Superhero Media: The Subjects

A random DVD I picked up in one of my scavenging, runs through the store for new content, The Subjects bills itself as a "Superhero Horror Movie", but really is barely that. Made cheaply with a collection of Australian actors doing awkward American accents stuck inside a music studio I'm 80% sure I was in once, The Subjects isn't much really, but there are some good ideas to be had. For starters, any fan of Sean Micallef should really check this film out for the handful of scenes featuring Tosh Greenslade; no, really. The idea is that a group of people have volunteered for a drug trial, only the drug gives super-powers, until it kills you, that is. Now, this is an interesting premise, but the lack of budget really kills the concept before it can get off the ground. At barely 90 minutes, I don't get to know any of the characters enough to care about them when they die, which is a real failure for any horror film.

Again, there are clever ideas to be had in The Subjects, the whole drug trial concept would work pretty well with Cadmus, Lexcorp or Alchemex pulling the strings, almost reminding me of Rise of the Imperfects in a funny way. One of the characters, whose name I don't remember, is essentially a take on Molecule Man, though I don't think that's deliberate, but after seeing The Subjects, I get an idea of what an MCU Molecule Man could look like and be pretty interesting. Aside from that, the only interesting power that pops up is a character who can control air, including the air inside people's lungs. I can see that kind of killer, and of course the character is a killer in The Subjects, being an interesting antagonist for, say, Daredevil, The Question or even Elongated Man in the right setting. Like an evil Wind Dancer, for those who tune in for my deepest cuts?

Oh, Vampire the Masquerade players may also want to check this out for a great representation of the Obfuscation power "Vanish from the Mind's Eye" and a fun way clever players may be able to get around it. Especially any True Brujha that your ST was silly enough to let you play. So should you bother with The Subjects? Well, if you like cheap horror, sure. Maybe not so much if you're a superhero fan though, as there isn't much there there in that regard. If you were looking for an interesting way to start a "grounded" supers campaign perhaps, but honestly, you could just watch the trailer and save yourself quite a bit of time to get the gist of the idea. If Marvel Studios or even HBO or Netflix took another swing at this idea with a series and more of a narrative, I'd probably be keen, but I doubt I'll bother to watch this again anytime soon.