Key Movies Of My Life: Subspecies The Vampire Journals (1997)

There were key movies in my life that helped to make me who I am today. Movies that I have loved from the moment the opening credit rolled and still love now. This blog series is about those, My guilty pleasures, my favorites, my escapes. Some were very popular, others not so much. Some of these will have some real life take-aways, others are just for fun. Today we discuss the fourth in the Subspecies series of films entitled The Vampire Journals.

Today’s Key Movie:

Taking place in the same universe as the previous Subspecies films, The Vampire Journals follows Zachary, a Vampire who is determined to hunt down and destroy Ash, the Vampire who sired him. After Ash selects a pianist named Sofia for his newest conquest, Zachary intervenes to find a way to protect her or die trying. Starring Jonathon Morris, Kristen Carre and David Gunn as Zachary, this is The Vampire Journals.

You watched it, but did you like it?

I remember when this installment hit the video stores and, as a part of the Subspecies franchise, we had to watch it. Immediately it was obvious that this was Fullmoon Video’s attempt at embracing the love for the gothic Vampires from Interview With a Vampire mixed with the Forever Knight Tv series as opposed to the dark violent variety that had appeared in previous the previous films. Now, that doesn’t nessissaritly have to be a bad thing but, in this case, well…

What follows is sadly a pale imitation of the Anne Rice story that bares very little resemblance to the franchise it was meant to be a part of. Consisting of loosely tied random moments that somehow form a story explained by very ‘gothic’ exposition from what I guess are the Journals mentioned in the title. Honestly, watching this movie now, I wonder how it was I remembered this film fondly as it is full of every bad Vampire cliché, from the over-the-top acting to some rather terrible canned chamber music. We don’t even get much of the cool practical effects done in the previous films. Other than the fact that it was a Fullmoon Video release, and I loved every single one no matter how bad they were, I guess this is one that really did look better with the rose colored glasses of my youth, or, in this case, blood tinted ones.

Overall, this entry into the Subspecies saga is not one worth really sinking your teeth into. Stick with the tale of Radu, which thankfully continues in Subspecies 4 Bloodstorm which we will discuss nest week.

OK, where do I get this movie?

If you need to get a copy, grab it here, otherwise, just stick with the others in this franchise, trust me, you aren’t missing much.

Late To The Game 12/2/2021

If you would like to read more reviews please check out the rest of the Key Movies Of My Life that comes out every Thursday.

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