DVD
REVIEW: BAD BLOOD
09/16/07
Watching Bad Blood reminds
me a lot of, M. Night Shyamalan, who brought us The Sixth
Sense and Unbreakable. These are films that are slow-paced
and subtle with each scene revealing just a bit of
information at a time until the end when the big pay-off
comes and the audience is left in awe. But, unlike these
movies, Bad Blood which is slow-paced and subtle doesn’t
have the big pay-off and as a result the whole movie is an
excruciating exercise.
In, Bad Blood, Dr. Xavier Monterio inherits an old country
house from his great uncle. Reluctant to the move is the
rest of his family: Wife Helena, daughter Sofia, sons Rui
and Ricardo and a granddaughter from Sofia. Regardless,
Xavier, relocates his family to this remote village were
superstitions are rampant. One of the superstitions involves
Xavier’s ancestor who is said to have bought land at a fair
price, but when one person, Ismael, did not sell, he has his
entire family killed, and Ismael was transformed into a
vengeance seeking beast.
Bad Blood examines the theme of reason versus superstition. The Monterio
family is well-educated and the villagers are uneducated.
The Monterio family believes that there is a logical
explanation for all the weird things that are happening
while the villagers believe that it has something to do with
the supernatural. This is the only interesting question that
Bad Blood raises.
The problem, however, is that the story is really slow-paced
and builds and builds and at the end the pay-off is too
subtle. The viewer is left expecting a big revelation, but
nothing happens. The other problem is that the plot tries to
fool you by inferring that their is an incestuous abusive
relationship between Rui and Sofia. These scenes were
probably aimed at misdirection, but this plotline seems more
interesting than the rest of the movie.
The look of the film is very grainy and not as polished as is
expected this day an age. But worst of all as a
mystery/horror movie, Bad Blood, fails to set the right mood
and exhibits absolute zero tension.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital ,Portuguese 5.1 DTS .Portuguese
2.0 Dolby Digital
Subtitles - English, Spanish,
BONUS FEATURES:
Making of Bad Blood:
Director and cast discuss the
concept of a Portuguese horror movie. (30 minutes)
Original Theatrical Trailer:
Probably one of the
worst trailers I’ve ever seen. (1.36 minutes)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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VIDEO |
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Review
By Brad Peterson
brad@smartcine.com
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