Blood River

After The Devil's Chair, one could be forgiven for not wanting to bother with an Adam Mason film ever again. That wouldn't be the wisest course though, as Blood River is actually quite good. The seductively simple premise follows young couple Clark and Summer, heading to see her parents and announce her pregnancy. After a near fatal crash they land up in the deserted town of Blood River, wherein they make the acquaintance of chain smoking thoughtful hippie type Joseph. Here the fun begins, and I won't go too much into it but things pan out a little differently to how you might think. Now, with this kind of set-up, a film needs good actors and here the film shines. Ian Duncan is pretty handy as the at first cool but increasingly edgy Clark, a yuppie with a bit of a tweak to him while Tess Panzer is equally effective as the bright, pleasant and outgoing Summer. Andrew Howard really sets the film on fire as Joseph though, affability chased by shades of aggression, pulsing menace while drawling wisdom like a latter day seer. Once the three of them get down to interaction things never let up and they have mostly great chemistry, sparking off each other with tension steadily mounting. It's a slow burner with most of the excitement in the last half hour, but the film sets up its foundations well enough that things are fairly nerve rattling. The last half hour is where the film slips up though; it's hard to explain why without spoilers but basically, an important plot point is handled with a level of ambiguity that works against it. I'm all for ambiguity and films letting the audience figure things out for themselves, but here the shading of the point leaves the film morally at sea. Perhaps that was the intention, it certainly had me pondering it afterwards which is rarely a bad thing, but on the other hand I think this is a case where a more direct approach would have worked better. The film also comes into the problem at the end that (like The Devil's Chair), it really isn't as grisly as it should be. Sure there are a couple of good nasty scenes and things are pretty intense, but it misses a chance to really make an impact. Another complaint, though a smaller one is that at the beginning at least the film suffers from too much editing. The setting is wonderful and the cinematography sharp, so the short shot lengths are quite an irritation, they just don't do the location justice. Fortunately this either clears up or the drama covers it because I stopped noticing it after a while and an interesting atmosphere of hot, bleak isolation sets in. One last issue I had is that during some of the bigger dramatic moments the writing falters. Lines that seem a bit out of place or hammy, it brought me out of the film. Still, this is a good romp while it lasts, with Joseph standing out as a pretty fine effort to write an iconic character, some decent drama and a few gnarly scenes. It may lack a little in lasting punch and it has some niggling flaws, but I was pretty entertained throughout. Recommended if it seems like your sort of thing

Adam Mason has quickly become one of our favorite directors at The Liberal Dead. He has an uncanny ability to take next to no budget, and create something that will blow your mind. "Blood River" is his best film to date, and a true cinematic masterpiece. The story follows Summer(Tess Panzer) and Clark(Ian Duncan) as they travel across the desert to tell Summer's parents that she is pregnant. A car crash that follows what I would say is the most interesting piece of film ever dedicated to a tire blow out, leaves them stranded. The film is set in 1969, so it's not quite as easy as just pulling out their iPhone and calling AAA. Clark, and Summer head out on foot to the nearest town, "Blood River". As the couple arrive, not only is there a cow carcass laying at the entrance to the town to greet them, but there are various skeletal remains scattered across the grounds, and nothing much else. It's completely abandoned. Soon, we're introduced to Joseph(Andrew Howard), who is seen from the distance, appearing out of nowhere. It's made immediately obvious that there's something not right about Joe, but they are so desperate for help at this point, that they're willing to overlook his quirks. Leaving Summer behind, Joseph, and Clark head off into the desert, in an attempt to salvage gas from the crashed car, and siphon it into Joseph's car. This is basically the top of the coaster. It was great up until this point, and the ride just gets better from here.

The cinematography in this film is nothing short of amazing. Ingenious camera angles, coupled with a gorgeous backdrop, and some stunning helicopter angles makes this Mason's most visually appealing movie to date. I really felt, from start to finish that this film should have gotten a wide theatrical release. Mason had a budget of $250,000 to finish this film in a time span of 18 days, so the end result is even more stunning.

"Blood River" isn't a gorefest, but I think it will still appeal to that demographic. It's raw, gritty, and psychologically brutal. Another thing that made me happy was the fact that it doesn't spoon feed it's plot to the viewer. It definitely knows the message it wants to portray, but it leaves a lot of it up to the viewer to decipher. It's rare that a filmmaker gives the audience this kind of credit, instead of insulting our intelligence with flash cut scenes to make sure we got the subtlety. "Blood River" is not like this, it's intelligent at it's core, and it assumes that those watching it are as well.

The acting is superb across the board, but Andrew Howard in particular puts in a powerhouse performance. He's done an amazing job in past films with Mason, but this performance alone put's him at the top of my list for genre favorites. From the moment that he is introduced, until the last frame, Howard is cool as hell.

The atmosphere created is astonishing. It's gritty, and dirty, but manages to be breathtakingly beautiful at the same time. The setting is on a far grander scale than Mason's previous work, spanning across what seems to be a vast desert wasteland, but it still manages to keep a strong level of isolation.

"Blood River" is not an easy film to slap a label on. While it will definitely appeal to fans of the horror genre, fans of really solid dramatic, psychological thrillers will be in for a treat as well. It blends genres seamlessly, and is most definitely Mason's most marketable film to date. For fans of His previous work, such as "Broken" and "The Devil's Chair", don't worry, this movie was made for you as well. It's not a cookie-cutter thriller, and it demands the audiences attention. You're not going to be spoon-fed anything, you're going to have to turn your brain on for this one.

The film is currently available in Germany, has just been listed for pre-order in the UK, and if I'm not mistaken, there will be an announcement shortly about Canadian distribution as well. Unfortunately, there is currently no details available for a US release date for the flick, so if you have some pull at a studio, watch this flick, love it, and make Mason a big fat offer for distribution, you won't regret it.

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Andrew Howard steals the show and I would never have guessed he is Welsh as he gives the Texan accent a new swirl and definitive performance par excellence.

Amazing photography, lush landscapes from the initial sweeping road quadcopter zoom to the abandoned hell town of Blood River, acting is great all round and the music and atmosphere is superb. Watch it and weep and maybe watch it twice as there is a lot in this that you won't take in first time round for sure!

A movie with depth and meaning that might be lost on some and a moral lesson for society and pretty current with what is happening all over the world to the little children!

Great movie; ranks alongside Dust Devil as my favourite desert scene horor mystery movie!

Blood River (2009)

This movie as been on my watch list for so long.

This movie is about Clark and Summer, a married couple and Summer is newly-pregnant, and Clark is worried that her father will be critical of him.

Along the way, their car has a blowout and Clark is sure that he put spare in the boot of the car.

It's start of really intruding but the next 45 of minutes, were very slow burner, with nothing much happens and talking to one and other,

When it getting really boring, I was thinking to turn it off ,after that but I am clad I didn't!

The last half hour, were it's really pick up again and more things start to happen, You think this movie is going one way but they really clever with as total throw you off what really happening.

Really good turn in the story, as I didn't not see it coming at all, it kind of makes sense it ending.

The acting was really good from the whole cast in this movie.

5.9 out of 10

Blood River is one of the better Indy films I've seen in a long time. The lead actor is exceptional and the rest of the small cast deliver fine and engrossing performances, the look of this film is top draw and the location was right on the money, a spooky ghost town. The story had me memorized and on the edge of my seat. The transformation of the victims were totally engrossing and the climax was horrifying. The style was straight forward and simple, which adds to it's classy film making. All the tension built just fine to a climatic ending. After leaving the the theater, I found myself thinking about some of the bad things I've done in my life and even called a friend to apologize about the thing I did, which he wasn't aware of. It made me search my soul and think a lot about being a better man. Rod Serling would be proud.