Book of Blood (2008)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

John Harrison

Writers:

Clive Barker (short stories "On Jerusalem Street" and "The Book of Blood")
John Harrison (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 May 2009 (Turkey)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A paranormal expert discovers a house that is at the intersection of so-called "highways" transporting souls in the afterlife. |

Plot Keywords:

Intersection | Paranormal | Occult | Diner | Potassium

Cast

Jonas Armstrong	...	Simon McNeal
Sophie Ward	...	Mary Florescu
Paul Blair	...	Reg Fuller
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Romana Abercromby	...	Janie
Simon Bamford	...	Derek
Doug Bradley	...	Tollington
Gowan Calder	...	Janie's Mother
Graham Colquhoun	...	Simon's Father
James McAnerney	...	Doctor Nigel Blake
Joy McBrinn	...	Waitress
Charlie McFadden	...	Joanne
Marcus McLeod	...	Janie's Father
Jack North	...	Simon (age 11)
Siobhan Reilly	...	Cashier
Clive Russell	...	Wyburd
Andrew Scott-Ramsay	...	Male Student
Isla Stewart	...	Simon's Mother
Greig Taylor	...	Stevie McNeal
James Watson	...	Jimmy

MPAA:

Rated R for bloody violence, sexuality/nudity and language.

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45437)

Filming Locations:

Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Company:

Matador Pictures

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mary Florescu: The dead have highways, running through the wasteland behind our lives, bearing an endless traffic of departed souls. They can be heard in the broken places of our world, through cracks made out of cruelty, violence, and depravity. They have sign posts, these highways, and crossroads and intersections. And it is at these intersections where the dead mingle, and sometimes spill over into our world.

Tricky

Actually I do like the theme of story. And it has a pretty good ending. The problem is, what lies before that and how the story is treated. While I haven't read the source material (book by Clive Barker), I'm sure it is a far better and more complex story to be found there, which didn't translate to the screen.

Apart from the pacing and a story twist that will leave with a bad feeling (again, I don't know if it's the same in the novel), what really gets to you, is the fact, that the actors are pretty dull. I'm not saying bad, just dull. It's exactly about sympathizing with them, but they leave you more than cold (no pun intended). Which might work for other movies, but not here. Still there are a few scares, it's quite nicely shot and the aforementioned ending ... other than that? Not much!