BLOODLUST: SUBSPECIES III
Mmmmmm......Ragu......
No, wait - that's Radu. Ah, well. If I were a vampire, I'd make everybody call me Count Ejacula.
This is the first Full Moon movie I've seen in...wow, a long time. I see that they still thought they were going to have theatrical releases when this one came out. Silly boys.
Yes, Radu's back. I know, I know - it looked like he was finished at the end of part 2, but his mom (who looks and sounds like the Cryptkeeper) brings him back. He's still got that foxy young woman in his thrall, and her sister still wants her back, so she's enlisted the aid of the most devastating vampire-fighting force ever assembled: the Bucharest police!
This isn't a particularly memorable series of films - and Full Moon's put out enough serieses that you'd think they'd have come up with a winner by now - but it's definitely got something that the remainder of Full Moon's output generally doesn't have: it honestly tries to be straight-ahead horror. Not goofy, jokey horror, but something that really wants to creep you out. That it doesn't succeed says more of limitations than intentions.
This one features a lot of great makeup (Radu looks like he hasn't brushed his teeth since about 1346), and mostly good performances (yes, Melanie Shatner is William's daughter). But there's a number of cheesy, cartoony "shadow" effects, which don't help things (although I did love one shot where a shadow swoops over a victim, and when it's gone, so is she). When Radu "dies" (I mean, he comes back, there's a part 4, isn't there?), he dies great - I mean, wow, I love these movie deaths where somebody dies three different ways at the same time! And that Denice Duff is a hottie.
Still, there's nothing too special here. The tape even has the same trailer for Trancers 4 twice.