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A family moves
to the country after inheriting a big
house despite the fact that the children in the family
are strongly against it. They soon start hearing
horrible stories about their house from the villagers,
but figure that they're just a bit superstitious
since they're small town folk. However, they're about
to find out that it's not all superstition...
Everyone's been raving about this Portuguese horror
flick and since it's due for a US DVD release from
Tartan, I figured that it was time to check it out.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be another one of
those movies that I was right to keep hidden in my
DVD shelf for a while. While Bad Blood has a lot of
potential, I don't even want to think about how poor
other Portuguese films must be for Portuguese people
to call this "the best Portuguese film ever" and "a
break-through in Portuguese film industry".
Why? Because Bad Blood is extremely boring. It's not
just a slow-burner, it's like one of those gag-candles
that you used to get on your birthday cake as a kid
that you can't blow out. And when you've finally
managed to put them out, the cake turned out to be
a disappointment anyway. That's just what Bad Blood
is, a disappointment. It's got a generic storyline
(think The Messengers but without the horror) and a
terrible pace to go with it. Seriously, how can a
movie with exorcisms, possessions, séances and a huge
haunted house be so eventless?
Basically nothing happens for the first 85 minutes or
so, it's all just dialogue. I think that they were
trying to build up tension and atmosphere but were
unable to do so, making this a very dull experience
rather than a suspenseful one. Furthermore, the
dialogues are pretty basic, and while the acting is
decent, the characters are all stereotypes. In some
way they also managed to build up a bunch of questions
to keep you interested in the thin plot, which of
none were answered in the end.
Speaking of the ending, the last five minutes which
the movie was leading up to had the potential to be
somewhat decent, but instead felt rushed. I'm not
really sure what the whole point of the movie was to
be honest with you. It's a haunted house movie without
any ghosts, it's an exorcism movie without a proper
exorcism and it's a horror movie without any horror.
So what have we really got here? You tell me. It's
a watchable movie due to the decent directing, okay
performances and the somewhat interesting subplots to
which we never get any answers. But in the end,
I don't know why this movie has been so praised, it's
a generic ghost movie without any ghosts, it just
doesn't add up to me.
Nothing here.
This was one of the movie's strengths. Terrific score,
if a bit underused. Slick strings and creepy sounds
which were underutilized.
A horror movie without any real horror or mystery in
it, why this movie has gotten so many positive reviews
is just beyond me. I guess Portuguese people are just
very patriotic, but I just don't buy it. Bad Blood is
a very dull and eventless horror flick which is just
barely watchable due to slick directing and decent
acting. Still, don't bother checking it out.
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