Blood Trails

Maybe with the simple plead, for your own sake, to not watch this movie! That might not be enough though, so I will depict the movies missteps one by one ...

The script ... I'm pretty sure they had the "Horror clichés - All you need to make a horror movie" book at hand, while writing/shooting this. A shame they didn't have a "This is how you direct/film/produce/act in a movie" ... not a horror movie per se, just ANY movie!

That's more than enough some would think to avoid this movie, but I will also share my views on some points that have been said here. "Disturbing"? Yes it is! It's so disturbing, you will feel the need to kill someone. "Camera, editing and acting create a atmosphere of dread"? More like a dreadful atmosphere I'd say ... but not in a positive way. Yes this movie is also psychological unnerving ... don't you care about your health though? "Create the emotions of the characters in your head"? Of course! I mean you have to, because there is nothing and I repeat NOTHING in the performances that will give you the feeling that these people have emotions ... or any acting talent for that matter ... but then again, I should not judge a person/actor after only one movie! Neither should you, but that doesn't change the fact, that they're awful here, to say the least! "Pacing is good in this movie"? Of what? The bicycles?!

I'm through warning you, but if you still want to watch, here's at least one thing you can do to avoid boredom ... No I didn't mean sleep through it!! ... but come to think of it ... OK then two ways! The other one being, inviting a few friends over (warn them or you'll loose your friends faster than you can think ... not that thinking is necessary while watching this movie) and watch this with a few beers (or any other alcoholic refreshment you like) and laugh your butts off! It's not intentionally funny, you're supposed to be scared, I know ... a shame the director didn't know that!

"Blood Trails" is truly a mixed bag and I honestly can't decide whether I should be harsh or mild in my user comment. On one hand, it's an admirably tense nowadays horror flick with brutal gore, lovely filming locations and identifiable main characters, but on the other hand it serves cliché after cliché as well as a banquet of stupid & illogical twists. I liked the realism of the character drawings. Anne and Michael are going through a severe relationship crises and decide to head out to their favorite holiday resort; a cabin surrounded by thick woods where they can practice their common hobby of mountain biking. But there's more. Brief flashbacks indicate that Anne had a one-night-stand with a rude cop, and when he suddenly appears on his mountain bike as well, a cruel & bloody chase through the woods begins. The first half hour of "Blood Trails" is really good, showing Anne struggling with her inner demons and the flashbacks gradually revealing what psycho her one night lover was. The film also features the extremely vile and presumably unique murder-by-bike sequence! Just in case you always wondered how you can slice someone's carotid artery using only a bike, this is your movie! Okay, so far we had amiable characters and impressive bloodshed, but unfortunately the movie then becomes pretty bad & irritating. How the deranged killer managed to exactly trace the couple, I'm still prepared to overlook, but Anne then makes so many stupid decisions that she almost deserves to die. Why didn't she at least try to wait wait for her rescuers atop the mountain, since they were just a couple of minutes away? Doesn't she realize she's the one acting like an escaped crazy woman when she meets the woodchoppers? Why stop and thoroughly study the road map when you can drive far away from the forest? The last twenty minutes are dreadfully boring, and a very shameless attempt to cash in on the success of torture-porn highlights like "Saw" and "Hostel", with the demented killer patiently explaining to Anne why exactly he's so looking forward to kill her. "Blood Trails" was shot and produced in Germany, but promoted for the international market. Director Robert Krause is a German as well, and this film is his long-feature debut after two acclaimed short movies. The make-up effects are quite impressive and definitely not intended for the eyes of squeamish, but a slightly more coherent narrative and more logical twists would still have been better.

Blood Trails is nothing but a bunch of other things seen in other flicks. An enigmatic lunatic chases his victim thru a forest killing her date and whoever appears in the way. The end is completely unoriginal as expected for a thing that made rip-offs of other horror stories of this kind.

Mediocre acting, clichéd screenplay, flashes, gore and stupidity all around it...

The movie got me really tired and I've tortured myself seeing it till the end. There's bad movies out there and Blood Trails is one of them. Finito.

I don't have anything more to say, but let me tell you this: You will be more satisfied seeing "Love Boat" or Walt Disney's Donald Duck & Uncle Scrooge adventures... believe me.

I bought this movie, new, for $2 from a local movie store.

I never had high hopes for a Lions Gate movie, costing me so little $ and it didn't let me down!

This is a slow paced stocker type movie, almost from the start.

From the get-go, I had a problem with the main character's looks. She was ugly! Normally this wouldn't affect me , but there was implied sex, implied rape, and several shots of her ( naked ) breasts !

This movie drags, not really showing much content. It took them 20 minutes to establish the main character liked mountain biking, and may or may not have raped by the antagonist ( shown in brief flash backs, but never explained ) ... from there, until 12 minutes before the movie ends, it's them running around in the woods, with bicycles.

It also doesn't help the main character is "blind" in a couple scenes, and tends to make very stupid choices.

A few situations pop up, but nothing really interesting.

For me, the most memorable part was the first time I watched " death by bicycle wheel" in a movie.

As far as the ending, it was a major let down. No major confrontation or fight between the main character and the villain.

Over all, it's a $2 movie released by Lions Gate. Nothing special, just a time killer.

You also know it's a not so good movie movie when the director is billed as ( no joke ) ... "" Robert Krause 'Blood Trails' Rebeccaa Palmer Ben Price Tom Frederic "" ... this is right from the box credit cover . There are no commas .

As a side note, I know it's a bit nit-picky, but they are suppose to be in "The Whistler Mountain Range" ( Nevada ), and the main character is looking for "Whistler Mountain" ( Kentucky ), but trying to reference American locations, when the accents are European and the license plates on the vehicle are also European, does not work very well.

I didn't expect much from this movie, but "Blood Trails" turned out as a very pleasant surprise. It's a gritty, unpleasant slasher movie, not timid, but effective by suspense rather than splatter. Even though the final confrontation is inevitable, the actual outcome remains unpredictable until (literally!) the last split-second.

Cinematography and editing are beautiful, often relying on extreme close-ups that reflect the tunnel-vision panic of the leading character. Thereby, the movie creates a dense, believable atmosphere. The bicycle theme is an interesting variation, lending both independence and vulnerability to the heroine. The lead actress is probably the strongest asset of the movie: Rebecca Palmer is absolutely great here.

Highly recommended!