Driven

WRITTEN IN BLOOD (original title DRIVEN) is an extremely cheap British horror effort of the late 1990s that looks like it was shot on video. It tells a meandering tale about a big time horror author who's surrounded by murders which happen just like in his book. The police suspect him, but is there a more sinister force responsible?

This is one of those films which seems to have been forgotten immediately upon release and it's easy to see why. WRITTEN IN BLOOD is an extremely cheap and derivative movie, made by the unknown Dandelion Films. As an independent production it's far too cheap to portray any of the various set-pieces convincingly so what we're left with is a pantomime populated by dodgy actors. If you're looking for horror content then you won't find much here, with a few poorly-shot murders attempting to fulfil the horror quota.

Interestingly, IMDb doesn't list a scriptwriter for the film, so perhaps the story was made up as they went along. Perhaps the only thing this film has going for it are appearances from a number of faces familiar from British TV. Patrick Robinson (CASUALTY's Ash) is here as a murder victim, as is Gary Beadle (EASTENDERS) as a detective. Sharon Small later found TV success in MISTRESSES, and Paul Copley has been in about a million things. Francis Magee hams it up a treat as the villain of the piece, but is nowadays known for his appearances in the likes of GAME OF THRONES, and of course there's a minor role for Pinhead himself, Doug Bradley. None of these cast members are reasons to watch, of course.