Blessed Are the Children

I saw Blessed Are the Children at a local film festival a little while back and followed the film's page on Facebook soon after. A post a few weeks ago got me thinking about the film all over again and how much I enjoyed it. I guess it haunted me more than I realized.

Blessed tells the story of a young woman who's having an awful year, made even worse when she realizes she's pregnant. She decides she doesn't want to keep the baby, goes in for the abortion, and then finds herself stalked by creepy anti-abortion protesters in baby masks.

This could have been a run-of-the-mill slasher, but there's enough talent in front of and behind the camera to give it a certain gravitas most films of this type simply don't have. It's definitely low-budget (apparently shot for $1,000?), but it certainly doesn't feel amateur. For instance, the three female leads are perhaps some of the best written and acted horror film characters I've seen in a while. They're realistic, smart, funny, and wonderfully flawed as well. You can tell the creative team really loved these women.

Some might find the film a bit slow, but I was never bored. There's not any bloodshed until about 30-40 minutes into the film, but after that point, it rarely slows down again. I went in thinking that I'd know who'd live and who'd die, but by the last act, it really became a free for all and I found myself wonderfully surprised and thrown off guard on several occasions. The final shot is especially haunting and gasp-inducing.

As of now, this movie is, I guess, just playing festivals, but if it comes to one near you, check it out. I'm hoping it's released on DVD soon. It's one that'll stick with you.

Blessed Are the Children is one of those movies that really sneaks up on you and stays in your head long after the credits have rolled. You don't think much about it as you're watching it, but you might find yourself shivering as you recall bits of it for the next few weeks.

Blessed Are the Children follows a trio of women who are stalked and terrorized by anti-abortion religious zealots after one of them gets an abortion. It's a simple story, but it's told with such heart and attention to character that it wins you over despite a few pacing issues and low-budget quirks.

The cast is pretty terrific and I'm sure everyone will have a favorite character (the friends I watched it with did). I wish more horror filmmakers would realize how important great characters are to a horror film. You really do root for these women when they're put in jeopardy and I know I was surprised by who does and doesn't make it out alive.

Which brings me to another strength of the film - unpredictability. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie where all my expectations were thrown out the window one by one as the film went on. You think this character will be the killer? WRONG! You think this character will survive? HELL NO! They're not really going to do that are they? YES! I find this very exciting in a horror film, so I must give it props for that.

As with most low-budget films, this one has its drawbacks. There are a few audio issues here and there and I think it could have been trimmed by maybe a few minutes, but these things didn't bother me too much.

Despite any tiny issues, Blessed Are the Children is a strong, creepy addition to the slasher subgenre and I definitely recommend it.

Abortion is a pretty hot button issue these days and it's something a lot of people don't want to discuss, so I have to give major props to writer/director Chris Moore for ripping off the Band-Aid and having the guts to tackle it in such a frank way in Blessed Are the Children.

Moore eases us into his disturbing yarn in such an almost calming, every day way that it makes the horrors that unfold later all the more terrifying. We meet Traci, a 20-something who can't seem to get a break. Her drunken ex-fiancé is terrorizing her, her mother is a bit of a bitch who still seems upset that she broke off the wedding, she's madly in love with a sexy med student who doesn't seem interested in anything more than a weekly booty call, and she still doesn't seem sure of what she wants out of life. As if that weren't enough problems for an entire movie, she finds out that she's pregnant and makes the decision to have an abortion.

When she leaves the clinic, she's stalked by masked protesters who show up to the house she shares with best friends, Erin and Mandy, and start leaving strange crying baby dolls outside at all hours of the night, calling her and her friends (in scenes that call to mind the original Black Christmas in their horrifying schizo freakiness), and, ultimately, moving into their attic. Needless to say, things start getting super creepy.

Going in with an open mind, all I asked for was a fun diversion and what I got with Blessed Are the Children was an incredibly memorable and unpredictable scare-fest. I'm sure the basic concept will turn some people off right when they hear the word "abortion", but to tell you the truth, the film never really takes a side on the issue and it's free from the usual preachy junk you'd see in a less clever film.

The best thing about the film are the characters. The dialogue and interplay between the three leads is realistic, sassy, and so much fun that I could have gladly continued watching them go about their day to day lives with no horror involved at all. As Traci, Kaley Ball hits just the right notes of sarcasm and sadness. She's able to say so much with just one look. It's wonderfully subtle work. As Traci's loyal best friends, Erin and Mandy, actresses Arian Thigpen and Keni Bounds offer a ton of support. Thigpen is a charming hoot as Erin, the 26 year old virgin, and gets a ton of mileage out of her character's super awkward persona. As Mandy, Bounds is warm and motherly with a whole lot of delightful sass. It's also interesting to note that Mandy is an out and proud lesbian and, yet, Bounds and Moore treat her like an every day person with zero clichés. I thought that was pretty neat and I'm sure GLBT film fans will like that.

The film is a bit of slow burn, but when the creepiness really starts about 30 minutes in, it's REALLY creepy. There are a lot of homages to films such as Halloween, (just look at all those shots of a victim in the foreground with one of the killers out of focus, lurking in the shadows behind them), Psycho (the focus on characters and one terrifying shower scene), Alice Sweet Alice (the atmosphere, mood, and the killers' get ups), and Black Christmas (the killer's phone calls/young women with personalities being terrorized by a killer in their attic), but it's never goes into rip-off territory. In fact, most of the film is pretty unpredictable and you get the sense that anybody can die at moment. The final shot of the film is genuinely bone-chilling as well.

Suspenseful, well-acted, and spooky, Blessed Are the Children proves that Chris Moore might be on his way to join the pantheon of socially conscious horror auteurs like George A. Romero, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, and, most recently, Jordan Peele ("Get Out"). It's a must see for all serious horror fans!

Ah, the good old American slasher! Films such as Halloween, Friday the 13th and Scream have scared us and inspired others to pick up the camera and give it a go themselves. The result is hundreds of slasher films that are mostly low to no budget, but nevertheless are passion projects of directors seeking to put on screen their own special vision of what a slasher should be. This film is yet another one of those passion projects.

"Blessed are the Children" is a 2016 horror slasher film written and directed by Chris Moore. Although this project was finished in 2016, it is just now getting wide-release distribution.

The film revolves around three young ladies, one of whom has recently had an abortion. While at the clinic she is freaked out by a guy in an angry baby mask, wearing a red sweatshirt and holding a sign that says, "God Hates You". After she finishes her appointment, she is then stalked by this person and those around around her start dying.

I say that this film is a passion project, because there certainly was next to no money behind it. The film itself is generic in it's quality and the cinematography is rather uninspired. There was an attempt at some blue and red lighting schemes, but honestly it didn't fit with the rest of the film. The pacing of the film was a bit slow and I feel that at 1 hour and 38 minutes, this film was at least 20 minutes too long. The editing didn't help either as there are some weird and abrupt cuts that don't seem to be an artistic choice. One of the ways I know I might appreciate the quality of a film is the sound design. A film with a great sound design can really transport you to the fictional world you're watching. However poor sound design is devastating. This film had some of the worst sound design I've heard this year. I think maybe the sound was just being captured off of the cameras being used, because humming noises, chewing sounds, cars in the background were more than a little distracting.

I also have to point out the writing and the acting. The writing is weak with conversations happening that feel so unnatural that it is painful to watch. The acting is below average and there wasn't a single character I liked and wanted to root for.

That said, the killer was decent, with a creepy and appropriate baby mask, although this is not an original design...they can be found at any Halloween shop. There is some fun gore here...a tongue cut, knife through the mouth, a throat slash and a head smashing, and that might be enough to save this film for some fans of the sub-genre, but sadly, not for me.

I'm also not sure if there are any sociopolitical statements being made here about the evil's of abortion. It didn't seem that it was being preachy at all and the abortion device was just a set piece the writer used to move his story forward.

If you like cheaply made slasher films (many do) then check this film out when it hits VOD on October 23rd. If you need a higher quality cinematic experience then you would do well to skip "Blessed are the Children".

1.5/10 Angry Baby Masks

My friends said I should check this one out and I have to be honest - I didn't know what to expect. The concept sounded potentially interesting, but the trailers didn't do too much for me. I'm grateful that I did, because Blessed Are the Children might be one of the more interesting low/no-budget slashers I've seen in at least a decade.

Granted, this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but there's a lot more to unpack here than most straight to video slasher flicks and I admire the filmmakers for trying something new and going to places most films wouldn't.

Let's start with the characters - they're terrific. It's been a long time since I've seen three leads this well developed and defined. There's Traci - the mopey one whose father just died right before her wedding to an abusive person named Ben who, apparently, threw her pets at a wall while drunk. Eager to get back into the dating scene, she's become a friend with benefits for John, a self-absorbed med student, who might just as bad as Ben. She then finds out that she's pregnant (by who, it's never said) and she decides to get an abortion. In her corner are friends Mandy - a sassy lesbian hairdresser and Erin - a shy, awkward virgin.

After Traci's abortion, she starts noticing creepy baby-masked people stalking her and her friends and the body count starts adding up. A lot of these murder scenes are staged with a god degree of panache and even a fair amount of suspense (something a lot of low budget filmmakers forget about). Some gore effects are better than others, but there should be enough to please the gore hounds among us. Thankfully, the kill order is super surprising and hard to expect. I did gasp a few times when some of my favorite characters were taken out abruptly. It certainly never feels safe and I love that.

As for the flaws...well, there are a few. I think it could have shaved a few minutes off here and there. There's a character from Traci's past who shows up and we're treated to an overlong scene in a restroom where we start to discover that this woman is lying about what a happy life she has as a young mother. The writing isn't bad and it could be argued that this scene helps inform Traci's choice to get the abortion, but it feels like it belongs in a different movie, especially thanks to an incredibly over the top performance by the girl playing Traci's friend. There's also a really bad instance of dubbing/ADR that feels like a weird Italian horror movie as well as several weird sound issues throughout. That stuff doesn't bother me as much as some people, because I could always understand everyone fine even if it wasn't always the cleanest or best sound.

Flaws aside, Blessed Are the Children has its heart in the right place and it's super entertaining and memorable addition to the slasher subgenre.