Blood Bags

This Movie felt like 3 Hours playtime. It's a mess and it's full of dumb decisions and plot holes. I don't know where to start so I don't. Watch it or not I wish I hadn't so says my Rating.

Only got half way through the film & had to stop. I have watched a LOT of bad films but the acting in this was SO stiff, it might as well be buffering every minute like some kind of stop motion animation.

I would never usually tell someone to give up on their dreams but everyone "acting" in this film needs to stop trying to act. Sounds harsh but this film was the equivalent of watching people who clearly can't sing audition for the X factor or something. Honestly, this film was painful to watch (& not in the good horror way).

This is clearly an indie movie and has to be judged as such. The plot is pretty standard and simple, but most of the actors do their job solidly and the movie flows rather well. The characters are sketched rather than written, but I never sit in front of a horror movie expecting to see a character-driven piece - and most characters in horror movies are just stereotypes anyway. I did like the fact none of them is particularly pleasant: it did add some realism. Same for the use of different languages (Italian and what I think is Russian) along with English - I actually quite like movies that mix languages. The title seemed pretty dull at first, but it kind of make sense when you get to the third act.Despite the low budget, the movie actually manages to build up atmosphere, which is not a given. The score is one of things I liked the most: it doesn't draw too much attention to itself, but it works. Camerawork was fine, even though some scenes look way better than others. One of the visual highlights of the movie is a dream sequence that is shot in one, long single take: it's weird and it looks like they filmed it in a catacomb of sorts (I reckon catacombs are easy to get in Italy). There's a thin layer of grain over the image, which is there to emulate film: I am not a fan of that, but lots of movies do it (like Rob Zombie's stuff or "Mandy"), so I guess is trendy. The director is probably a huge horror fan, since there are references to many other scary movies, some of them rather obscure: wether or not this is a flaw, it boils down to one's own taste. Personally, I found it amusing. All in all, I thought it was a good indie - a notch above the average STV horror flicks that I get to see everyday. PS: the American cover is way better than the other one with the lead girl on it - why there's two of them is beyond me.

Very slow going. Not a lot of action. About half the dialogue was in Italian without subtitles so that didn't help. Why is it when the bad guy is strangling someone, they never see them reaching for a gun? A lot of heavy raspy breathing and blurry photography. Give this a pass.

"Blood Bags" had my attention from the title sequence with its solidifying moments of placing a light on real life medical macabre, Gunther's Disease. It is close to the chilling excitement I felt over the inbreeding images teased in the "Wrong Turn" and "Hills Have Eyes" franchises. Plus this film sets up a creepy cool urban legend of day trip urban adventurism gone wrong. It is a clever, well developed concept that hits all the horror tropes without being boring.

The acting is pretty good. A few of the scenes feel a bit over-rehearsed, but the majority of the film feels quality. The cast, though stereotypical, are interesting and fully developed. Plus they are easily relatable personas. I do wish that the "creature" and old man's story would have gone deeper into their history. I feel that desire is purely my own morbid fascination with these two characters. Still there is plenty here to invest in.

The horror is what we come to expect and fully love in quality Italian horror. It feels contemporary and yet pays tribute to classic giallo and shock horror. For some of "Blood Bags" length I kept recalling the thrilling enjoyment I get watching "Cat O' Nine Tails". This film is entertaining, creepy and atmospheric without over exploitation of the gore aspect- which will make shock horror gorehounds happy.

Overall "Blood Bags" is a fun, modern giallo that never rips off it's roots, nor does it become boring. The flaws are minimal and the story is chilling, straightforward horror. For me this film offers a great example of where Italian horror should thrive in modern horror. I think the weakest moment in the film may be at the end, it should have ended with a bit more "shock'n'awe". Still "Blood Bags" is worth checking out. Pay attention to the nice love letter to Argento toward the end of the film- classic.