Bloodstone: Subspecies II starts immediately after the events of the original Subspecies (1991) as the evil Vampire Radu's (Anders Hove) little monsters help reattach his head. Enraged by what has happened & that his brother Stefan & Michele (Denice Duff) have stolen the Bloodstone he seeks revenge, Radu kills his brother but impending sunlight saves Michelle. Waking up Michele realises that she is now a Vampire herself, distraught she run & travels to the city of Bucharest where she checks into Athene Palace hotel & calls her sister Rebecaa (Melanie Shatner) for help. Rebecca flies to Romania from the US but is told by the local police that Michele was involved in some strange accident, as Rebecca searches for her sister she discovers that Vampires are real & tries to help Michele as Radu wants both her & the Bloodstone...Written & directed by Ted Nicolaou who ended up directing all the Subspecies films to date so far I actually thought Bloodstone: Subspecies II was an improvement on the original, it wasn't a ground breaking leap forward but I did think it was a slightly better film on all counts. The plot this time definitely has a lot more to it & more going on, the fact that Michele has become a Vampire, her sisters search for her, the police investigation, Radu's search for the Bloodstone & his deal with Mummy add up to a film with more depth, not a lot more depth but more depth all the same. The gore levels have improved considerably which helps & that awkward broken English dialogue isn't here. The pace is good, at only just over 80 odd minutes it's short enough not to outstay it's welcome & overall it's a better film than I was expecting. On the negative side Radu's little monsters only make a brief cameo at the start, in the original Subspecies Vampires didn't mind the sunlight but here they do, there's nothing that original or gripping here & it is kind of forgettable. It's OK to watch while it's on but you really won't have taken much from it when it's finished, or at least I didn't anyway.Bloodstone: Subspecies II was mad around the time when Charles Band's Full Moon Entertainment had a deal with Paramount for theatrical distribution but that fell through & this went straight-to-video which is a shame because it's a fairly handsome film & certainly could have played cinemas. There's strong use of light & shadow, the period Romanian locations add considerable atmosphere to the film & there's some nice imagery here to like Radu's living shadow or the fact that Michele sleeps in an elegant glass top coffin during the day. There's more gore here, the graphic reattaching of Radu's head at the start is a neat effect, a Vampire is staked & decomposes, there's a fair amount of blood splatter & neck biting & there's this woman zombie thing as well who Radu calls Mummy for some reason.Shot back to back with the next Subspecies film Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994) on location in Romania, this is quite a nice looking film with good production values & was probably one of Full Moon's higher budgeted films. The acting is alright, Anders Hove returns as the evil Radu (how does he do anything with those long fingernails?), playing Michele this time around Denice Duff replaced Laura Mae Tate while Rebecca was played by Melanie Shatner who just happens to be the daughter of Captain Kirk himself William Shatner.Bloodstone: Subspecies II is a decent enough horror film, it has a bit of atmosphere, a bit of gore, a bit of style & an OK plot but it's nothing amazing & it won't really last long in the memory. Followed by Bloodlust: Subspecies III & Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm while Vampire Journals (1997) was a spin-off film.

This film picks up right where the first film left off. Brand new vampire Michelle must flee Castle Vladislas after the eternally slobbering Radu kills her lover, the Good Vampire Stefan (no great loss, really). Michelle has not gone away empty handed however; the life-giving Bloodstone is now in her possession, and Radu wants it back. Finding Michelle is no problem, but killing her (as he had originally intended) proves much more difficult as the hideous Radu decides he wants both the Bloodstone and Michelle for his own.Denice Duff is quite good as the new Michelle here, stalking victims in humid European nightclubs with a seductive coldness, while at the same time desperately trying to deny the murderous impulses which disgust her. She is heartbroken without being whiny, tragic and lost but refusing to be anything other than what she has become. Her scene in the hotel is one of the best in the film, as she cries herself to sleep and then wakes up screaming as the full light of morning comes burning through her window, forcing her into the cold refuge of the shower stall where she is later discovered, presumed dead and carried off in a body bag, only to awaken at dusk in full panic once more. New characters include Michelle's sister from America, responding to Michelle's desolate and panicked phone call. Joining her later are a young police detective and a Van Helsing-ish man who leads them to Castle Vladislas. Radu's "Mummy" is here as well, a cackling lawn gnome of a woman who is in desperate need of some Oil Of Olay. But Michelle and Radu always remain central, Radu disgusting in his cruelty and yet almost pathetic in his newfound love for the pretty Michelle; Michelle horrified and yet drawn to the ancient vampire who was responsible for making her what she is. Their relationship is most unique, a true Beauty and the Beast pair.While not as Gothically creepy as the first Subspecies, Bloodstone is still a strong entry in the series, visually compelling and with a good, strong storyline to boot. All the actors are earnest and believable simply because (with the exception of the Immortal Michelle and her icy-white radiance) they are approachable looking, attractive without being blindingly so. And then there's Radu... Radu is the main reason I am as big a fan of these films as I am. He is gross, manicure-impaired, ugly as all hell (literally!), and yet he's also aristocratic and cunning with a wicked sense of humor and an intelligence that has escaped most new vampires. He's not ashamed of who or what he is. He enjoys his cruelty, and his bloodlust and his eagerness to show Michelle the ropes is like the worlds most perverted Hallmark card. It's great! I said it before and I will say it again: Radu is what a vampire should be, and his presence makes these films totally enjoyable. 8 stars out of 10 for this one.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Full Moon certainly has a well-deserved reputation for cheesey (and sometimes truly CRAPPY) movies, but I'm happy to say this isn't one of them! This vampire movie was filmed on location in Romania (seems it started a Full Moon trend as a few other Full Moon pics such as Lurking Fear, Dark Angel: The Ascent and Bloodlust: Subspecies 3 were also filmed there) and has a truly unique atmosphere that I've seen nowhere else. The lead character is Michelle, played by the lovely Denice Duff (who totally rules!), who has been made into a vampire by Stefan, a good vamp who mingled his blood with Michelle's to save her life (this takes place toward the end of Subspecies 1). Unfortunately, Radu (magnificently portrayed by Anders Hove, who is well known for his work on General Hospital), Stefan's evil brother who supposedly was decapitated at the end of Subspecies 1, has been reassembled by his Subspecies, apparently little creatures that form out of his blood and are seldom seen in the Subspecies series. Radu kills his brother and sets out to kill Michelle when he is stopped by the sunrise. When the sun sets Radu sets out to find the Bloodstone - a supposed holy relic that fills up with "the blood of the saints" - this is apparently very potent blood which can drive weaker vampires insane with it's power - but it also assures a vampire of an unlimited supply of blood. Michelle makes a break for it, taking the Bloodstone with her, and heads for Bucharest (capital of Romania, as if you didn't know). Radu fails to find the Bloodstone on his brother's now-skeletal remains, and simply loses it - ripping his murdered brother's skeleton apart, throwing it to the floor and then stops on it repeatedly (THAT'S brotherly hate!). Radu assumes correctly that Michelle will head for Bucharest so he heads that way as well. Michelle checks into a hotel and calls her sister Becky(played by the lovely Melanie Shatner, daughter of William Shatner of Star Trek fame). I don't want to spoil the rest of the film, but basically Michelle has to struggle with her newfound vampirism, Becky goes to Romania to rescue Michelle, and Radu falls in love.....it's well worth the watch, as are Bloodlust: Subspecies 3 and Bloodstorm: Subspecies 4. These are the finest films Full Moon has ever produced.

This movie has all the classic horror appeal of the old Hammer films; mood, darkness and Romania! Radu is wonderful and his skeletal, domineering mother is great also. I love when she starts licking the blood from her dead son off of a knife presented to her by Radu. She enjoys blood so much that she begins to bite the blade. Great savagery!