The title, 'Blood Vessel' is a pun. One, the film is set on a ship, and two, on board are monsters that like their drinks served fresh from the jugular. Unfortunately, this is the smartest thing about this cheesy horror flick, which could be described as the Australian equivalent of Ghost Ship meets Evil Dead.
The film begins with seven people on a boat. How did they get there? Don't know. Did I mention this was WWII? Awaiting rescue, and embracing death, the band come across a Nazi ship and see this as an opportunity to trade up. Clambering aboard, they discover the original crew have mysteriously vanished. What ensues is a talk-fest, broken up with short scenes of exploration and discovery, for over half of the film's run-time. To say this is a slow-burn would be an understatement. The major addendum with this is our merry band...
Robert Taylor joins us for no longer than a minute as the titular captain. I hope it was worth it, mate. Next is Sinclair (Nathan Phillips), a dinkum Aussie bloke, who has suffered as a POW the last three years, with a high tolerance for pain and genuine leadership skills. Alex (Alex Cooke) is the Russian sniper, who is as suave as he is tough, swallowing back pain like it's a shot of tequila. Jackson (Christopher Kirby) is a former engineer, forced to enlist as a cook because the color of his skin, who has had a hard time trying to be taken seriously by his superiors. And that ladies and gentleman, rounds out the only likable members of the crew.
The remaining half of the characters are unlikable. The fact we spend so much time with them, does not help matters. Prescott (Alyssa Sutherland) is a nurse with a dark past, who is a bit too formal and polite for my tastes, whilst hypocritically harboring biases against others. Bigelow (Mark Diaco) is arrogant and obnoxious, with a strong desire to live, no matter the cost. Diaco's occasional fake American accent was passable, but half of the time he sounded Australian. Then there's Faraday (John Lloyd Fillingham), an antiquities dealer and code-breaker, with a penchant for cowardice and lying.
The audience's ability to like a character is usually traced back to how the film treats death. In the case of Blood Vessel, there is usually no empathy at all. In fact, often death is just followed by a joke. The humor isn't awful, nor is the dialogue cringe-inducing, but it sure is cheesy, and contains enough cliched one-liners, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been penned by Skip Woods. This silliness would be almost charming, if the film didn't take itself so seriously.
As the group continue to explore the ship, tension builds, as issues of trust, rank and racism take their toll. None of these themes however are given the attention they deserve. Not long into the narrative, the band come across a little girl (Ruby Isobel Hall), alongside a collection of artefacts. These in particular were well crafted by the film's design department. When the group finally realize what happened to the Nazis, chances are, they'll wish they never left their little dinghy.
The movie is potentially at its best when it really leans into its stylistic design. In one scene, the lens is coated by the blood of a monster. In another, the screen changes color as evil is unleashed. True, both have been done before in other, more competent horror flicks (Dog Soldiers, Dead Birds, etc), but Blood Vessel needed to do more to separate it from similarly innumerable C-grade schlock. Other times, the movie is incredibly predictable, recreating scenes from other movies. There is one moment that will have you reminiscing of James Cameron's Aliens.
Perhaps Blood Vessel was designed as a homage to '80s horror. If so, it ought to have reveled more in the violence; this is a movie that should have had a Tarantino level of gore; to really embrace a sensationalistic aesthetic. It could have equally been a homage to classic movie monsters, and if so, a greater level of subtlety was required. This is one of the issues I have with the movie; there seems to be so many inspirations that are literally pulling the feature in all directions, and yet it never seems to really embrace any one of them. As for the creature designs, one of them, literally, looks like a combination of a pig and a fan-boy, cosplaying his favorite Buffy antagonist. Despite the almost laughable design choices, again, the film needed to lean into this goofiness and provide more screen time for the monsters, rather than instead being so somber.
Creature lore is briefly explored for the audience's benefit, while the diegetic sounds are nothing to rave home about. There is a score, but to be honest; I didn't notice it until over an hour in, which either means it was innocuous, or my brain tuned it out for safety reasons. The combination of violins and drums does add an almost gothic tone to the movie, increasing the sense of mystery.
Moreover, the way the film was framed works against the narrative at times, with details, that may be considered pivotal or interesting, partially out of sight or out of focus. Other times, something happens off screen that we are not made aware of. If this were done to hide budgetary constraints, it is acceptable, though it often seems to have been added to cheaply raise tension, which is unsatisfactory.
At the end of the day, Blood Vessel is a sponge, that has absorbed plenty of inspiration from elsewhere, but has not appropriately learned from any of it. The film's tone is all over the place. Unable to strike a balance between dead serious and silly, this is a movie that really needed more humor and insanity to truly stand out. Instead, it is largely forgettable, because we've seen this too many times before.
The film begins with seven people on a boat. How did they get there? Don't know. Did I mention this was WWII? Awaiting rescue, and embracing death, the band come across a Nazi ship and see this as an opportunity to trade up. Clambering aboard, they discover the original crew have mysteriously vanished. What ensues is a talk-fest, broken up with short scenes of exploration and discovery, for over half of the film's run-time. To say this is a slow-burn would be an understatement. The major addendum with this is our merry band...
Robert Taylor joins us for no longer than a minute as the titular captain. I hope it was worth it, mate. Next is Sinclair (Nathan Phillips), a dinkum Aussie bloke, who has suffered as a POW the last three years, with a high tolerance for pain and genuine leadership skills. Alex (Alex Cooke) is the Russian sniper, who is as suave as he is tough, swallowing back pain like it's a shot of tequila. Jackson (Christopher Kirby) is a former engineer, forced to enlist as a cook because the color of his skin, who has had a hard time trying to be taken seriously by his superiors. And that ladies and gentleman, rounds out the only likable members of the crew.
The remaining half of the characters are unlikable. The fact we spend so much time with them, does not help matters. Prescott (Alyssa Sutherland) is a nurse with a dark past, who is a bit too formal and polite for my tastes, whilst hypocritically harboring biases against others. Bigelow (Mark Diaco) is arrogant and obnoxious, with a strong desire to live, no matter the cost. Diaco's occasional fake American accent was passable, but half of the time he sounded Australian. Then there's Faraday (John Lloyd Fillingham), an antiquities dealer and code-breaker, with a penchant for cowardice and lying.
The audience's ability to like a character is usually traced back to how the film treats death. In the case of Blood Vessel, there is usually no empathy at all. In fact, often death is just followed by a joke. The humor isn't awful, nor is the dialogue cringe-inducing, but it sure is cheesy, and contains enough cliched one-liners, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been penned by Skip Woods. This silliness would be almost charming, if the film didn't take itself so seriously.
As the group continue to explore the ship, tension builds, as issues of trust, rank and racism take their toll. None of these themes however are given the attention they deserve. Not long into the narrative, the band come across a little girl (Ruby Isobel Hall), alongside a collection of artefacts. These in particular were well crafted by the film's design department. When the group finally realize what happened to the Nazis, chances are, they'll wish they never left their little dinghy.
The movie is potentially at its best when it really leans into its stylistic design. In one scene, the lens is coated by the blood of a monster. In another, the screen changes color as evil is unleashed. True, both have been done before in other, more competent horror flicks (Dog Soldiers, Dead Birds, etc), but Blood Vessel needed to do more to separate it from similarly innumerable C-grade schlock. Other times, the movie is incredibly predictable, recreating scenes from other movies. There is one moment that will have you reminiscing of James Cameron's Aliens.
Perhaps Blood Vessel was designed as a homage to '80s horror. If so, it ought to have reveled more in the violence; this is a movie that should have had a Tarantino level of gore; to really embrace a sensationalistic aesthetic. It could have equally been a homage to classic movie monsters, and if so, a greater level of subtlety was required. This is one of the issues I have with the movie; there seems to be so many inspirations that are literally pulling the feature in all directions, and yet it never seems to really embrace any one of them. As for the creature designs, one of them, literally, looks like a combination of a pig and a fan-boy, cosplaying his favorite Buffy antagonist. Despite the almost laughable design choices, again, the film needed to lean into this goofiness and provide more screen time for the monsters, rather than instead being so somber.
Creature lore is briefly explored for the audience's benefit, while the diegetic sounds are nothing to rave home about. There is a score, but to be honest; I didn't notice it until over an hour in, which either means it was innocuous, or my brain tuned it out for safety reasons. The combination of violins and drums does add an almost gothic tone to the movie, increasing the sense of mystery.
Moreover, the way the film was framed works against the narrative at times, with details, that may be considered pivotal or interesting, partially out of sight or out of focus. Other times, something happens off screen that we are not made aware of. If this were done to hide budgetary constraints, it is acceptable, though it often seems to have been added to cheaply raise tension, which is unsatisfactory.
At the end of the day, Blood Vessel is a sponge, that has absorbed plenty of inspiration from elsewhere, but has not appropriately learned from any of it. The film's tone is all over the place. Unable to strike a balance between dead serious and silly, this is a movie that really needed more humor and insanity to truly stand out. Instead, it is largely forgettable, because we've seen this too many times before.