It's in the Blood

Okay really I'm not sure what this movie was EVEN trying to achieve.

First of all it seems to have wasted the talents of Lance Henriksen.

Convoluted scenes of what? Flashbacks? Not really even sure what's going on.

Being hunted by some alien looking creature in the woods. Some rape scenes in a cabin. Some grisly amputation. All in some bizarre hit and miss attempt to try to find a plot. That about sums up what is going on here at the 2/3 of the way through point.

-1 Star For the very lack of plot line 2/3 of the way through the movie.

-1 Star For Pouring out alchohol that could be useful in many many kinds of situations. Totally made no sense at all.

Made it to the end of this mess and the end was not rewarding in the least. But at least the end made it END praise the LORD. This one definitely needed to END and END IT DID!

3/10

It's not confusing, it's just so laden with obvious symbolism and deliberate ambiguity (like all too many faux "intellectual" student films) that it sloshes about struggling for "depth" and "deeper meaning" while never really delivering either. Out of focus shots and repetitious edits might mask some no-budget deficiencies but this film HAD a budget - they just didn't know what to do with it. Except hire Lance Henriksen. This is literally a case where it's worth watching just for the man's performance. It's a shame they didn't have a more focused script to be worthy of his involvement. Instead we have a twenty-minute arty student film stretched ponderously out to eighty minutes (yet feels a lot longer) when the same premise, intelligently presented (and grounded by Mr. Henriksen) could have made an excellent film at twice the length. The father and lost son dynamic; the horrifying incident in their past; the injury in the woods and, yes, even the threat of "something else in the woods" as a metaphor, all of these could have successfully been presented in a coherent fashion - even realistically as in Deliverance - instead of obscured by the art-house/third-year film student approach that makes this film far less than what it could have been. It's not that the film is simply bad - it isn't - it's just another example of "with a little more effort it could have been so much better." And then it might have been the showcase Lance Henriksen has long deserved.

The unfolding of the story was presented in a refreshing, confusing, provocative manner. A style of storytelling and filming I have not experienced before. Lance Henriksen, as Russell, presents a heartfelt, authentic portrayal. Sean Elliot, as October, plays perfectly against this veteran actor. They are father and son. Scooter Downey and Sean Elliot are the authors of this deeply frightening film. Mr. Downey as director manipulates sound, lighting, the setting, the actors in such a way to impart a sense of dread and horror. We are drawn into their experience. We become disoriented, bewildered, and perhaps we cannot escape. It is almost like you can taste the emotion and fear.

This movie is hard to follow because there are a lot of scenes in which it looks like a bad drug trip and it's confusing. The best quality in the film is that the actors are all extremely good actors, including the villain. The scenes between October and Iris are extremely touching. Seriously, I haven't seen that kind of love displayed so well on screen in a while. Which made the scenes with the villain all the more awful. If it weren't for the trippy stuff that made this movie hard to follow I may have enjoyed this movie. Then again, the scenes with the villain are pretty disturbing. I watched this movie because I'm a Lance Henricksen fan. He's a very talented actor and I'd love to see him in more movies. Or bring him back to TV! Anyone remember the show Millennium?

Had a little bigger expectations for this movie, which is were I went wrong. "It's in the Blood" started off bad, and ending in same fashion. There is not to much to this movie, its very confusing, not very good special effects, and very jumpy. Add all those up and what do you get? A waste of 3 million dollars. The acting was OK at best and that is not saying very much. A story about a guy and his dad lost in the woods after his dad badly hurts himself, when they realize they are not the only ones out there. That had me intrigued. Do not let it fool you, you will be wishing you were in the woods, not watching this movie. 3 out of 10 stars (very generously) -TV or don't bother