In the early ‘40s, Adolf Hitler believed the occult held the secret to immortality.
Almost a century later, the nightmare has awakened…
Starring: Dominic Purcell, Henry Cavill, Michael Fassbender, Emma Booth, Shea Whigham
Director: Joel Schumacher
2009 | 90 Minutes | Rated R
“Those who came before rule the blood. And when you rule the blood, death is no longer the end.” – Richard Wirth
Blood Creek was a movie that I had intended to watch for quite some time. It is directed by Joel Schumacher, has a pretty solid cast behind it and a sweet DVD cover image and yet for some reason the movie flew under the radar.
In 1936 Third Reich scholar, Professor Richard Wirth (Michael Fassbender) came to America to study and practice the occult with the use of large rune stones hidden in the basement of the Wollner’s cellar. 70 years later Wirth’s experiments have kept the Wollner family alive. Evan Marshall (Henry Cavill) has been left without answers to the disappearance of his older brother Victor (Dominic Purcell). When Victor returns in the middle of the night, having escaped his captors, Evan loads their rifles and takes off for Town Creek on a mission of revenge against a seemingly immortal enemy.
The beginning of the movie is really pretty slow and boring. As a movie maker you have to do something early on to grab the audience’s attention. You can’t expect someone to stick out the first 20 minutes of a movie to finally get interested in it. Unfortunately that is exactly what Blood Creek asks of its viewers. I really had to push myself to stay interested to make sure I didn’t miss anything. It wasn’t until Dominic Purcell finally showed up that I got pulled in.
Now would be a good time for me to admit something to you all. I love Dominic Purcell. I’m ashamed to say it’s kind of a man crush. Ever since I first saw him I have enjoyed everything I have seen him in. The guy just looks like he is ready to kick ass at all times. I wish I had that look to me. The look where everyone who sees you knows that they had better think twice before starting something with you. Needless to say, I don’t have that.
Anyways, back to the beginning. I’m actually thinking that the movie would have been more effective without the 10-15 minutes of history we are given at the beginning. It would have been much more effective to just throw us in and maybe flash back a few times to Michael Fassbender’s Nazi character to explain the back story a bit as the movie progressed. This would make Fassbender’s screen time almost non-existent since the rest of the movie has him in full makeup and saying very little but I would be alright with that. Fassbender is a great actor but I would rather see a bad actor in a few quick flashbacks than a great actor in a long boring intro scene. Call me crazy.
The sense of brotherly love is evident right away. I really got behind Cavill as a brother who was basically frozen in time after his brother disappeared mysteriously and I REALLY got behind them both when they load up and go to war without Evan ever needing to be told the who, what, where, whens or whys. His brother is back and he’s pissed so he followed. Respect.
What follows would most certainly be mind blowing for Evan. The insanity that ensues when Evan and Victor get to the Wollner’s homestead is near Evil Dead levels (minus the Sam Raimi zaniness). And it just gets worse and worse until the final battle.
The gore-o-meter is off the charts. There are so many examples but the scene where a horse bursts into the house and rampages through the kitchen, all the while getting shot up by a shotgun.
Considering how often action and horror fans cross over Blood Creek should be a no brainer for both groups. It’s not a classic of either genre but it has enough action, blood, gore, creeps and scares for everybody to walk away feeling satisfied.
ples but the scene where a horse bursts into the house and rampages through the kitchen, all the while getting shot up by a shotgun.
Considering how often action and horror fans cross over Blood Creek should be a no brainer for both groups. It’s not a classic of either genre but it has enough action, blood, gore, creeps and scares for everybody to walk away feeling satisfied.
Action Movie Fanatix 