Dark Blood (2012)

Dealing with nuclear testing and its long-lasting deadly effects, the story portrays Boy, a young widower living in the desert on a nuclear testing site. Living as a hermit,he waits for the... See full summary »

Director:

George Sluizer

Writer:

Jim Barton

Stars:

River Phoenix, Jonathan Pryce, Judy Davis

Cast

Credited cast:
River Phoenix	...	Boy
Jonathan Pryce	...	Harry Fisher
Judy Davis	...	Buffy
Rhonda Aldrich
T. Dan Hopkins	...	Joe Tapesi
Karen Black	...	Motel Woman
John Trudell	...	Indian #2
Julius Drum
Rodney A. Grant	...	Indian #3
George Aguilar	...	Indian #4
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lorne Miller	...	Mechanic / Motel Woman's Son

Storyline

Dealing with nuclear testing and its long-lasting deadly effects, the story portrays Boy, a young widower living in the desert on a nuclear testing site. Living as a hermit,he waits for the end of the world carving Kachina dolls that he believes have magical powers. While traveling on a "second" honeymoon across the Arizona desert,the car of a Hollywood jet-set couple breaks down. They are rescued by Boy, who holds them prisoners because he desires the woman and wants to create a better world with her.

---

Plot Keywords:

nuclear testing | neo western

---

Genres:

Thriller

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA UK Netherlands

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 2013 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fine Line Features, Scala Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In May 2012 Director George Sluizer decided to crowd-fund his post-production to finish 'Dark Blood' trough www.cinecrowd.nl.

---

Quotes

Boy: Magic's just a question of focusing the will. You don't get what you want because you're lucky. You get it because you will it.

---

Connections

Referenced in Midnight Movie Review: George Sluizer on River Phoenix and Dark Blood (2012)

User Reviews

A fascinating moving film and a farewell to a great acting talent

A tragic ending to a brilliant career: That's the first thing you probably heard when you hear the name River Phoenix. Dark Blood is a film as most of you know, and have heard by now, the last film River Phoenix was filming at the time of his death.

Dark Blood is a rare gem, you will not see too many films made like this in this day and age. The great George Sluizer has done a fabulous job in finishing a film that to most people never looked like it was going to get finished, Utah was a great place to shoot this film the scenery is one of a kind, thanks very much to the wonderful Edward Lachman who has captured the essence of the Utah desert. It's a bit hard to give the film Dark Blood a specific genre, because of the rewrites and the re-editing of the story. It has slightly made it a different film because of those touch ups.

If you did not know much about the circumstances behind Dark Blood and you saw the film for the first time you could very well think it was a complete picture. The only scenes missing are about half a dozen interior scenes, after watching the film back and paying close attention to the directors narration of the missing scenes, besides 1 or 2 of the interior scenes that are missing that really have some real importance to the film more so than the other interior scenes the film seems to flow by quite fine. All the major scenes looked to have being filmed here, but like i mentioned maybe 1 or 2 of the interior scenes that play a real importance to the films story line are incomplete or missing. But the great George Sluizer really makes sure you have a very clear understanding of the films missing scenes, which are might i add, are scattered throughout the film.

Is this River Phoenix's best role? probably not, but it is definitely in River's top 5 films, there are glimpses in this film of greatness and what could have being, and what the film community is surely going to miss out on. River has such unique charisma and a lot of maturity for a young 23 year old in a role that could have being played different in so many ways. Jonathan Pryce (Harry) and Judy Davis (Buffy) both fantastic actors in their own right, just show how good they are and both bring plenty of experience and great energy to their roles.

I give the film Dark Blood 8/10. The film has a running time of 86 minutes. Which is pretty much the length of a normal movie these days. Also Karen Black plays a great little cameo at the start of the film which needs to be applauded also.

On a final note if your a fan of River Phoenix or the director George Suizer or a fan of any of the cast and crew of the film Dark Blood, i strongly recommend you look out for festival appearances that Dark Blood maybe showing at, it has played at 3 major film festivals so far and with many more to come.

Thankyou for Reading my Review, i hoped you enjoyed it and i look forward to reading some feedback.

THOMAS PURCELL