Tag: Romania

Directed by Rick Bota [Other horror films: Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), Hellraiser: Deader (2005)]

When it comes to the various Hellraiser sequels, I have to admit that I have a tad of a soft spot for Hellworld. It’s not a return to classic form whatsoever, but at least it’s marginally different than what Inferno, Hellseeker, and Deader went for, so that’s a good start.

In truth, I do like the story of this one. It takes a somewhat meta view of things – players of a game called Hellworld (which is based on the myth behind the Hellraiser films #questionmark?) are invited to a Hellworld-themed party, and it’s not quite the festivities they were hoping for.

This was filmed back-to-back with Deader, which is why it feels far more like a film from the early 2000’s than it does one from the mid-2000’s, but I think it’s a hell of a lot more coherent than Deader ever was, and though the story sort of takes even a further divergent path from the original than do many of the other sequels, I think by this point in the franchise, they needed a little something to shake things up.

I love seeing a few familiar faces here. Henry Cavill (who later goes on to play Superman in Man of Steel and related DCEU movies, not to mention Blood Creek) made some quality facial expressions, and Khary Payton (the guy who voiced Cyborg on Teen Titans) appeared too, which was fun. I’ve seen Katheryn Winnick in a handful of things (Satan’s Little Helper, Amusement), and while her performance was a bit weak at times, it’s always nice to see a friendly face.

Anna Tolputt hasn’t been in many things, but her character’s reasonably fun, at least with the screentime she gets, and Christopher Jacot had some solid moments too. Of course, Doug Bradley as Pinhead is always fun, and he even comes with a decent quote in this one (“Oh, what wonders we have to show you,”), which have been lacking from recent sequels. Oh, and horror veteran Lance Henriksen (Pumpkinhead, Mansion of the Doomed, The Mangler 2, Gehenna: Where Death Lives, In the Spider’s Web) pops up too, and he does bring some charm to this one.

I think what sets Hellworld apart from many of the other sequels is the finale. True, a decent amount of the film feels disjointed and confusing, as Inferno through Deader felt, but the finale ties many aspects of the movie together. It’s possible that it could be the case that the idea outshone the execution, but even so, ever since I first saw this one many years ago, I’ve found it decently enjoyable.

As far as the special effects go, it’s up and down. Some sequences look decent, such as a simple decapitation. Others – well, not so much. There was an okay sequence with someone strapped to a chair and getting Saw-esque treatment, but there was also some disfigured corpses chasing after someone, so like I said, it had its ups and downs. I can gladly say, though, that my favorite Cenobite, Chatterer, pops up here, and it is nice to see his delightful face once more.

I know there are some out there who find this one of the weakest sequels (well, at least until Revelations came out), and I just never saw Hellworld that way. I don’t think it’s a great movie or anything but I think it tries something a bit different, and certainly stands out in the lineup of the franchise. It won’t do it for everyone – no movie does – but I’m a fan of this one, flaws and all.

7/10

Directed by Rick Bota [Other horror films: Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005)]

It’s been quite some time since I’ve last seen this sequel – anywhere from ten to 18 years, I’d guess – and after watching it with fresh eyes, well, I can say that it’s not that good at all, in my view.

Both Inferno and Hellseeker brought the series into a more psychological realm, and while the execution of such a tonal shift is certainly debatable, the very fact that they changed things up doesn’t need to be a negative. However, in the case of Hellseeker, and certainly in the case of this movie, things just don’t work out.

My main issues with Deader is largely the same issues I had with Hellseeker – it’s an absolute narrative mess. In the second half of the film, I have almost zero idea of what’s actually going on. See, when the main character (Kari Wuhrer) accidentally “opens” the Lament Configuration, not to mention having a run-in with Deaders (I’ll touch on them in a bit), she starts having a bunch of things that may or may not be visions.

First she’s struggling to get through a thin walkway, which I’m inclined to think wasn’t really happening. She gets stabbed, but wakes up in her hotel room. She’s still stabbed, but alive – perhaps the ritual that seemed like a dream in which she was killed but still lives – and then runs into Pinhead on a train. After that, she wakes up in a mental institute, but that’s definitely not real, because she shortly thereafter goes into her past to face her demons and then appears back on the table she was on in that dream that wasn’t a dream and then Pinhead.

I have no idea what Wuhrer’s character actually encounters past a certain point in the movie. Zero. There’s a cult of people who intentionally kill themselves, because the leader can bring them back to life – I don’t know why they’d bother joining, as it doesn’t seem to me being a member of this group comes with any perks – and it was sort of interesting seeing the conflict between the cult leader and Pinhead (because as the cult leader brings them back from the dead, he ‘steals’ them from Pinhead) – but again, the execution sucked hard.

Kari Wuhrer (Eight Legged Freaks, The Hitcher II: I’ve Been Waiting, Final Examination) didn’t really impress me much, but I really think it’s more the story that frustrated me as opposed to her performance. Simon Kunz (The Bunker, Eight for Silver) was quite a bit of fun during his few scenes. Paul Rhys’ character should have had more depth, but it’s always a pleasure seeing Doug Bradley, of course.

The issue here is that the story strikes me as a mess. I don’t entirely understand the goals of Rhys’ character. I don’t understand Pinhead’s goals. There’s another character here who seems to want to destroy Rhys’ character, but she goes about it in such a vague way. It’s just not an easy story to follow, given the narrative structure, and it’s just not that pleasurable either. Trippy at times, sure, but not pleasurable.

Of the first seven Hellraiser movies, I do think this is the worst one. Both Bloodline and Hellseeker had some problems, but this one was just a mess. Sure, it has some quality hook action at time (though at other times, the effects look quite poor), and Bradley’s Pinhead is always fun to see, but overall, this is a rather poor entry, which is disappointing given the somewhat interesting ideas we’re presented with.

4.5/10

Directed by Ellory Elkayem [Other horror films: They Nest (2000), Eight Legged Freaks (2002), Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)]

One of two Return of the Living Dead sequels from 2005 (the other being Rave to the Grave), Necropolis isn’t nearly as fun as I recall it being. Not that it’s as painfully terrible as the third movie was, but it was plenty cringy toward the end, and it was far from a memorably okay movie.

When I was a kid, though, I remember this being a blast. I only saw it once, but I do recall enjoying a decent amount of this. I entirely forget about the terrible uber-soldier zombie things at the end, which is probably good, because if I remembered that before watching this one again, I would have approached this with much more trepidation. As it is, nostalgia didn’t help much at all, and while I thought some portions were okay (in an early The Perfect Score-type way), Necropolis was pretty shabby.

Peter Coyote, as the antagonist, was pretty damn weak. So were most others, though, so he fits in fine. Amusingly, there’s something like seven different teen characters (eight if you count main character Julian’s younger brother Jake, played by Alexandru Geoana), and not many are memorable. Sure, Aimee-Lynn Chadwick is cute (she wears glasses, guys – how could anyone think otherwise?), Elvin Dandel had a little character (and Dandel also appeared in Headless Horseman and Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud), and John Keefe occasionally had an expressive face, but there’s not a hell of a lot going on with the cast.

Though much in the same vein as Chadwick, there are two other reasonably attractive actresses, being Diana Munteanu (“Hey, big boy”) and Jana Kramer. Kramer isn’t a humongous name; aside from being a character in One Tree Hill (which isn’t a show I’m not remotely familiar with), I’ve not seen her in anything. She is, however, a country singer, and while I’m not personally a big modern-day country fan, I do quite enjoy her song “I Got the Boy.” It’s sort of amusing to see that ten years before that song, she was in a movie of this type of quality.

I do love that quality motorbiking montage, though – it seems so incredibly dated (much like that beautiful hacking scene, which is slightly only more updated than the Jurassic Park hacking sequence). Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of this (especially around the break-in scene) reminded me of The Perfect Score, which came out a year earlier, and is a much more enjoyable film, especially given that this movie has an uber-soldier zombie much like the third movie had, which is always a questionable choice.

When I was a kid, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis had the same type of charm possessed by Fido, and I don’t know exactly why I thought that. After seeing it again, it’s nowhere near good, and Fido is by all means a better film. The zombies here were weak, as was the story, and it didn’t have an emotional punch like you’d hope (even with a somewhat surprising death of a younger character). I hated the third film more (deal with it, brahs), but this is still a pretty underwhelming movie.

5.5/10

Directed by Ted Nicolaou [Other horror films: Ragewar (1984, segment ‘Desert Pursuit’), Savage Island (1985), TerrorVision (1986), Bad Channels (1992), Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993), Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1994), Vampire Journals (1997), Subspecies: The Awakening (1998), Ragdoll (1999), Urban Evil (2000), The St. Francisville Experiment (2000), The Horrible Dr. Bones (2000), I, Vampire (2000, segments ‘Spawn of Hell’ & ‘Undead Evil’), Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys (2004), The Etruscan Mask (2007), DevilDolls (2012), Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts (2018), Vampire Slaughter: Eaten Alive (2018), Don’t Let Her In (2021)]

One of the first American films made in Romania, Subspecies has a very authentic feel to it, and while I don’t necessarily love the story, I do think that this movie has a lot going for it.

Full Moon Productions, who also brought to life the Puppet Master series, along with the enjoyable Castle Freak, did quite well with Subspecies, especially given the fact I’m not really much of a vampire fan. Here, the design of the antagonist Radu (played by Anders Hove) is pretty damn good, reminiscence of Orloc from Nosferatu with his abnormally long fingers. The vibe to the film is great, and any scene that took place in the Romanian woods, or near a castle, or even in the small village, had a lot of atmosphere.

Ivan J. Rado was perhaps my favorite performance from the film. He doesn’t shine from the beginning, but once things get going, he proves to be a very useful person to have on your side. Of course, Hove does fantastic as the villainous Radu, and has a very threatening feel to him. I wasn’t deeply enthralled with Michael Watson or his character, but it still worked out decently. Laura Mae Tate did great as the lead woman, though, and it’s a shame that she wasn’t really in many things aside from this (only thing of note was 1991’s Dead Space, a disappointing remake of 1982’s Forbidden World).

I don’t love a whole lot of vampire films, and I certainly wouldn’t say that I love Subspecies, but I did enjoy it a lot more this time around as opposed to when I first saw it. The story isn’t really what my go-to horror is, but given that the film carries with it such a solid vibe (filming in Romania really did a lot for this one, I think), I can forego any strong feelings of dislike concerning the story.

One small note – the stop-motion minions of Radu didn’t really look the best, and I don’t really think they were used enough to warrant their inclusion. Perhaps that changes as the series goes on (I’ve not seen, as of yet, any of the sequels), but here, they didn’t do that much, and looked somewhat goofy while not doing it.

There’s few vampire films that I really enjoy, but I do appreciate Subspecies, and I certainly think that the film isn’t anywhere near bad. It’s not my usual type of thing, but a lot is done right, and the vibe is to kill for. Definitely worth a look if you’re a fan of either vampires or other Full Moon Entertainment movies.

7.5/10

This was discussed on Fight Evil’s podcast. Check out Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I discuss this if interested.