Blood - Les liens du sang

Terribly ordinary, the story follows exactly the paths you would expect from such a premise, without the slightest surprise. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem if the film had a significantly shorter running time – the craftsmanship is proficient and the performances are good. But to ask the viewer for two hours of their time, without any surprise, and without making it particularly horrifying, I simply can't appreciate it. (04/02/2023)

Vampire baby borefest. Brad Anderson is usually a whiz and his movies are usually entertaining and smart (The Call, Fractured, Stonehearst Asylum). This was supposed to be the kick-off to the vampire season that's been rolling in on us this year, but it's so woefully dull and uninteresting that I can't even believe Anderson made it. A young boy is bitten by an infected dog and becomes a vampire, but instead of murdering half the town, his mother feeds him blood in a bag. Meh. In terms of craftsmanship, it’s fine, so at least it's not underfunded dreck. The actors do their thing too, though I didn’t like the little boy and I'm not too fond of Monaghan either. But the plot is too safe, formulaic, without surprises and very predictable. There aren’t any significant genre thrills here either, let alone gore or an action packed finale. There is no suspense or atmosphere, the whole thing is so bland. It's more of a family drama with light vampire elements and I didn’t enjoy it at all. 4/10. (06/02/2023)

Let's be honest, this wasn't a horror, but I didn't care because it worked great as a mysterious drama. I first noticed Michelle Monaghan years ago in the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. As far as I'm concerned, time hasn't treated her badly at all. The cute little curly rascal annoyed me even before his hairy friend returned, but I loved Skylar Morgan Jones as his sister. However, the sprinter and notorious escape artist Helen completely won me over and made me laugh despite all the tragedy. With horror films, I always prepare myself for disappointment in advance. It didn't happen in this case, but as I already explained, I didn't even think of this as a horror. I appreciate the creators putting together a fairly decent story with a good atmosphere, without stupid jump scares. Instead, they focused more on psychological aspects. So, yeah, it was a pleasant surprise. / Lesson learned: Beware of ungrateful dying people! (07/04/2023)