Realms of Blood

I can't possibly understand the appeal of garbage. While I can enjoy a sub-par film from time to time, I am amazed at the utter lack of anything entertaining in this film. Horrible writing from start to finish, terrible acting with maybe 1 or 2 glimmers of hope. But the directing was even worse. I felt nauseous within 10 minutes. Remember the movie called How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days? This film could be called How To Lose An Audience In 10 Minutes. The first segment "Painkiller" is an obvious rip-off of Freddy Krueger. The make-up isn't half bad, but it's not enough to save this piece of flotsam. "The Cologne" was somewhat better, with at least a passable performance by the lead actor. Then we come to "Blood Runs Cold". An unbelievably bad piece of writing, with atrocious performances. It was all I could do not to laugh. Trust me, don't waste your time. Rent The Departed, you'll enjoy that much more!!

Realms of Blood is a low budget film about a guy and his girlfriend betting each other that they can tell a horror story that will scare the other. The film then has three stories wrapped in a fourth story. All three of these tales are the stories told by the boyfriend and girlfriend betting on what kind of horror story is the scariest. The couple telling the stories actually makes a kind of fourth story. I don't know why, but the guy gets to tell two stories and the girl only tells one but that's how it is. The first story is called "Pain Killer" about a war veteran gone berserk and on a killing spree. Decent body counts but no originality in his killing style. It has a very predictable plot and a simple ending, very forgettable story and not very scary. The second story "The Cologne" is better but I didn't find it scary at all. I thought it was entertaining and humorous, nothing special but OK. The third tale is called "Blood Runs Cold". This is a short vampire story. I think it was the scariest but still it just doesn't have what it takes to really be a scary horror flick. It's a more serious story, no humor as in "The Cologne" but in it's own way it was again OK. None of the three stories are for the squeamish. You have lots of blood and guts. The film was intended to be scary but if you've seen a lot of graphic horror movies, this one is just run of the mill. The make up isn't that bad for a low budget film and the acting was adequate which was a nice surprise. Several scenes do contain nudity but it certainly isn't used to excess. The music isn't bad at all and fit in very well. The main problem I saw with this film was that the plots to the three stories goes nowhere and the endings are just so predicable. There's nothing new or exciting here. You really have to be a fan of modern low budget, independent movies to get anything out of this film. For extras on the DVD you could play it either with or without director commentary, you can see a preview trailer and a blooper reel. There are also two music videos with songs from the film featuring such hits as "And Crows Will Dig Your Grave" and "Planet Graveyard" both of which I found interesting and kind of catchy. Not a complete waste of time but there are far better choices out there waiting to be watched.