Bleeders (1997)

User Rating:

3.0/10   

Director:

Peter Svatek

Writers:

Charles Adair (screenplay) and
Dan O'Bannon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

31 July 1997 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

It's in the blood

Plot:

A man travels to an island with his girlfriend in search of his relatives but he finds maybe more than what he wanted to know.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Inbreeding | Sex | Child Eaten | Necklace

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Gillian Ferrabee	...	Eva Van Daam / Her Twin Brother / John's Twin Sister
Pascal Gruselle	...	Vermeer
Roy Dupuis	...	John Strauss
Kristin Lehman	...	Kathleen Strauss
John Harold Cail	...	Ferryman
Joanna Noyes	...	Byrde Gordon
Felicia Shulman	...	Yolanda
Janine Theriault	...	Alice Gordon
Michelle Brunet	...	Ramona
David Deveau	...	Ben
Spencer Evans	...	Squeakie
Rutger Hauer	...	Dr. Marlowe
Carmen Ferland	...	Mrs. Shea (as Carmen Ferlan)
Leni Parker	...	Baby Laura
Lisa Bronwyn Moore	...	Toot (as Lisa Bronwyn-Moore)

Also Known As:

Hemoglobin (UK)
The Descendant (USA) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong sexuality and violence.

Runtime:

Greece:94 min | USA:89 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:MA | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R | Spain:18 | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:16+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, Canada

Company:

Fries/Schultz Film Group

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the prologue, the "King of Holland" is mentioned in relation to the year 1652. Holland was part of the Dutch Republic from 1581 through 1795, and had no king.

Quotes:

Hank Gordon: What is it, Doc?
Dr. Marlowe: It's a red blood cell from the autopsy specimen. It's identical to the blood sample I drew from John Strauss and the embryo.
Hank Gordon: What it means?
Dr. Marlowe: Trouble.

Movie Connections:

Version of Dark Heritage (1989)

A pretty decent film

An uncredited adaptation of the Lurking Fear, Hemoglobin (as it is titled in the current US DVD release) stars Rutger Hauer as a drunken doctor recently moved to a small New England fishing community. The arrival of John Strauss (played in near-albino fashion by Roy Dupuis) raises some interesting questions.

The basic theme of Lovecraft's story remains unchanged. A family of incest-deformed monsters live beneath the town, feeding on the dead. Of course, Lovecraft provided a description of the horror in the Lurking Fear and yet, to my knowledge, there is no adaptation that has bothered to be true to this fairly simple detail.

The movie is fairly fast paced, though the insertion of a sex scene comes off as forced and staged, interrupting the film's progression for the purpose of a few quick breast shots. The creature effects aren't that great, indeed, they are probably one of the poorer portions of the film. The footage of the underground catacombs though? That is just wonderful.

The film tries to play with atmosphere, and does us the courtesy of not waving badly made up monsters in our face. Indeed, one of the more tense scenes plays out mostly in shadow as the creatures storm the local lighthouse.