Dry Blood

Had potential to be a really good movie but it was really slow and the acting had me cringe. I had stopped it just before it was over, couldn't even bring myself to finish it.

I have to give credit to small time filmmakers who despite a low budget go out on a wire and bring their story to life.

Acting = 4 (some good, some mediocre) Musical score = 4 (not bad for original music, great for vintage song) Editing = 6 (no major glitches) Cinematograph = 6 Script = 7 (a bit weak in places but still believable) Visual effects = 8.9 (yikes! Very realistic Storyline = 9 (kept me guessing and didn't disappoint)

All in all, I mildly recommend this movie. Some content is a little difficult to watch, but adds to the horror of the situation.

Trying to quit a drug habit, a man goes up to a friends' mountain cabin to help quit, but when his hallucinations and visions begin to mess with his mind he becomes unable to distinguish fantasy from reality and turns to increasingly desperate maneuvers to stop them from happening.

This one wasn't too bad but was pretty flawed. Among the bright spots here is the central premise providing an opportunity for plenty of fun. The idea of being at the cabin and attempting to come clean and still being so unsure of himself that the distorted view of the world causes supernatural visions and images he can't control serves as a fine starting point. Those haunting scenes where the ghosts appear around the cabin are quite creepy, and the hallucinogenic battle with the deranged cop come off nicely overall as there's some brutal action featured here. The finale, which shows the reveal of the ghosts and how they come to be as well as the twist about what's already happened gives this a dark twist on top of a frenzied series of action scenes that are quite fun seeing the crazed side come out. Providing this with some great gore as well, these here are the film's positive elements. There were some flaws featured here. The main problem with this one is the agonizingly slow build in the first half which really takes a lot of energy from the film. As this goes through the tricks and tribulations of his getting to the cabin, going for supplies and settling in at the house, the pacing to this one feels rather dragged out here to stretch out an unsuitable feature-length premise to an appropriate running time as we focus on him solely for long stretches of this segment. Most of this isn't interesting as it comes off heavily favored in that regard, and while the few interactions with the locals including the suspicious police officer do manage to interject some activity into the film they tend to fall flat after a while due to the repetitive nature of many of these scenes being here to pad out the running length. The other main issue here is the general lack of horror activity featured here. The haunting scenes with the ghosts running around the cabin that only he can see happen so frequently that they rarely generate any kind of shock when they happen since they come out of nowhere in a story that forgets to include any kind of mention about them. Even the other intended scenes trying to show he's losing grip with reality have no impact because they're not that scary in concept or execution, and with so much of these scenes given no sense of urgency or immediacy as her blank-faced reaction to his genuine freakouts manage to render most of these scenes as if they're not intended to scare. The last problematic issue is the finale, where it repeats everything to the point where it's hard to tell what it meant or what was supposed to be the purpose of it all, making for the film's lowered qualities.

Rated R: Graphic Language, drug use and Graphic Violence.

Listen, I've seen A LOT of terrible movies in my 29 years of life, but this one is right up there with the worst of them. It's a B movie at best, the acting is absolutely atrocious, the writing is a joke...I feel like Ashton Kutcher is about to pop out from somewhere and tell me that I've been Punk'd. I'm not going to bother going into the details of the movie beyond the fact that it's impossibky to follow, it makes zero sense, and it's utterly incompetent. I haven't written a review in about 8 years but I felt like I had to...Don't waste your time.

My appreciation for horror is high and my appreciation for murder mysteries, mystery and thriller are my favourite genres (it's debatable as to whether animation is a genre but that would count too) is even higher. Really was quite fascinated for the concept for 'Dry Blood' and liked the advertising (cool and creepy, that kind of advertising does make one want to see anything). Was genuinely hoping that it would not be a waste of potential.

'Dry Blood' sadly was that and it does frustrate me when any film does little to nothing with its promise. It does have its moments and merits and it is not that bad, or at least to me it wasn't, but the things that are wrong with it are a lot and they are big and outweigh the good, also summed up well already. Which prevents 'Dry Blood' from being a good film, and most of the time from personal view it was barely watchable which is such a shame.

For a film not high in budget, 'Dry Blood' doesn't look too bad. Some nice atmospheric shots, that are not limited in use of techniques, and the scenery also has atmosphere. The music is suitably spooky without being too loud or spelling out what's happening or what the characters are thinking too obviously.

Kelton Jones gives it his all and does it without going over-the-top.

Other than him though the acting is awful and a bad mix of irritating and phoned in, a primary example being the leading lady who looks as though she didn't want to be there and it was quite depressing to watch. Didn't care for any of the characters, that either bored me, annoyed me or both. The script constantly sounds awkward to total gibberish and was in serious need of more depth and tightness.

The story takes far too long to get going and even when there is a glimpse of more happening the momentum is still dull. The flashbacks and hallucinations initially seemed interesting on paper but ended up working against it rather than making it interesting, actually felt that they confused the story which became increasingly muddled until it leaves one quite lost.

In summation, left me intrigued on paper but didn't do it for me. 4/10