Hemoglobin (1997)
"Bleeders" (original title)

A man travels to an island with his girlfriend in search of his relatives but he finds maybe more than what he wanted to know.

Director:

Peter Svatek

Writers:

Charles Adair, Dan O'Bannon,

Stars:

Gillian Ferrabee, Pascal Gruselle, Roy Dupuis

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gillian Ferrabee	...	Eva Van Daam / Her Twin Brother / John's Twin Sister
Pascal Gruselle	...	Vermeer
Roy Dupuis	...	John Strauss
Kristin Lehman	...	Kathleen Strauss
John Harold Cail	...	Ferryman
Joanna Noyes	...	Byrde Gordon
Felicia Shulman	...	Yolanda
Janine Theriault	...	Alice Gordon
Michelle Brunet	...	Ramona
David Deveau	...	Ben
Spencer Evans	...	Squeakie
Rutger Hauer	...	Dr. Marlowe
Carmen Ferland	...	Mrs. Shea (as Carmen Ferlan)
Leni Parker	...	Baby Laura
Lisa Bronwyn Moore	...	Toot (as Lisa Bronwyn-Moore)

Storyline

A man with an unknown disease travels to an island with his girlfriend where his relatives once lived, hoping to find a cure to his illness. While it was thought that his relatives were all dead he actually finds them to be living underground. However because they have been inbreeding for all these years they don't look right, plus they have developed a pretty bad eating habit. Will he chose his girlfriend or his people?

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Plot Keywords:

island | inbreeding | underground | hermaphrodite | redhead | 

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Taglines:

It's in the blood

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some strong sexuality and violence

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 July 1997 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Descendant

Filming Locations:

Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 8,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fries/Schultz Film Group, Kingsborough Greenlight Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the prologue, the "King of Holland" is mentioned in relation to the year 1652. Holland was part of the Dutch Republic from 1581 through 1795, and had no king.

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Quotes

Kathleen Strauss: You know, for a doctor, you really are not very helpful.
Dr. Marlowe: Who says I'm a good doctor?

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Connections

Version of Lurking Fear (1994)

User Reviews

Interesting idea but poorly executed

'Bleeders' is known as 'Hemoglobin' in the UK which I will proceed to refer to this films as.

At the beginning of a film a young couple, Kathleen (played by the gorgeous Kristin Lehmann) and John Strauss (Roy Dupuis) arrive by boat on an island. Shortly after docking John has a kind of seizure and is quickly taken across the island to Dr. Marlowe (the legendary Rutger Hauer). It is here that we learn that John is suffering from some sort of blood disorder and has come to this island in hope of tracing his family and finding a possible cure.

At the same time, while excavating a graveyard to move the bodies due to the highly annoying local business woman using poor quality wood in her coffins it starts to become apparent that there are a number of bodies missing from the coffins.

'Hemoglobin' deals with themes rarely tackled by films in any genre. We have genetic mutations caused by incestuous relationships and also hermaphrodites. Despite only having occasional nudity, there is a strong sexual context to the film, though that seems there more to shock than to titillate.

People tend to slate the acting from this film, but I personally see no problem with it. The problem with the film in my opinion is to do with the extreme lack of useful dialogue and the overall execution of the idea. 'Hemoglobin' is a slow movie, therefore it's quite easy to lose interest, but at the same time when an event happens in the film that is of importance it is quick and often dealt with in a short amount of time. So to fully understand some of what is going on in the movie you really need to pay attention.

The ending was also somewhat of a disappointment and also feeled tacked on. There are so many questions left by the ending that one begins to wonder whether it was worth watching to begin with. Unless perhaps a sequel was planned but due to the negative reactions to the film was scrapped I can't actually see how the ending could have happened the way it did. But despite this there are some rather dramatic parts in the ending, you just need to sift through the rubbish.

The monster costumes are also a bad-point. Some of them look like they were made out of plasticine, and while they are fairly original looking it doesn't detract from the stupidity of how they look and move. But at least they didn't go for CGI, and other than the costumes there are some good make-up effects in 'Hemoglobin' that are actually quite praise worthy.

It's a slow moving movie that many people will find too dull to watch. I personally give it 4/10 and I'd say this film is for serious horror fans who are looking for something different.