Books of Blood

I'm a sucker for a horror anthology whether good or cheesy, but this one treads a fine line. Three interconnected stories that all start off almost blandly acted and poorly written, but as the stories unfold, the insanity starts to ramp up. It interweaves human monsters with ghostly ones and the result is some very unsettling content. I also like that the visionaries for this film didn't rely heavily on CGI, and added a heavy dose of practical effects, cinematography and good editing to naturally disturb me. Learning that this is based off the work of Clive Barker, it makes so much more sense as it feels like a dark poetic nightmare from the 80's. Where the film falls short is the over-extension of one story, a loosely threaded connection and failure to captivate the audience out the gate with something truly compelling. Otherwise it was a good watch.

I almost abandoned watching it after discovering the overall rating but glad I didn't.

Grippy horror movie consisting of 3 stories that of course are kind of linked together.

Relatively short, relatively terrifying and pretty watchable. In fact I would enjoy this as a TV series.

Nothing new horror wise. However, the first story goes on and on and is not well acted and takes up over half the film. The second story is much better acted and scripted, Anna Friel should have played the lead in the first story as Britt Robertson is not a strong enough actor, but that's the least of the problems. The problem is you need to watch to get the twist at the end and most will give up, I almost did but was too lethargic. As for the story running through well it is there just to link so it is what it is. In the end, after nothing has really happened you realize you've wasted over an hour and a half for a nice twist but is it really worth it? NO

As I sat down to watch the 2020 movie "Books of Blood" I wasn't aware that it was a horror anthology. And as much as I love horror, there is a tendency of anthologies set within the horror genre of being somewhat less than mediocre.

However, I must admit that "Books of Blood" was a much welcomed addition to the horror anthologies, because this was actually a rather enjoyable collection of stories that proved to be nicely interwoven with one another in a satisfactory manner.

And I am astounded to find out that the stories told in "Books of Blood" apparently are based on Clive Barker writings. That is just very interesting and cool actually.

The stories were quite different in their contents, so chances are high that you will find something suitable for your particular tastes and preferences. I enjoyed all three tales, however, I found the one with the bed & breakfast to be the most enjoyable and interesting.

The acting in the three stories was good, generally speaking for everyone involved. I was definitely content with the performances that were put on, and they had a good ensemble of casted actors and actresses to bring the various characters to life on the screen.

I will say that "Books of Blood" is definitely a horror anthology that is well-worth taking the time to sit down and watch if you get the chance to do so. I was more than genuinely entertained by what writers Adam Simon and Brannon Braga managed to present with this anthology.

My rating of "Books of Blood" is a six out of ten stars.

What shines through is that it seems to be "made for TV" .. but not like Game of Thrones or so ... but "made for early evening TV ... in the early 2000s" or sort. It never dares to go all the way. It hints at it .. it shows potential - but it backs off.

I actually liked the first story (and conclusion) .. it was kind of powerful. Scenes, images and ideas were well done - and it was a nice, sad tragedy. The other stories however felts like re-tales of older stories. They were not nearly as well done and seemed much, much cheaper - both in creativity and cinematography.

For a full length suspense/horror movie, i can only give it a low score though. The stories are not good enough - they are not intertwined cleverly .. and they never exceed a rather low budget TV format.