Blood Creek

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Blood Creek

April 22nd 2010 22:26

It’s always a little curious when a high profile and successful Hollywood director who’s used to having his movies enjoy theatrical releases finds his latest relegated straight to the shelves of video stores, especially when there’s a hot television actor in the lead role, a prominent foreign actor enjoying exposure Stateside, and the movie is channeling a very popular genre trend. This is the case of Blood Creek (2009), which was known as Town Creek right up to its release.

Dominic Purcell as Victor

Director Joel Schumacher has dabbled in the horror genre before, and very successfully too; firstly with The Lost Boys (1987), then a few years later with Flatliners (1990), however his potentially darkest movie, 8MM (1999), didn’t fare too well at the box office (let’s face it, it’s hardcore edge was severely blunted, which disappointed horrorphiles curious to see Hollywood tackle 70s-style exploitation). Blood Creek is Schumacher’s out-and-out foray into horror territory, and I must admit, I was expecting much worse.

Henry Cavill as Evan

The most intriguing element to this movie is its chequered history; the original screenplay by David Kajganich was apparently a much darker, edgier, and all-round more sophisticated tale of demonic chaos stemming back to the Third Reich, but unleashed in present day. Supposedly Schumacher decided to impose his own creative ideas, clashed with Kajganich whom was subsequently fired, resulting in Schumacher re-writing much of the more interesting parts of the script, including the ending, but still leaving Kajganich with the writer’s credit, much to Kajganich’s disdain. If I was the screenwriter, I’d be pissed off too.

Michael Fassbender as Wirth

The movie’s prologue sets up the evil: It’s 1936 and a German family, the Wollners, living in rural Morgan County, West Virginia, is sent an official letter from the office of the Third Reich requesting them to host a visiting scholar, Professor Richard Wirth. In need of money, they accept, and Wirth’s grand occult scheme is set in motion.

Emma Booth as Liese

In present day Evan Marshall still mourns the strange disappearance of his older brother Victor from a camping trip near Town Creek, West Virginia. But one night Victor returns, grizzly and ragged, much to Evan’s shock. Victor has escaped horrific incarceration and he coerces Evan into a revenge mission against the Town Creek farm dwellers responsible; the Wollners, who have been sealed off from the rest of the world for seventy odd years by a fate worse than death.

Wirth as blood-thirsty zombie-vampire demon

Filmed in Romania (increasingly so with low-budget big-end Hollywood productions), Blood Creek is an urgent movie with a tiny cast and some excellent special effects which includes a nightmarish sequence involving a zombie horse crashing around a living room whilst being shot to pieces, finally breaking loose into the night. The centre-piece, however, is Wirth, swathed in filthy bandages, milky-glazed eyes, and a ferocious taste for fresh human blood. He’s a Nazi SS zombie-vampire (or is that vampire-zombie?) on a vicious quest indeed, unwittingly unleashed by the Marshall brothers in their ill-conceived mission of vengeance.

Victor lies wounded as Wirth relishes his blood

I’m not a fan of Dominic Purcell (star of TV’s Prison Break), who plays Victor. Jersey Islander Henry Cavil is okay as Evan, but it’s Michael Fassbender who holds fort and confidently eviscerates every scene he’s in. Rising Aussie star Emma Booth (confidently nailing an American accent) plays young (yet very old) Liese Wollner, bound by Wirth’s wrath, yet desperate to be free of his black magic shackles. It’s a pity Lyn Collins (Bug, True Blood), who plays Victor’s wife Barb, wasn’t given a bigger role, as I enjoy her work, but then what part could Victor’s wife really play?

Wirth awaiting the arrival of his third eye

Blood Creek’s ending is ruinous, a pitiful pseudo-sequel set-up that tries to link the end back to the beginning and to the wider scope of the Third Reich’s evil occult quest, even repeating Victor’s opening explanatory monologue. It smacks of a production rushing to meet a release date. Perhaps the producers (and there were a shit load of them!) did intend to release the movie theatrically. It’s certainly better than most straight-to-DVD titles; fast, gory and monstrous. One change I will give thumbs up to is the title; Blood Creek is by no means original, but it’s a damn sight better than Town Creek, which sounds like a country lawyers’ daytime soap!

NB: Curiously, I noticed screenwriter David Kajganich has two Stephen King remakes in development: a long-anticipated big screen version of It, and Pet Sematary (one my fave King novels, and notoriously difficult to film as it involves a very young zombie child).

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

2 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Anonymous

March 16th 2012 12:52

This was a terribly written review, far too personal and colloquial.

Comment by Bryn

March 16th 2012 21:13

Horrorphile

But every review is a personal perspective, and the more opinionated the more interesting. Too much film critique is pedestrian and dull to read. I also like to infuse my writing with a conversational style to give it flavour and character.

[ Previous - The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans ]

[ Next - Damned by Dawn AND The Dark Lurking ]