Back in the '90s, Full Moon worked with writer/director Ted Nicolaou on the SUBSPECIES franchise, which consisted of four SUBSPECIES films and a spin-off called VAMPIRE JOURNALS. Twenty-one years after the last entry in the series was released, Full Moon has now revealed that they're working on a new sequel, SUBSPECIES V: BLOOD RISE.
Anders Hove will be reprising the role of Radu, the vampire character he played in SUBSPECIES, BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II, BLOODLUST: SUBSPECIES III, and SUBSPECIES 4: BLOODSTORM (a.k.a. SUBSPECIES: THE AWAKENING).
If you're not familiar with this franchise, here's a short synopsis for each one of the previous movies:
SUBSPECIES – Three young students studying the folklore of Transylvania uncover an ancient clan of vampires ruled by the sadistic, monstrous Radu, who becomes obsessed with making them his fledglings.
BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II – Radu s fledgling, Michelle, flees from his castle with the holy relic the Bloodstone and struggles with her emerging bloodlust while hiding in the basement of a theater in Bucharest, waiting for her sister to arrive from the U.S. to help her.
BLOODLUST: SUBSPECIES III – Radu kidnaps Michelle back to the castle he shares with his sorceress mother and teaches her to master her vampire powers, sacrificing everything in his obsession for her, while Michelle s sister mounts an armed assault on his stronghold.
SUBSPECIES 4: BLOODSTORM – The vampire Radu returns to Bucharest in pursuit of his headstrong fledgling Michelle. He reclaims his underground stronghold from Ash, a powerful vampire who mingles with the world of mortals, while he devises a way into the secret clinic where Michelle is being held by the evil Doctor Niculescu.
VAMPIRE JOURNALS – A 19th-century vampire on a quest to destroy the vampires of his bloodline comes to modern-day Bucharest to battle the vampire master Ash the music lover using as his pawn the innocent soul of a beautiful concert pianist.
There's no word on what SUBSPECIES V might be about, or if Nicolaou will be involved in any capacity. I hope that he will.
The sequel is part of Full Moon's Deadly Ten project, which is said to be "a bold new experiment in interactive feature filmmaking" that will see "ten original Full Moon feature films produced right in front of your eyes". Full Moon will be sharing more details on the Deadly Ten experiment online later this week before Full Moon founder Charles Band takes Texas Frightmare Weekend attendees "deep into the guts of the project" during a presentation at that convention, which will be held in Dallas during the first weekend in May.
I'm a longtime fan of Full Moon, so I'm anxious to hear more about Deadly Ten and SUBSPECIES V. We'll let you know when there's more news to share.