The Blood Lands

Well , I thought I would give this film a chance as its a brit flick and I am British.

You can tell straight away that the locations are not in Scotland.

So anyway I waited and waited for the film to unfold and hope that some kind of story would unravel.

Instead I just lost 70 odd minutes of my life that I will never get back.

My advice is give this film a miss.

Im only writing more lines to finish the ten lines needed to post.

The film only deserves my review so maybe I can save others the time I wasted watching it.

Except for the ending this is pretty much a well-made by-the-book home invasion horror tale. It looked good and the performances sold it. I was annoyed early on by the main characters... they're just the sort of rich city folk who move out to the country because it's 'charming' and proceed to ruin everything for the locals. The husband in particular seems like a self-centered jerk. Then bad stuff starts happening to them... and, though I never really found myself caring what happens to them, I did find myself rooting for the woman to at least make a good show of defending herself against the anonymous threat.

The real clincher is going to be how viewers take the ending. It's what sets the movie apart, it's the most interesting element... but it's also likely to rub many 'horror fans' the wrong way. For me it made sense and lifted the entirety of the movie to a higher level than if it had just... gone where I thought it was going.

It's Sarah and Ed's first night in their new home in the Scottish countryside. Coming from the City they had a lot of money to invest in a property that the people from the surrounding area could not afford themselves.

It's a beautiful setting and the movie portrays an air of the supernatural but that's a red herring. It's actually a home invasion type movie.

The two main characters are absolutely awful from the start. Sarah is the most irritating character I think I have ever come across! The relationship between Sarah and Ed doesn't feel believable at all, there's no chemistry, no closeness that you would expect to see in a couple moving into a new home. Sarah is a nagging, selfish and irritating woman, if I was Ed I would have let her move to Scotland by herself.

As they go to bed on their first night Sarah is unnerved and hears noises. She pesters poor Ed to death and ends up outside where they find a random pig. After going back in the house Sarah hears yet more noises and again nags Ed to death to go investigate. The poor man does and doesn't come back. So then she goes looking for him.

What follows is one of the most intense cat and mouse games ever. It's such as shame that the two main characters are so badly written because the baddies and the stalking going on is/are brilliant. I couldn't bear to watch half the time.

I liked the ending, you couldn't have predicted it.

White Settlers or The Blood Lands (I personally think the second title is more appropriate) is really a case of too much, too soon.

The atmosphere of isolation and creepiness set up so beautifully early on in this film is extinguished prematurely. Its a case of too much, too soon, with restraint inexplicably giving way to what can best to described as "impatient", rather clumsy storytelling.

Its a shame too, as this title had considerable potential.The characterization is good, the overall premise is sound, the cinematography is excellent and the lead actors do a fine job. Five out of ten from me.

It's a good watch, I get the annoyance of many of the Scottish reviewers, but at the end of the day it's a film, designed to shocj and entertain.

InitilalIits nice and jolly, it's fun, then comes the switch. It's that switch that kicks the film into life, and is ultimately the high point of the film. As the terror switch is flicked the film is tense, gripping and intensely watchable, it's very realistic. Sadly as it develops past that it loses its way a little, becoming a little pedestrian, which is a shame.

The acting is very good, the production values are strong. It's a good film, it just falls flat after a high peak.