Blood River

Adam Mason has quickly become one of our favorite directors at The Liberal Dead. He has an uncanny ability to take next to no budget, and create something that will blow your mind. "Blood River" is his best film to date, and a true cinematic masterpiece. The story follows Summer(Tess Panzer) and Clark(Ian Duncan) as they travel across the desert to tell Summer's parents that she is pregnant. A car crash that follows what I would say is the most interesting piece of film ever dedicated to a tire blow out, leaves them stranded. The film is set in 1969, so it's not quite as easy as just pulling out their iPhone and calling AAA. Clark, and Summer head out on foot to the nearest town, "Blood River". As the couple arrive, not only is there a cow carcass laying at the entrance to the town to greet them, but there are various skeletal remains scattered across the grounds, and nothing much else. It's completely abandoned. Soon, we're introduced to Joseph(Andrew Howard), who is seen from the distance, appearing out of nowhere. It's made immediately obvious that there's something not right about Joe, but they are so desperate for help at this point, that they're willing to overlook his quirks. Leaving Summer behind, Joseph, and Clark head off into the desert, in an attempt to salvage gas from the crashed car, and siphon it into Joseph's car. This is basically the top of the coaster. It was great up until this point, and the ride just gets better from here.

The cinematography in this film is nothing short of amazing. Ingenious camera angles, coupled with a gorgeous backdrop, and some stunning helicopter angles makes this Mason's most visually appealing movie to date. I really felt, from start to finish that this film should have gotten a wide theatrical release. Mason had a budget of $250,000 to finish this film in a time span of 18 days, so the end result is even more stunning.

"Blood River" isn't a gorefest, but I think it will still appeal to that demographic. It's raw, gritty, and psychologically brutal. Another thing that made me happy was the fact that it doesn't spoon feed it's plot to the viewer. It definitely knows the message it wants to portray, but it leaves a lot of it up to the viewer to decipher. It's rare that a filmmaker gives the audience this kind of credit, instead of insulting our intelligence with flash cut scenes to make sure we got the subtlety. "Blood River" is not like this, it's intelligent at it's core, and it assumes that those watching it are as well.

The acting is superb across the board, but Andrew Howard in particular puts in a powerhouse performance. He's done an amazing job in past films with Mason, but this performance alone put's him at the top of my list for genre favorites. From the moment that he is introduced, until the last frame, Howard is cool as hell.

The atmosphere created is astonishing. It's gritty, and dirty, but manages to be breathtakingly beautiful at the same time. The setting is on a far grander scale than Mason's previous work, spanning across what seems to be a vast desert wasteland, but it still manages to keep a strong level of isolation.

"Blood River" is not an easy film to slap a label on. While it will definitely appeal to fans of the horror genre, fans of really solid dramatic, psychological thrillers will be in for a treat as well. It blends genres seamlessly, and is most definitely Mason's most marketable film to date. For fans of His previous work, such as "Broken" and "The Devil's Chair", don't worry, this movie was made for you as well. It's not a cookie-cutter thriller, and it demands the audiences attention. You're not going to be spoon-fed anything, you're going to have to turn your brain on for this one.

The film is currently available in Germany, has just been listed for pre-order in the UK, and if I'm not mistaken, there will be an announcement shortly about Canadian distribution as well. Unfortunately, there is currently no details available for a US release date for the flick, so if you have some pull at a studio, watch this flick, love it, and make Mason a big fat offer for distribution, you won't regret it.

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Blood River (2009)

This movie as been on my watch list for so long.

This movie is about Clark and Summer, a married couple and Summer is newly-pregnant, and Clark is worried that her father will be critical of him.

Along the way, their car has a blowout and Clark is sure that he put spare in the boot of the car.

It's start of really intruding but the next 45 of minutes, were very slow burner, with nothing much happens and talking to one and other,

When it getting really boring, I was thinking to turn it off ,after that but I am clad I didn't!

The last half hour, were it's really pick up again and more things start to happen, You think this movie is going one way but they really clever with as total throw you off what really happening.

Really good turn in the story, as I didn't not see it coming at all, it kind of makes sense it ending.

The acting was really good from the whole cast in this movie.

5.9 out of 10

When I see a low budget production(that shows) with clever directing and writing, excellent acting and a touch of "new", I feel like sharing my opinion, because certainly it was a nice surprise. I picked it up at local video rental thinking it to be a stinker, or an exploitation film of some kind. What a surprise. A supernatural thriller, and one that, budget considered, delivers.

It works as a religious version of The Hitcher - actually, it seems like it was written by 80s icon Eric Red.

Acting by the not so large cast is way above average, my compliments to all of them. The actor who played Joseph was quite effective, he surely deserves more chances in the big screen. The girl was beautiful, and could act as well. The guy who played the husband also delivers effectivelly.

In a way, the direction has got a touch of Katryn Bigalow in After Dark - the film is pure 80s and I will probably look for more films of this group.

Alternative cinema is not totally lost. It seems to have found its way, when we see films like those. Guys, you did a good job.

Blood River is one of the better Indy films I've seen in a long time. The lead actor is exceptional and the rest of the small cast deliver fine and engrossing performances, the look of this film is top draw and the location was right on the money, a spooky ghost town. The story had me memorized and on the edge of my seat. The transformation of the victims were totally engrossing and the climax was horrifying. The style was straight forward and simple, which adds to it's classy film making. All the tension built just fine to a climatic ending. After leaving the the theater, I found myself thinking about some of the bad things I've done in my life and even called a friend to apologize about the thing I did, which he wasn't aware of. It made me search my soul and think a lot about being a better man. Rod Serling would be proud.

A couple driving through the desert crashes their car due to a blowout and are left stranded. They decide to head for a nearby town called Blood Creek to search for help and meet a mysterious stranger who calls himself Joseph.

The film is directed by Adam Mason, a man whose greatest skill is creating great looking films for very little money, and the film does indeed look great. Unfortunately, it lacks the creative touch that was very apparent in his previous work The Devil's Chair (which I gave a very high score). Indeed, the film feels uninspired and watching it is a bit like going through the motions.

This is a shame, because there is a glimpse of something great hiding within the religious angle that the film takes. I wish that this had been explored in more depth, but instead this is covered by clichés that border on parody.

By far, the worst part of Blood Creek is the characterization of the two leads; the man is aggressive and loud, the woman is passive and dripping with tears. This is the case from the get-go and only gets worse as the film goes on. I assume that this is somewhat intentional, but it crosses the line between believable human flaws and annoying caricature.

The best part is the performance of Andrew Howard as the mysterious traveler Joseph. While he does have the best material to work with, it is pretty clear that he is the one with the acting chops and he pretty much carries the film single-handedly.

Despite the good craftsmanship (cinematography and sound is great), I would recommend watching something else. While Blood Creek is not offensively bad, it presents a handful of moments of annoyance and leaves no lasting impression.