Blood Punch

I had various friends and blogs recommend this movie to me, but I kept avoiding it, mostly because the title and poster made me certain that I would be getting just another brain-dead horror movie gore-fest. Boy, was I wrong.

What I got instead was one of the best low-budget indie movies that I've seen in years. I know, I know. It feels weird to be lumping those kind of lavish praises on a movie like this, but what can I say? This movie took a somewhat bitter and skeptical viewer like me and converted me into a believer with an incredibly ambitious and clever script, three really solid performances from the lead actors, and a fun sense of style that somehow made the movie feel both classic and modern at the same time.

I really don't want to give away anything specific when it comes to the plot and story. It's much better going into it cold and knowing as little as possible. It's a blend of film noir, horror, science fiction, and black comedy and yet somehow comes together almost perfectly, blending and juggling all these familiar genres into its' own incredibly unique and distinctive vision. I watch a lot of movies and often feel like I've seen it all and know where most stories are headed, but this is a movie that really keeps you on your toes. The script was always one step ahead of me and had me guessing right up until the very end.

In general, the look and production values are quite good, but you could definitely feel some of the movie's lack of budget and resources in some areas. But I found myself way too swept up in the story to ever really mind or care. And the three main leads, who are playing very familiar and almost cartoonish archetype characters, do an incredible job of making these characters come across as totally believable and real human beings.

This is an amazingly underrated and totally overlooked little movie. I highly recommend it.

I like straight up horror movies and generally don't go for horror/comedy mixes like this one. But Blood Punch keeps the comedy kind of low key - much moreso than the popular Evil Dead. I just watched Blood Punch last night and enjoyed it very much. I usually put something on Amazon Prime to go to sleep -- but this movie kept me up too late!

The actors are good and I thought Ari Boyland was very good as the psychopathic Russell. He reminds me of a young Kurt Russell. Olivia Tennet is also very good as the brash and seductive leading lady.

The story is crazy and makes you wonder how they think these things up. But the movie is done well in a way that is both entertaining and suspenseful. I really found myself wondering how our protagonists were going to get out of their very unusual situation.

I won't go into particulars but the twisted plot requires a great deal of bloodshed. So much that it might be too much. I don't mind gory horror but the repetitive brains-getting-blown-out is the only facet of this movie that irritated me at all. Otherwise a great effort. Congratulations to the filmmakers.

Kind of tiresome time loop flick. This entire cast is from New Zealand (OK, there's one Australian), and it is obvious from the get-go. I had to look it up less than 10 minutes in, because it was so distracting. The girl who played Skyler was the worst offender of slipping into her native tongue. Here's an idea: Have a movie with New Zealand accents. Plenty of great movies come from New Zealand! I understand this was an American production, filmed in California... But why the entire cast has to do accents they're obviously uncomfortable with... It's baffling. Also, this movie serves as a 105-minute commercial for smoking. It's so ridiculous it becomes comical. They tried REAL hard to be stylish on what appears to be a shoestring budget. That gets an extra star.

Okay, first and foremost, I would humbly suggest that you do NOT read the other reviews here. I KNOW that sounds a little self serving, but as usual, a number of these witless reviewers totally give away the primary concept in their titles, so just trying to save you entering Spoiler Territory.

So, what we have here is a very clever concept that if it has not already been Spoiled for you, you will come to understand as the story progresses. It is a concept that has indeed been used in a few other also really good Science Fiction movies, but of course I'm not going to name them as others stupidly have done here even in their titles.

I, on the other hand, and HOPING that the idea behind this clever film has not already been ruined for you, do NOT wish to give away anything but simply as I usually try to do is give you my impressions about how well I think the film is made and if it is worth watching.

The characters are very well developed and in many cases quite amusing. The ONLY thing that honestly drove me almost totally insane is that I SWEAR at least one tobacco company must have foot the entire bill for this movie. I mean literally EVERY 2 minutes if not more often, someone, mainly the girl is lighting up. I mean, it is done to the point of total absurdity. Seriously... There must have been like 200 cigarettes lit in this movie. I personally found it REALLY annoying and somewhat insulting. I honestly saw absolutely no point in it, so FWIW there you go...

So, yes, this is a very good, clever concept that is ultimately very entertaining. If you have been fortunate enough to avoid Spoilers so far, then I think you might find this film a fun ride... I gave it a strong '7'... I KNOW I haven't given a lot of details, but there is almost no way to do so without ruining the story.

Rock'n'Roll type of time loop movie. Thrills and spills, action, blood, violence, snappy cool lines and attitude, a lot of crossing and double-crossing, like a mix of Breaking Bad, The Transporter, and Groundhog Day.

Most time loop movies tend to be grim affairs, the characters struggling to cope, all about learning something about themselves or life from the experience, guiding them toward a realization about love or betterment, and such. While Blood Punch does have a depth of its own, it's just geared differently to be more of an action/adventure fun/gorefest entertainment ride. The characters struggle to cope, they change due to the experience, but it's not over-dramatized and ponderous.

There isn't a race against time/events that has characters try to change things before the next loop, but a situation where a small group of people don't trust each other and are trying to get out of the loop alive. The way the film is edited, kind of narrated and unchronological, adds to that rock'n'roll action movie feeling, but also makes it a little more confusing than it needed to be, where details about the loop aren't explained or demonstrated well -- specifically, why some people do and some don't remember the loop. It's a key piece of information that would help audiences understand why there is a shift in the story and character allegiances.

The one area I felt could've made this story better was if there were other loop sequences of different people teaming up and other loop sequences of every man for himself, as it would have further highlighted the untrustworthy situation they were all in together, and allowed for other scenes of high stakes cat and mouse games going on.

If those things had played a bigger part in this film, it would've pushed my rank higher and higher. As it is tho, it's still a great time loop movie not to miss.