Vampire Journals (1997) — Triskaidekafiles

VAMPIRE JOURNALS

WRITER: Ted Nicolaou

DIRECTOR: Ted Nicolaou

STARRING: Jonathon Morris as Ash
Kirsten Cerre as Sofia
David Gunn as Zachary
Ilinka Goya as Cassandra
Dan Condurache as Anton
Starr Andreff as Iris

QUICK CUT: A patron of the arts and a family rival fight over the hand of a young pianist.

THE MORGUE

Zachary - A young, for a vampire, vampire, who is not happy about this situation. He is driven by revenge upon the entire bloodline of the vampire that turned him. When he’s not doing that, he’s your average broody antihero.

Ash - Zachary’s latest prey. He’s an ancient vampire, at least 700 years old, and he has much power. He’s classy, cultured, and even with nearly a millennia of existence, he can still be impulsive.

Sofia - A young pianist who has caught the eyes of both the previous vampire dudes. She’s sweet, charming, and doesn’t have a good sense for danger.

Iris - Ash’s human agent. She tolerates his worse tendencies, because it ultimately benefits her, but if she’s pushed too far, she might not be so loyal.

TRISK ANALYSIS: Welcome back, Triskelions! Our summer vacation takes us back to Romania for another Full Moon movie in the Subspecies franchise. Now, yes, this doesn't say Subspecies on the tin, but it is adjacent. I had forgotten this movie existed, grabbed the actual Subspecies 4, and was ready to go when I realised THIS technically came out first. It doesn't really matter, but I shifted the rest of the movies this month around, so I could get this disc in and do them in the 'right' order. And here we are.

The movie kicks off with a vampire watching a dancer do her thing, at some point in the past. He quickly has a bite to eat from her, but then gets just as quickly beheaded by another vampire, our star Zachary.

Our hero wakes up in the present of the late 90s, broodingly narrating. He's been traveling all over the world, slaying vampires, out of a desire for revenge, upon the one who made him a vampire. So, we pick up the tale in Eastern Europe, as he's pursuing the vampire Ash.

Meanwhile, Ash himself, a known lover of music, is pursuing Sofia McLoveinterest, an accomplished pianist, and attractive to many vampires.

We get a cat and mouse and dog game, or whatever you call a three way hunt. Ash invites Sofia to his club, taken by her music and beauty, but immediately pursues her for a late night snack. Zack is also interested in her, but is hunting Ash at the same time. Guys, hear me out here; polyamory.

This almost ends up being a very short movie with Zachary about to behead Ash, but at the last second, Ash senses his presence, and shadow whooshes away.

Ash returns to his club, and we meet his cast of characters, each with one or two distinctive traits to tell them all apart. Most of them are vampires, save for Iris, the lone human in Ash's employ to facilitae things in daylight hours.

Elsewhere, Zack walks the potential victim home, and watches over her until dawn, but we mostly focus on the comings and goings at Club Scum. Of note, Ash has a "Mummy" of his own, who has foretold a coming threat, and Ash is sure it is Zachary.

We get an all too rare daylight scene, with Iris showing up to apologise for Ash's behaviour, and to invite Sofia to a private recital at the club. And she offers enough money that Sofia can't refuse.

Zachary shows up that night and tries to stop her, but Sofia seems to have forgotten the whole creepy stalking. She tells Zack to back off, and heads to the club. On the upside, he can follow her and learn where the very public club is that his prey resides in.

While Sofia plays, Zack tries to mental his way into the club, and only gets as far as Iris before hitting someone he can't compel. Rather than make a scene and go against Sofia's agency, he leaves, for the time being.

Unfortunately, Ash gets a hankering for some pankering, and bites into the girl, feeding on her and beginning to turn her.

As Zachary beds down for the day, we get some exposition on his whole deal, how he is a vampire "cursed with a mortal heart" whatever that means or however that works, and he is hunting down the entire bloodline of the vampire who sired him.

That night, Sofia wakes up in bed next to Ash, and duly freaks out. Ash says he'll drain her slowly, until she agrees to serve him willingly.

After he has a little sip, Ash leaves his chambers, and takes his knockoff Drusilla out to hunt, which she rarely gets to do. Yes, it's good to provide enrichment for your pets.

On the way home, he sees Zachary and welcomes him to town, and offers him entry into the club, so that was easy.

Zack shows up and immediately draws the mystical Sword of Laertes on the vampire master...who easily just...takes the sword. There's some talk about the sword being magical, able to slay vampires, and it having a history. It is not the first or last thing in this movie that has more interesting story we never get to see.

Now that he's unarmed, and outpowered by the at LEAST 700 year old vampire, he is offered to spend the night, and leave in the morning never to return. Oh, and he can see Sofia. Zach agrees, but he clearly has other intentions.

And this is when Ash relates the history of his lair, and how it sprawls under the city at some depth, built by Ash's master, Radu. Yes, that Radu. See, I told you this was adjacent!

He takes Zach to a bedroom and leaves him with a snack. Zachary tries to resist, since he is pure and good and tries not to feed, but his nature overtakes him.

Ahh yes, there's some Subspecies drooly chin we know and love.

When Ash returns to his chambers, Sofia tries to kill him with another sword, not he special magic one, but she can't do it. He then feeds on her a bit more, and the plot churns onwardswith more wheelings and dealings amongst the vampires.

Drunk on his recent feeding, Zachary recounts via flashback how he was turned into a vampire, and began his quest to destroy the bloodline of Radu.

Eventually, Ash does as he promised, and brings Sofia to see Zachary, but he does it right as he is feeding, and only for a second. He never said how LONG he'd let him see the girl, ha HA!

Sofia tries AGAIN to kill Ash, and fails, and he decides it's time for her to feed on his blood, and become a vampire. Since the movie is getting close to its end...

Throughout the movie, relations have been getting strained between Ash and Iris, what with his being a vampire, and her trying to not get in trouble with the law with her legitimate business he keeps killing people in.

All this leads to Iris letting Zach go, and sending him directly to Ash so he can kill him, and then be on his way.

Distracted by the feeding, Ash almost meets his untimely end, but the movie has to squeeze out a few more minutes. Zack only manages to slice his prey in the arm before he has to run away.

Cassandra chases after the vampire lovers, leading Ash to them, and the chase ends up at the theatre where Sofia played at the start of the movie.

Ash sends Cassie into the fight, with the sword of Laertes, to do his dirty work. This does not end well for her, as Zach runs her through with a microphone stand.

Zach chases after his prey, as Ash runs off. He's too week from feeding Sofia his blood, plus the gash in his arm, and the sun is coming up.

Ash runs right out into, not direct sunlight, but it's coming up, and he pauses in the impending dawn. This gives Zachary the distraction he needs to slash the vampire master one last time, and knock him off a balcony into the rising sun outside.

The movie wraps up with our protagonist running away from the sunrise with Sofia, as they find shelter and they tease the hope that they will show up again on his hunt for Radu in another movie.

A clue: They do not.

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: It looks really good, way better than I’d expect from a late 90s low budget movie, so they did a lot of work to make this look this good.

Audio: It sounds fine.

Sound Bite: “I applaud your depravity, but you cannot carry on like this in a public thoroughfare."

Body Count: A nice amount of death, which is something.

1 - About three minutes in and Rebecca gets eaten
2 - And then her killer is beheaded
3 - The General kills a random girl.
4 - Cassandra drains a man while hunting
5 - Another human is fed upon by Zachary
6 - A lawyer is stabbed by Ash
7 - And Anton is then beheaded by Ash
8 - Dimitri gets his head twisted like a screw top by Zack
9 - Zack kills Cassandra with a mic stand.
10 - And then he makes Ash turn to ash in the sun

Best Corpse: Dimitri’s head getting twisted around has a visceral quality to it that puts it above most of the rest in this movie.

Blood Type - B: Some solid blood work here, a little light on full on effects, but they get a little bit in here and there, especially in the desecrated faces of sleeping vampires.

Sex Appeal: This movie is not afraid to show boobs. To the point that women keep ripping open their tops when offering their necks.

Drink Up! every time a vampire does some shadow whooshing.

Movie Review: If you look too closely, this movie is almost beat for beat to the original Subspecies. it’s just different enough to be it’s own thing, but there are definite similarities. And so there’s a lot of familiarity to it, but I also recognise that they worked out some of the kinks to the story, and in some ways, this is a bit more polished. But it loses some of that original quirkiness of the original, and doesn’t really exist without the adventures of Radu. The cast is shockingly good, and it’s a shame they are almost all complete unknowns who did very little after this, I’d love to see more of them. It’s not a great story, and if you’ve seen a Full Moon vampire movie, you know what you’re in for, but it’s capably done, and a good watch. The biggest problem is that the vampire minions of Ash feel like they’re just there to fill time, and don’t add much to the plot. Three out of five swords of Laertes.

Entertainment Value: It’s not quite as camp as the parent series. It doesn’t have Radu chewing scenery, drooling all over himself and others, but there is humour here. Ash has a dry sense of humour, and has enough quirky minions to direct it at, to keep things light. Like a lot of other factors, it’s not quite as up to the standards of Subspecies, but it’s serviceable, and has it’s moments. Two out of five childlike vampires.