Blood Vessel

Australian movie industry seems to have enjoyed its involvement in a cult Finnish sci-fi satire "Iron Sky" so there's no wonder they ultimately decided to solely shoot their own 'alternate history' flick. "Blood Vessel" is a fun thrill ride fueled with nations conflict ('...and Australia? I ain't even know you people were in the war', desperately shouts Bigelow, an American cook stuck on the Nazi ship) and ancient East Europe evil (no, it's not Teplov, perhaps the finest film's character of Russian descent).

The screenplay doesn't offer much to reflect on and instead fully relies on visuals and actors. Both are indeed solid for an indie level. Nathan Phillips and Alex Cooke had some chemistry which was exteremy important when there's nothing but people talking (more often arguing, truth be told), the rest of the cast, excluding Robert Taylor's unnecessary cameo, also did their best to make their dull characters looks as alive as possible until they're dead. The aforenamed evil also lacks any signs of premise but doesn't make it a big deal when it's finally on loose. We've seen 'Nazis love occult stuff' trope for so many times that there's even no time to ask what the hell does it do here in the first place.

Summing it up, Justin Dix and Jordan Prosser had made a decent B-movie that works in its own cheap way and doesn't leave the prepared audience expecting more than "Blood Vessel" is capable to give.

The offerings of the considerably small niche of horror movies set during a war or another are always welcome in my world, despite most of them being lacklusters - "Blood Vessel", for the most part, is exactly that. Coming from Justin Dix, a special effects aficionado turned writer and director, "Blood Vessel" offers entertainment in the form of 80's best aesthetical traditions, and very little besides that. For extra bonus points, one must take this shlock horror not seriously.

It is 1945 and the middle of the ocean. A real ragtag team - including a tough but righteous Russian sniper, a moronic Englishman, an American cook, an Australian soldier, a useless captain, an all-motherly Alyssa Sutherland, and more - are hopelessly drifting on a raft to a certain death, but a chance at survival presents itself in a form of an eerie, silently drifting German minesweeper. As we tag along our indubitably stereotypical team of heroes on the mysterious Nazi ship, the excursion takes us through ~40 minutes of slow building of a shallow story that has frequent issues, before it kicks the gear into ~40 minutes of a tad bit more entertaining horror feast - none of which is scary. Frankly, "Blood Vessel" is almost entirely void of tension, and the turns of the plot are more likely to elicit a dry response rather than a surprising one.

One thing that "Blood Vessel" has going for it, is the fact that its maker knows and loves practical special effects. Though a low budget feature and playing out as such, among a little confusing action scenes there are mildly satisfying 80's kind of gore and make-up galore. Set designs are also quite fine, but cinematography's uneven and the original score - a highly typical one, not counting the chanting Nazi occult jingles. However, perhaps the most awesome part of "Blood Vessel" is comedy value. Some of it is intentional, some is not, but either way Teplov (Alex Cooke), Sinclair (Nathan Philipps), and even the villain will make up for some amusement, especially if You're not watching it alone.

The lovers of modern shlocks reminiscent of the 80's, and fans of horror movies set in wartimes, such as myself, can try and find some fun in "Blood Vessel", preferably with a friend and a beer. My rating: 4/10.

This movie isn't awful, but it's not good. Its a B-Movie and it doesn't set itself to be a masterpiece, which I can respect.

I think that the acting was a bit awkward at times, but passable and some scenes were even good. Also, the plot isn't original, but it isn't also as cliche as many other horror films. I think the setting was interesting and it had potential. Nevertheless, I must say the film fails to reach a good level simply because in many ways the director played it safe and followed cliches and tropes from other films. The ending is worst part of all, it falls under the category of "super cliches" and it is also the result of a quite big plot-hole. I think they wasted the potential to have an entraining film, the protagonists are luckluster and most of them die in stupid or anticlimactic ways. Therefore, I can't bring myself to rate this more than 5.

I had really high hopes for this film after reading many comments. This film both worked and failed for me. It worked as a thriller more than a horror film, the acting was good on most parts, not all. The story was good to. The bad, why Tue bickering between characters, this to me fell right from the start and got on my nerves. There was no surprise at the end, so this was a bit of a let down foe me. The main problem I had was the film was slow in some parts and I found myself getting bored waiting for something to happen. Nearly an above average film but not this time.

Blood Vessel isn't particularly unique or innovative, but it's a solid vampire low-budget horror film. Let's start with the bad. The movie spends almost a full hour and 15 minutes before the vampires start munching on people making the story drag until the action begins. Once the action did start, it was generally quick cuts and shaky cam rather than well-choreographed fights. Now for the good. The set, costumes, creature design, makeup, and practical effects were all excellent for a low-budget film. The eyes of the vampires looked so cool! I really liked the motley crew of characters and their struggle to survive. In the end, Blood Vessel wasn't an outstanding film, but I enjoyed watching it anyway!