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Bad Blood

  • 1981
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 45m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
461
YOUR RATING
Bad Blood (1981)
DramaThriller

During World War 2, a farmer in New Zealand murders seven people, and the police, along with local Maori trackers, hunt him in the bush country.During World War 2, a farmer in New Zealand murders seven people, and the police, along with local Maori trackers, hunt him in the bush country.During World War 2, a farmer in New Zealand murders seven people, and the police, along with local Maori trackers, hunt him in the bush country.

  • Director
    • Mike Newell
  • Writers
    • Andrew Brown
    • Howard Willis
    • Stanley Graham
  • Stars
    • Jack Thompson
    • Carol Burns
    • Denis Lill
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    461
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Mike Newell
    • Writers
      • Andrew Brown
      • Howard Willis
      • Stanley Graham
    • Stars
      • Jack Thompson
      • Carol Burns
      • Denis Lill
    • 14User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos8

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    Top cast44

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    Jack Thompson
    Jack Thompson
    • Stanley Graham
    Carol Burns
    Carol Burns
    • Dorothy Graham
    Denis Lill
    Denis Lill
    • Ted Best
    Donna Akersten
    • Doreen Bond
    Martyn Sanderson
    Martyn Sanderson
    • Les North
    Marshall Napier
    Marshall Napier
    • Trev Bond
    Cliff Wood
    • Henry Growcott
    David Copeland
    • George Lindsay
    Ken Blackburn
    • Tommo Robson
    John Bach
    John Bach
    • Bert Cropp
    John Banas
    • Macko Hager
    John Black
    • Greg Hutchison
    Karl Bradley
    • Maxi Coulson
    Greg Naughton
    Greg Naughton
    • Anker Madsen
    Alan Jervis Wilks
    Alan Jervis Wilks
    • Ralph Frederic
    • (as Alan Jervis)
    Grant Edgar
    • Colin Howatt
    Caroline Claver
    • Bessie Best
    Pat Evison
    • Dulcie Lindsay
    • Director
      • Mike Newell
    • Writers
      • Andrew Brown
      • Howard Willis
      • Stanley Graham
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    6.5461
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    Featured reviews

    7Sturgeon54

    Won't Be Endorsed by the National Rifle Association

    Don't let the badly chosen B-movie-ish title fool you, this film is better than that. Set in rural New Zealand during the early stages of WWII in the 1940s, this film portrays the true story of Stanley Graham, a poor farmer with a wife and two kids. Unable to connect with the more well-bred surrounding community, and treated as outcasts (part of that being their own fault), he and his wife become increasingly paranoid about the bank and mortgage companies foreclosing on their small plot of land because of their ever-increasing debts. Making matters worse, the local police chief confiscates Graham's best firearm for use in the war, further enraging him and convincing him that the whole town is out to get him and his family. When the police finally do come to confiscate his land, he cracks up - killing the officers, fleeing, and becoming a fugitive in what became the biggest manhunt in New Zealand history.

    The best thing about this film is its topicality, which extends far beyond the specific time and place portrayed here. There are parallels here to the cases of David Koresh and Randy Weaver here in the U.S. - two other crazed rural isolationists obsessed with firearms and perpetuators of violence when confronted by government officials. In fact, director Newell does a fine job of setting up in the beginning just how central a role firearms play in the daily life of this isolated community - they seem to be everywhere in the first few scenes, and even children play with toy guns intensely. A film like this pokes holes in the rhetoric of the NRA which says defiantly, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Well, yes, Graham is slightly nuts from the beginning, but how likely would the massacre he creates have been had he not had such easy access to the rifles, which play such a central part in his psychology? Also, it is interesting to note that Graham seems to be the kind of competent professional with a firearm that the NRA so often endorses as its core consituency, yet we don't seem him using it for any legitimate hunting purposes at all - only to kill other human beings.

    Australian veteran actor Jack Thompson, as always, turns in a fine performance as Graham - totally immersing himself in the role of a cloistered-up nutcase with the us-versus-them mentality which would lead to an inevitable standoff with the outside world. Not surprisingly, he is much more adept at using his rifles than his pursuers, killing and wounding just about everyone he fires at, and creating an intense hatred in the posse organized to catch him.

    Newell has done an excellent job of creating the small period details of the setting, from showing the organized women's war production to the local dance and rationing for the war in this community. Additionally, Gary Hansen's cinematography and camera-work has an exquisite feel for the New Zealand Landscape.

    The major flaw is that here is a film which has traces of further ambitions beyond itself, but unfortunately did not capitalize upon them. The build-up of Graham and his wife's paranoia following real and imagined humiliations from the community in the first half is riveting. Unfortunately, the second half loses steam, as the organization of the posse and manhunt seems rather inconsequential and pedestrian. Graham supposedly became something of a folk hero to the country, but this is only hinted at by one or two lines from peripheral characters. Newell would have been wiser to expand this theme further: the pathology of Graham is definitely universal, and there are likely traces of it in any isolated rural community. That is much more interesting than an obligatory chase. However, these flaws owe more to the script than Newell's direction, which is very accomplished. Throughout the entire film, Newell's direction retains the conviction that we are witnessing important historical events unfolding. It is too bad that the script does not delve much deeper than the superficial storyline of a nutcase who kills several people and get chased by the police. Still worthwhile, though.
    weezering

    Boring as all get out

    This movie is boring and dumb. It is boring because they didn't take their time making it. They weren't thinking clearly. Nothing happens for the first hour. And then the wife shouts "POISONDOG" and then nothing happens for the rest of the movie. If you're a fan of the phrase "POISONDOG" or other phrases like that, or Jack Thompson II films, then check out the glory that is... Bad Blood! Otherwise avoid like plague. International. 2000.
    8arthur_tafero

    Bad Blood - First Blood New Zealand Style

    Hollywood made Stallone's First Blood, which spawned a slew of profitable sequels. This simple film is First Blood lite, New Zealand Style. It is difficult to find a protagonist or antagonist in this film. Some will root for Stanley Graham and his family, while others will see them as obviously insane and in need of removal from society. This real life event was tragic for eight families. The seven that lost a loved one, and the one that lost its husband and father. There is also a question about the involvement of the wife in this film, beautifully played by an unknown New Zealand actress. The tragedy of the film is arrogance and insensitivity. The authorities of the village seem arrogant and insensitive to the plight of the wife and children of this disturbed man, And there is a good case that the wife was also disturbed. And what about these two poor children? I guess they wound up in social services. After a slow start and without the benefit of translation and subtitles of New Zealander language, the film kicks into high gear. New Zealand, at times, and in most places, is almost like heaven on earth. But at other times, it can descend into hell on earth. So too, are the people in this story; caught somewhere between heaven and hell. A riviting story worth watching.
    7breakfast-49192

    Better than the scores received on rotten tomatoes

    This may be less appealing to American tastes, but to British tastes it is a reasonably well made movie.

    The period elements are really well done. It does not try to manipulate you emotionally like a lot (all!) of Hollywood so maybe that is what haters crave along with supersaturated sensory overload.

    It is a straightforward tale based on a real life story..

    Sometimes slow and that actually was how things were then in NZ, especially I imagine the west coast of the South Island.

    I found this for a buck and it's a buck well spent.

    For 1981 it is excellent for NZ. Some aspects are begging to be made more tense and this is why is it is a 7.
    7shaun j

    disturbing study of small town alienation

    Bad Blood is the true story of West Coast (New Zealand) Eric Stanley Graham who, during the 1940's shot dead several people in the small village of Kowhitirangi, and sparked NZ's biggest manhunt in history. The film is both atmospheric and disturbing, and is well focussed on Graham and his family, and their gradual alienation from the small community. The bush setting only amplifies this claustrophobia. Both well acted and scripted, Bad Blood is worth more than a look.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Actors playing shot policemen, who had to lie on the floor in pools of blood for long periods of time, to relieve the boredom, would sing and whistle the Monty Python song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", which had been at the time recently popularized in the movie Monty Python : La Vie de Brian (1979).
    • Connections
      Featured in Century of Cinema: Cinema of Unease: A Personal Journey by Sam Neill (1995)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 12, 1982 (New Zealand)
    • Countries of origin
      • New Zealand
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The Shooting
    • Filming locations
      • New Zealand(filmed entirely on location in)
    • Production companies
      • Southern Pictures
      • New Zealand Film Commission
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 45m(105 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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