Aaron's Blood

Original,entertaining and well produced movie combining the high school social scene with a struggling single father and vampires in suburban America. Eddie's Father meets the Twilight crew. Barely qualifies as a Horror film, the greatest audience fear comes from the bullying, school boys. But it does have enough gore that it's not an ABC Family film- close though. I only FF once when I just wanted to see the end which was a simplistic duality- either A or B.

Why did that poor priest involve himself with that short, annoying kid?

I just wanted to yell at the screen. I felt so bad for the poor priest. And if he has lived for a while, how did he not know the dad was going to be a superstitious, mean unappreciative knucklehead?

He should have realized what was up, and destroyed both the father, and son, and erased his mistake. I would have.

Why did he turn that kid?

I have seen many films where vampires have different personalities. Some good, so0me bad. Twilight is an excellent example of a story where vampires range from kind, like the Cullents, to monstrous like Voluturi, but it still manages to be fun.

The story revolves around the dad and what he would do to save his son. Though, for the life of me I don't understand why they think it's a curse instead of a blessing. They could of made it more of a father and son coping with him becoming a vampire and what length the dad would go to protect his son. Instead, we get a crappy ending.

Was really interested in the concept, which was a great and remarkably original one and that it was better received than a lot of films with similar budgets and from the same genre. Will admit that there was some apprehension, having seen a lot of wastes of good ideas. Either by really interesting ones executed amateurishly, or close to it, or original ones executed too ordinarily with predictability and blandness.

'Aaron's Blood' thankfully was not executed amateurishly. Nor was the originality on the most part. 'Aaron's Blood' could have been better, it is a patchy affair, but to me it was definitely watchable and had a good deal to like. There is definitely flesh here and 'Aaron's Blood' is certainly not bloodless, meaning that it didn't feel bland and there was a degree of substance. Would have liked more of both though, which would have happened if the execution was more consistent.

Beginning with the merits, 'Aaron's Blood' is a competent looking film. There is style and atmosphere in how it's shot and lit, without trying to do more than needed, the scenery is also atmospheric and it doesn't look sloppy or slipshod. The music fits well, is haunting and doesn't intrude or make things too obvious.

There is tension, suspense, creepiness and emotion in 'Aaron's Blood', with the relationships far from un-investable or dull. There is a real effort to approach any familiarity from a different angle and trying not to fall too much into predictable genre tropes, that was appreciated having seen so many films recently that failed badly at that. 'Aaron's Blood' starts off very well, the first half was engaging and maintained intrigue. The characters didn't bore or annoy me and the acting on the most part is quite reasonable.

David Castellvi though does have some pretty terrible moments, especially early on. The dialogue does have a tendency to be ropy and in desperate need of more flow. The nightmares initially were eerie and suspenseful but later came over as repetitive and not always necessary padding.

Although 'Aaron's Blood' started off very well and engaged for the first half, some of the second wasn't as tight in pace and as clear or focused in storytelling. The big reveal not only too abruptly introduced but is revealed too early, and on the whole anything to do with it does feel underdeveloped and jumpy and clarity becomes a bit muddled. One of the biggest faults is the ending, which came over as a rushed anti-climax.

In conclusion, watchable though could have been more. 5/10 Bethany Cox

The plot and idea is decent, a mixture of modern realism and vampire lore. The execution is dull. The music evokes tension for the seriousness of a father trying to save his son. But the pacing and acting intensity get to about a 4 out of 10. Tepid. Dull.