BLOOD OATH

In a gory prologue, a cheating husband and his mistress drive out to a secluded part of the woods to make out, only to fall foul of a huge scythe-wielding psychopath.

Cut to the philandering cad’s ex, Beverly (Katie Vaughan). She’s now hooked up with the mistress’ ex, Charlie (Roger Horn). They sit around a campfire one evening with pals Kevin (Jamie Reynolds) and Lisa (Natalie Hart). Kevin decides it’s the perfect night to share a scary urban legend with the other three. He tells them of a couple called the Krupps.

In flashback, we witness the tragic story of the Krupps: a couple who had been trying unsuccessfully for years to conceive. A mysterious gypsy woman is said to have visited them and promised them a child ... at a price. They eventually had twins but reneged on the conditions of the gypsy’s deal, and a nasty car accident involving the entire family ensued.

"They say that if you go deep into the woods, you may find the cabin" Kevin warns, referring to a cabin where one twin – a beautiful woman – is said to tend to her aging mad parents and disfigured twin to this day.

Despite their jokey scepticism, the rest of the group is sufficiently intrigued by the tale to devote the rest of their camping weekend, following a night of beer and nookie, to locating the fabled cabin and searching for any potential truth behind the legend of the Krupps.

Their quest proves rather uneventful – well, they are unaware of the fate that lies in wait for cameo photographer Tina Krause, after all – until they stumble upon a remote, seemingly deserted farmhouse one evening ...

Intelligent camera set-ups, carefully constructed scenes, good lighting and above-average performances add a great deal to this obviously low budget offering. Director David Buchert derives an energy and vibrancy from David M Smith’s otherwise rather corny script, making a tired concept seem once again fresh.

The pace is slow while exposition does its thing, but soon picks up and gives way to impressively gory set-pieces during the film’s second half. And this is all despite the first half feeling largely like a no-budget re-enactment of any soulless post-SCREAM teen horror (albeit, a good attempt at that).

BLOOD OATH has fun with its stylistic choice of recalling low budget horror films of the 80s (although references to things like eBay and mobile telephones place this in a more contemporary setting), and evokes their moods well. The natural lighting and old-school gore effects help.

Unoriginal but well executed and sharply scripted, BLOOD OATH is better than it looks. While I’m not sure I agree with Lloyd Kaufman’s quote on the DVD’s back cover – "better than anything Troma ever made" – it is good fun. And, besides, it has gore, tits and people wandering around stupidly in the woods at night.

Troma’s disc is region-free and presents BLOOD OATH in a decent letterboxed 1.78:1 transfer. Colours are weak but seemingly intentionally so, while images are fairly sharp and night scenes exhibit a fair control over blacks and contrast.

English 2.0 audio is well-balanced and solid throughout.

As has become the norm with Troma’s output these days, their disc opens with the excellent 2-minute promo reel set to the strains of Motorhead’s ‘Sacrifice’, and filled with scenes of nudity and gore from the likes of TERROR FIRMER, THE TOXIC AVENGER, BLOODSUCKING FREAKS and so on.

From there, a static main menu page leads into a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 16 chapters.

Bonus features are good, and the best of these is arguably a 38-minute Behind The Scenes featurette hosted by Buchert. He introduces crew members before chatting throughout a wealth of intriguing on-location footage. It’s warming to see the makers put so much effort into their film, as this shoot was certainly a seriously considered one. Having said that, joviality also seeps through on frequent occasions.

The next best extra is Buchert’s audio commentary track. He tells of how everyone worked for free on the film and performed several roles behind the camera – and never lets up from there. It’s an incredibly interesting and informative chat track, literally brimming with trivia. Buchert is a little serious and mechanical but you can’t knock his level of passion for his project.

A 6-minute Special Effects featurette engages with decent behind-the-scenes footage showing the FX artist employ various kitchen utensils to impressive effect.

A further 6 minutes of outtakes provide sporadic fun.

Better than those, a photo slideshow follows. It proffers cartoonish storyboards with cast voiceovers. It’s a great gallery, full of stills and running for an impressive 12 minutes.

BLOOD OATH’s original 2-minute trailer follows.

Also on the disc but not listed as an extra is a 2-minute video introduction to the film from Lloyd Kaufman and Debbie Rochon. Which is utter nonsense, of course.

Beyond that, the disc proffers a batch of the usual ‘Tromatic Extras’. All of which are puerile shit, such as "What’s Wrong With A Mosque?" and an excerpt from "Have Your Own Damn Base Of Power".

BLOOD OATH is a good little film, boasting authentic 80s throwback vibes and more than its fair share of old-school gore. Troma’s disc is an excellent showcase for this very worthy film.

Review by Stuart Willis