The costume design and set decoration is fine. I like the narrative concept. 'Blood moon' has every necessary element to give it the appearance of an Old West film. What it doesn't have is authenticity. There's a difference between a movie being set in a location and a movie transporting us there. It seems like every line of dialogue, and every scene - an impromptu funeral, a tracker employing their skills - feels terribly staged, as though the filmmakers were working from a checklist of western or horror film tropes. It's not exactly easy to engage with.
Effects including blood and gore, and the featured creatures, are surely limited by budget constraints; they're not the worst I've ever seen, but they're not terribly convincing, either. So it is with the acting: I don't have specific reason to doubt anyone in the cast, but all involved are mostly either chewing scenery or performing with utmost perfunctoriness, just doing their job. I can hardly cast any aspersions on the assembled actors when the material they're working with is just as dispassionate and detached. Occasionally there will come a moment that does actually surprise me, but they are very few and far between.
Mechanical and disinterested as the movie is, there are no real thrills, scares, or otherwise excitement to be had. It's entertaining, but only by way of being a passively adequate diversion. It's not bad, but it's not particularly good, either. You could do a lot worse, in any case, and I suppose it's the perfect movie to put on if you want to "watch" something without a real need to be invested in it. Yet at that point, why bother at all? 'Blood moon' is essentially a movie by numbers, and it's about as cursory as a western or horror film can get. Take that as you will.
