La vérité d'Henderson

Judging by the incredibly low rate and the extreme negative reviews, "City of Blood" seems to be perceived by many as a total cinematographic failure. After buying this one in a little Italian Fumetti Shop (I read about Darrel Roodt's "The Stick" a couple of years ago and was simply intrigued), I decided quickly to figure out by myself why and if it really deserves this kind of reception. I must admit I'm not sure having seen the same film than nearby everybody here on IMDB... For sure, "City of Blood" hasn't much in common with every usual campy horror flick you can grab out of a 50 cent purchase bin of your favorite Walmart or even Blockbuster videoclub ... Could you REALLY expect something like that here??? "City of Blood", even if it totaly belongs to the genre, is much more than only that: it is very well directed (I love the use of the Steadycam in this movie, and the light effects), written (Darrel Roodt knows the profound wounds of his country better than anybody and tell us a terrible story to get a bit more aware of what is STILL concretely happening in South Africa... and mayby not to die too stupid...), with unusal characters and played by actors wisely chosen, far far away from the kind of Tom Cruise prototype hero - I mean so much more real, alive as human beings- that I get goosebumbs when I go with them through this living hell they(/we) are trapped in... If you love unusual, strange, uncomfortable ghost storries AND horror movies as well as Peter Weir's "The Last Wave" and John Mc Tiernan's "Nomads", on a low budget scale but with no less than true heart and talent, check this one out: "City of Blood" (beautiful titel by the way...;-)!) is for sure one of the most underrated movies on IMDB for me so far (what drove/motivated me to write once again a review after so many years). You won't be dissapointed if you don't expect the usual genre clichés. And by the way, bravo mister Roodt: your movie has something (important) to say and is still cool to watch! I simply love it!!!

Civil rights advocate is killed, beaten to death by police during an interrogation, and Medical Examiner is being pressured into signing off on a bogus autopsy report declaring the death to be a suicide to prevent a potential race riot. The ME is dealing with his own drama, hallucinating and having flashbacks to a lost love while investigating a series of brutal murders of prostitutes on the streets of London. The murder weapon of choice appears to be some sort of spiked club thingie used in Africa more than 2000 years ago.

That minor subplot is played up big time on the original video box (Where the front cover depicts a Faces Of Death-type of skeleton clutching a cityscape and looking ominously toward the sky, while the back cover actually shows a (reversed) still from the film revealing a major character's death!) The video box might have promised a blood curdling horror, but what it delivers is a rather dull anti-apartheid "message" movie with an interesting subplot never fully realised.

This rarely seen, South Africa-lensed flick is technically well made and certainly watchable, it's competently photographed, edited, and staged, and the acting was better than can be expected, so there's nothing wrong with it from a technical viewpoint, but it never gives us a character or situation to care about one way or the other: if the M.E. doesn't sign off on the bogus autopsy, they'd have a race war and rioting. If he does, so what? And how are the prostitutes' murders and the African spiked club connected with any of this? If the focus of this had been changed, and that subplot expanded to full length, a much better horror movie could have resulted.

Two Africans are killed 2,000 years ago by a pair of African witch doctor-looking men. In the present day, a white South African medical examiner is investigating the deaths of prostitutes who are killed by a weapon that leaves five holes in their skulls. Somehow he connects this to tribes in Africa that had lived 10,000 years ago.

He also refuses to sign a blank death certificate for an African hero. Government officials, including the prime minister, try to pressure him to do it, while a black couple hopes that he will not.

He hallucinates his wife (not sure what that was all about), and seemingly hallucinates late- night drives and conversations with prostitutes that turn out to have been real.

What the ancient Africans have to do with anything, or why the prostitutes were being killed, is beyond me. Perhaps a South African audience would have understood this movie better.

As others have said, it's a snoozer. Lots of scenes of nothing happening, and the lead actor is a mumbler who isn't particularly charismatic.

Although marketed as a slasher, "City of Blood" is a gritty and tense political thriller with some slasher elements. It is atmospheric and stylishly directed. The outstanding Joe Stewardson is a grizzled medical examiner being strong-armed by the government to sign a death-certificate of a black leader killed in police custody. Meanwhile, a series of killings of prostitutes are traced to a 2000 year old traditional club.

This is one of my favorite Darrell Roodt films along with "Place for Weeping" and "The Stick". More so than any other director, Roodt captures the fear that was presumably setting in for white South Africans in the 1980s as apartheid began to (thankfully) crumble amidst increasing violence and opposition. A chilling and under-appreciated film.

This film is very boring. What started out as a good, chilling horror soon turned into a boring bloodless picture. The acting, writing, directing, editing, producing, and just about everything are Grade Z. Avoid this low-budget film at all costs because I do not want to hear-"I told you so!"