History Film / Subspecies

It had a spinoff, made in 1997, called ''The Vampire Journals''.

** Radu himself thanks to his mixed heritage though he is always referred to as a vampire. He can create the miniature subspecies .creatures from drops of his blood and return from deaths that would kill regular vampires. At the same time he is vulnerable to all of the conventional vampire weaknesses.

* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler: Radu is burn to a crisp at the end of ''Bloodlust'' when he come in contact with the sunlight.]]
** In 4 [[spoiler: after Radu is beheaded by Anna, she makes sure to set his body on fire so he can't somehow regenerate. This also applies to her leaving his severed head out in the sun that is burnt into ashes.]]

* DeathByCameo: Angus Scrimm of Film/Phantasm is billed first in the first Subspecies movie, however he is killed in literally the first scene of the movie.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Dr. Ion Niculescu in Subspecies 4]]
** [[spoiler: Radu's monstrous mom in Subspecies 3]]

** Michelle's sister Becky and US Embassy Mel Thompson were major supporting characters in Subspecies 2 and Subspecies 3 who helped to fight Radu and rescue Michelle. In the opening of Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm (1998), Becky and Mel were literally killed off in an accidental car crash while transporting the body of a sleeping Michelle, kicking off the events of the film. Their faces were not even shown (Obviously, their actors in the previous films did not reprise their roles). Other than a short moment of Michelle sobbing over their deaths, nothing was ever mentioned about them again.
** Lt. Marin appears in Subspecies 4 merely for continuity reasons, he had no major impact to the plot in that movie, and was killed off a while after.

* CallForward: Subspecies 5 does this at the conclusion [[spoiler: where Radu reflects how Helen tormented even after he had killed her, as they cut a scene of Michelle from the Subspecies (strongly suggested to be the reincarnation of her) drinking the bloodstone]]

* DamselInDistress: Both Michelle and Becky rotate between this and Main/DamselOutOfDistress

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Mel, Becky, and the girl they rescued from Radu all unceremoniously die in a car accident offscreen at the beginning of the fourth movie, due to the original actors' refusal to reprise their roles.]]
** Also the case in Bloodstone:Subspecies 2 for [[spoiler: Stefan who despite being the main character of the first movie, is swiftly killed by Radu in the opening scene.]]

* HypocriticalHumor: Probably unintentional. Radu taunts Stefan for pretending to be human when he sees him strolling up to the castle in the middle of the day ... while he, himself, is outside.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: Radu in Subspecies 5, attacks Diana and leaves her to die after letting Ash and Ariel drink from her. However come the climax, Diana returns as a vampire and kills Ariel who Radu fell in love with.]]

%%* LooksLikeOrlok: Radu, increasingly so with each movie.
** His father in Subspecies 5 looks like Orlock too.

* OffWithHisHead: How Radu [[spoiler:[[Main/IncrediblyLamePun bites it]] in the first and fourth movies.]]
** [[spoiler: Dr. Ion Niculescu meets his fate this way in Subspecies 4]]

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Bob from ''Bloodstone'' is one for the custodian from the first movie.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Karl from the first movie disappears afterwards and we never get any confirmation what happened to him. When Professor Popescu, Mel and Becky go to visit him, he is nowhere to be seen but he is never confirmed to be dead either.
** Radu's subspecies form at the end of ''Bloodlust.''. However come to the next sequel there are nowhere to be seen.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Nobody bats an eye at the unnaturally pasty, long-fingered Radu brothers when they're out in public.

* StartOfDarkness: ''Blood Rise'' will serve as this to Radu.

* ArtifactTitle: The 'Subspecies' title in ''Bloodstorm'', the only movie ''not'' to have the little creatures, and they're barely in the third movie as well, only showing up at the very end to show how Radu will once again cheat death. Although the title may be referring to Radu, who is, himself, a half-breed.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: Radu in Subspecies 5, attacks Diana and tleaves her to die after letting Ash and Ariel drinking from her. However come the climax, Diana returns as a vampire and kills Ariel who Radu fell in love with.]]

* PoliceAreUseless: The police do not believe Becky about the vampires in Bloodstone and Bloodlust. Not help that the closet thing to a ally she has in the police force is Lt. Marin who is a antagonistic moron.

* SavedByCanon: Considering Subspecies 4 takes place before Vampire Journals [[spoiler: we know Ash and Serena will not die at lest in that movie]]

* VillainousBSOD: At his moment of greatest triumph, Radu kills his mother and is the undisputed master of the undead and the Bloodstone. His reaction is to sink back on his throne and whisper "now I have it all," realizing how alone he truly is.

* ''Blood Rise: Subspecies V (2020)''

* ArtifactTitle: The 'Subspecies' title in ''Bloodstorm'', the only movie ''not'' to have the little creatures. Although the title may be referring to Radu, who is, himself, a half-breed.

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

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Radu loves Michelle and longs to make her his. He is also a vicious monster who murdered her friends, stalks her, tries to corrupt her and killed the man she killed. To say she finds his attentions untoward is a bit of an understatement.

* {{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 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.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Subtle, but when the high of his victory over Stefan has faded, Radu truly seems to regret murdering his brother. When his mother inquires of the "bastard boy," Radu looks genuinely remorseful. When she states love is not for the likes of them, Radu protests he truly loved Stefan and wishes he hadn't killed him.

%%* AbhorrentAdmirer: Radu, to Michelle.

%%* CainAndAbel: Radu and his half-vampire brother Stephan, respectively, from the first film.

* KickTheDog: In ''Vampire Journals,'' Ash [[spoiler:forces Anton to feed on his friend, then beheads him for what he perceives as cowardice.]]

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

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

* CainAndAbel: Radu and his half-vampire brother Stephan, respectively, from the first film.

* DullSurprise: Radu.

* LooksLikeOrlok: Radu, increasingly so with each movie.
* LosingYourHead: Radu in part 2.

* CainAndAbel: Radu and his half-vampire brother Stephan from the first film.

* ImmediateSequel: ''Bloodstone'' and ''Bloodlust,'' which were shot back-to-back. Subverted with ''Bloodstorm'' which was released in 1998.

** 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.

* CardCarryingVillain: In the first two movies, Radu is unabashedly evil and doesn't even try to hide it in his vernacular. Some of his euphemisms for feeding (namely "desecrate") [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything have a disturbing rapist subtext]]. Downplayed in the third and fourth, where he admits to being an irredeemable monster, but doesn't take as much pride in it.
* 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.]]
* 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 sun, decapitated ''again''....all within the space of like ''a week.''

** Radu himself thanks to his mixed heritage though he is always referred to as a vampire. He can create the miniature subspecies creatures from drops of his blood and return from deaths that would kill regular vampires. At the same time he is vulnerable to all of the conventional vampire weaknesses.

* DownerEnding:
** [[spoiler: Michelle will sure live forever, but she's a vampire so she will have to quell her killer instincts, her sister and friends are dead, she is vulnerable to sunlight and she's all alone in a foreign country with nary a way of going back to the US. At least she has the bloodstone to feed upon instead of mortals and Radu is confirmed to be dead]].
** ''Vampire Journals'' has an even bigger one. [[spoiler:Zachery 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.]]

* HiddenDepths: While he openly sees humans as inferior, Radu expresses some fondness for their arts and sciences. For instance, he shows particular annoyance with a bad violinist and has Michelle use her teleportation ability to lure him into his grasp.