Better Late Then Never

As Good As It Gets

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The previous 4 films are not bad. They're all pretty decent, especially Vampire Journals.But, the final installment in this series, Subspecies IV: Bloodstorm, turns out to be an epic failure and disappointment! Oh, dear! I feel sad for Mr. Ted Nicolaous. How could this happen? How could a series be ruined like this? The script is poorly written. The story is poorly arranged! The tie-ins of Vampire Journals, the best in the series, are poorly connected.Even the acting of Radu and Ash cannot redeem this pathetic film.Why rush it? Why rush bringing the series to an end? Simply put: the quality of the whole series plummeted on this final installment, from heaven to hell.This final film should never be put on a par with its predecessors, namely the previous 4.It is this final film, this tragic crash, this downfall of quality, that keeps the entire series from being great.Ignore this film! The previous 4 films as a whole series could have been something.But this one is a humiliation...

I remember heard about how great are the vampire subspecies saga, and in fact the first three movies are great. Low budget films with a simple but good script and good acting. But nothing is forever, except the good acting of Anders Hove of course, the rest it's less than a shadow of the other movies. The acting of rest of the cast including Denice Duff is pathetic. There are many new good elements, but it doesn't fit well with the very bad acting of almost every member of the cast. In the end the director lose the good chance to make a very original sequel with something almost identic to the other previous movies. A real big shame.

The Subspecies films are a rare treat. They forego the nudge nudge wink wink of the modern (or should I say postmodern?) horror film and go straight for the jugular. Probably the only examples of the classic Gothic horror film made in the 90s, these films are slight but vastly entertaining and benefit tremendously from location footage, Romanian actors, and decent writing. And why isn't Anders Hove a star?

I will admit that I am a fan of the Subspecies Series to start with. The enjoyable movie was greatly added to with the Commentary tracks on the DVD. The director, Ted Nicolaou, was surprisingly candid about the problems with the Site, budget, and some actors. Denise Duff's commentary was funny and at times a bit sarcastic. This movie looks much better than the other movies, I don't know if it was the production or because I was viewing it from a DVD. LOTS of blood and twisted humor.