Family Blood

I liked the story line. I liked the slow and steady pace. I really enjoy movies with those qualities. I also love that it's not a volume roller coaster. You know, louder than hell and then suddenly the actors are whispering and then loud again and back and forth. I hate riding the volume buttons on my remote as I'm watching a movie. What I didn't like is how dark it was. I love a dark themed movie but I can't stand when I can't see everything on the screen. I know that may not make sense to a lot of people but there's a difference between a dark movie and a poorly lit movie. But that's just me. My two cents.

Remember Vinessa Shaw? She was the lead female (Excluding the witches) in cult favorite Hocus Pocus (1993). Since then she's done.........and then there was.........and who could forget? Erm, stuff?

Here she leads as a former drug addict turned vampire and the affect it has on her and her two children. I can't help but feel like the whole movie was one big metaphor for addiction.

There is a problem though and it's a big one. The movie is unforgivably boring, so boring in fact I fell asleep about 1/3 of the way through and had to watch the thing from scratch again the next day.

It's SO lifeless, the characters simply aren't likeable and honestly until the last few minutes nothing happens. On top of that I see people claiming this is a new spin on the tired vampire formula, my question is how? How is this a new spin? This has been done before, the whole thing is devoid of originality.

Not one for fans of vampire cinema or for that matter cinema period.

The Good:

.......nope

The Bad:

I actually fell asleep and had to watch it again

So boring

Lifeless nonsense

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Vinessa Shaw has nothing to contribute to the industry

Regular vampires > Twilight Vampires > These vampires

Watched this with a couple of friends, the movie was very generic and boring, overdone plot and had forgettable characters, wouldn't recommend this 3/10

When it comes to modern Horror, lowered expectations have been serving me quite well for over a decade now. Think about it, it's a lot easier to enjoy a film even when it's mediocre and below if one's expectations are for a mediocre and below viewing experience. It even allows for a few pleasant surprises, when one of these films turn out to be good. In the case of Family Blood, not expecting a masterpiece (and not getting one) has made it so I actually enjoyed it, albeit to a limited extent.

Considering this title doesn't currently have a synopsis and the limited summary gives very little details - I consider most details (even those one finds out in the first 30 minutes) as spoilers and will refrain from mentioning them. Suffice it to say that the best part about Family Blood, in my opinion, is the portraying of protagonist Ellie's attempts to cope with her addictions, both her original one and her new one. The acting is also great, especially by the younger cast, i.e. Ellie's children Kyle and Amy who are forced to see their mother spiraling out of control.

Both IMDB and Netflix have this title tagged as Horror as well as Thriller, which in my opinion is utterly misleading and almost deceptive. Three or four Horror scenes and a plot revolving around a single element usually considered a Horror component do not make a Horror film. Family Blood is a good enough Drama and quite suspenseful at times, but it is far from being actually scary in any way. As an addict myself (clean and sober, going on seven years, yay me) I got some added emotional value out of watching this, but I doubt most people would find this title to be more than average, at best.

In summary, Family Blood is not unwatchable and could even be quite enjoyable, with lowered expectations. It's one of these films available on Netflix which are suspenseful enough to enjoy and not enough scary or horrific to ruin a good meal or snack. Not really recommended, not really not recommended, just average. You might enjoy it, you might not.

I loved the premise and unique spin to a vampire movie but it jumped all over the place and was just made poorly. I hope someone tried the idea again with better directing.