Blood Quantum

This movie is definitely not for everyone. Here zombie fans get what they ask for. This movie ticks the boxes & doesn't mess around. It packs a punch and hits its mark. Unlike so many other movies which try to target a broader audience, by adding drama, comedy, meaningfulness and other crap, thus diluting the zombie experience, this movie stays true to the genre and is therefore intended mainly for pure zombie aficionados.

(I gave it a 7 which is a very high score - an 8 would be in Romero territory, but I think it truly deserves it because: the genre is still alive and well, and with its limited resources it achieved a lot...)

I wanted to like it more than I did. Strong beginning, interesting concept, but it started dragging after about 30 minutes, and I just couldn't get reinvested. The characters are pretty stiff, the story has potential, but overall it felt like a long, bad episode of Walking Dead. The plot twist with the brother wasn't a bad idea, but by that time I really didn't care what happened to any of the characters.

Few indigenous fellas r immune to a virus which turns people into bloodthirsty zombies but they r threatened by the large no of outsiders seeking refuge in their reserved colonies. The film has some impressive gory kills, moves at a steady pace but the darkly shot (mostly night time scenes) makes it troublesome. Wud have been ok if it were a vampire flick but zombies needs to b shown in broad daylight. Ther is a disturbing scene where an infected mother eats her baby, it is copied from David Cronenberg's Rabid.

This film cud have been another Stakeland but somehow this one will be forgotten soon cos it ain't that great.

The first act of this movie is amazing. It had me thinking that we were in cult classic territory. And then the brakes were applied, hard... the entire second act was an exercise in boredom with some preachiness sprinkled in for seasoning.

The third act opens with a bang and I'm thinking, we're back, redemption time... alas it was not to be, like a microcosm of acts 1 and 2, the brakes are applied and we slow everything down once more and the film meanders to a nonsensical ending.

This is a shame because the potential is clearly there... but every time momentum is built the creators opted to let things simmer down. Now maybe this would have been acceptable if the writing, characters, etc... could stand on their own, but they can't. Characters and story are very poorly developed and you aren't going to end up caring about any of them.

Something that I did enjoy was that our de facto protagonist didn't adhere to the collected, calm, and cool Indian stoic stereotype. It's clear early on that the guy is a wreck and it makes him quite likeable. So kudos for that.

In the end it's worth a watch... when it's good, it's great. Just a shame that the creative team couldn't hit that note consistently.

With the lack of a trailer or really any information, I had no idea what to expect from this film, especially the tonality. The worry I have when watching a new Canadian film is that it will be as the majority are; slow, cheap, and morbid. But, I'm thankful to say Blood Quantum is a step above the average morbid Canadian film, and it even manages to get an important and overlooked message across amidst all the blood and gore.

The performances are all around very good, and to my satisfaction felt like honest portrayals of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. And the fact that a movie like this exists, featuring a majority-Indigenous cast in a bloody, gory zombie film, is very exciting for the ever growing presence of Indigenous peoples in cinema.

This film also offered a ton of blood and gore, which starts I'd say not even 10 minutes into the film. No time is wasted getting to all of the gory fun stuff, but it doesn't forget about its characters, managing to create relationships which I became invested in. I would say I think the handling of some critical moments of emotion could have been handled with a little more power, but with that said, the tone of this film is fairly lighthearted at times despite its core message (this is not to say the film is lighthearted). And I should also add, the gore effects are all awesome. Lots of practical work done, and so much of it is very creative and inventive. I had a blast during these scenes, and there are more than enough of them.

I could go on about the minimal, but very good musical score, which builds a tension of eeriness, and at times reminds you that this is in fact an indigenous film. The cinematography is also very good for a Canadian production, with most of the lighting and blocking feeling very expensive and consistent. Some aerial shots even reminded me of the intro to Kubrick's 'The Shining' in which a camera hauntingly looms over the Torrance car.

I enjoyed this film, and it offers a lot of quality effects, passion, and entertainment to be had. Not to mention it manages to leave us with an important, optimistic look towards the future relationship between the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the non-indigenous (English) peoples of Canada, a message that needs to be in the minds of every Canadian today and so forth.

If you get the chance to see this film, do see it, and pay for a ticket if you have the option, because there's no telling how much box office success a film like this will attain, and it deserves more than it may very well get.

7/10