved his brother Stefan when [[spoiler: he did an angry dance on Stefan's bones after murdering him, screaming 'bastard' the whole time.]]

* TheStarscream: Ash in ''The Vampire Journals'' has the dubious distinction of having ''two'' subordinates who want him dead – [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Iris]] (who runs the nightclub) and [[TheDragon Cassandra]] (his oldest vampire childe).

* RiseFromYourGrave: Mara in the first film. Radu drains her enough to kill and the locals bury her. Later that night Radu soon arrives at her grave and wills her to climb out of it, showcasing her newly vamped form in the process.

* SlasherSmile: [[http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Subspecies.jpg See for yourself.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Michelle, Lt. Marin and Radu.

* VampiresOwnNightClubs: Ash own some sort of night club which is where a lot of his income comes from.

* VillainousRescue: In ''Bloodstorm,'' Radu comes to the hospital where Michelle is being held to save her from [[spoiler:Dr. Nicelescu.]] As usual, his intentions aren't altruistic.

* BadBoss: [[spoiler:Radu drains his commander of blood just so he can be strong enough to fight Stefan.]]

* ContinuitySnarl: While it was written before the sequels, the backstory for Radu — as well as his personality — are vastly different here. In the movies, he was the offspring of the vampire king and a hag.
* DarkerAndEdgier: They're not quite in the same ballpark as the films, which are fairly standard B-movie fare, and Radu is ''considerably'' more evil (and uglier) than he was in either the first movie, let alone the sequels.

* BackFromTheDead: A variant. The original Radu was, for all intents and purposes, completely destroyed after the events of ''Bloodstorm''. However, the subspecies creatures all matured into different aspects of his personality, and when each one is destroyed, [[spoiler:they all merge with the body of the sole survivor.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: Again, a variant. There's one aspect of Radu who seeks to atone for his mistreatment of Michelle in the past, and allies himself with her to kill the other aspects of him.

* TheChewToy: Radu gets a little less intimidating when you remember he has been impaled, beheaded, staked, beaten up, escaped, set on fire, burnt in the son, decapitated ''again''....all within the space of like ''a week.''

* OnceAnEpisode: Radu kills a family member of his and a man helping the main character(s) dies in each of the first three movies.

* BadassLongcoat: Both Radu and Zachary wear one, though Radu is sometimes seen without it.

** ''Vampire Journals'' has an even bigger one. [[spoiler:Zachary successfully got his revenge against Ash, but was unable to save Sofia from becoming a vampire, and thus, the two are condemned to a lonely undead existence.]]

* IHateYouVampireDad: All of the vampires try to kill the ones who made them. Radu killed his father. Michelle tries to kill him. Ash wishes to kill Radu. Zachary killed his sire and wants to kill Ash for making her.

* LongHairedPrettyBoy: [[http://zombiesdontrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/12270_8.jpg Zachary]] in ''Vampire Journals''.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: ''Nobody'' likes Radu. His fellow vampires — including his father — see him as a crazed, murderous abomination; his mother teeters between being abusive and overprotective of him; and most of his underlings that aren't fully under his thrall want him dead.

** The second and third movies have Radu make several attempts on killing Becky in her sleep. The first attempt fails because Radu wastes too much time creeping around with the sheets and her nightgown until the phone rings...and he just leaves rather than attempting to overpower her. For the second attempt he spies in on her room, enters via StockFootage...and then runs away because Mel is also in the room, asleep in a chair. Radu is nothing if ''committed'' playing this trope completely by the book.

* ActionGirl: Michelle's pretty badass in the first movie. [[{{Chickification Except in the next three movies she's usually reduced to a whimpering mess]].