Bloodletting

I'd long been a fan of the output of Tempe in the US but had never seen the dark tale of serial killer mayhem 'Bloodletting' until the lovely folk at Cryptkeeper in the UK licensed it for release and boy was I thrilled at getting the opportunity to check out this sleeper gem. But I'm stepping ahead of myself here but the reason we're here is whilst UK fans have been fortunate enough to have this gem on DVD, it's only now that home based US fans can check it out…but was it worth the wait?

The film opens with the police arriving at the scene of the latest in a line of serial killings where they are met with the usual expected bunch of ghouls outside, folk obsessed with the maniacs doings, that include one Serena Stalin (played by Tempe regular the lovely Ariauna Albright). Serena is more than slightly obsessed with this particular killer and soon tracks down his whereabouts and forces herself upon him declaring that she wants to be his apprentice and learn the ways of killing, no matter what the price. What follows is in fact one of the blackest and wittiest serial killer films that I have seen in some time. Often pushing the boundaries of taste with some delightfully sick and funny as hell moments that will put a wide grin on most viewers faces with it's clever mixture of bad taste and highly original dialogue which is very much akin to the clever dialogue works of folk like Kevin Smith (of Clerks fame).

The script is excellent on its own right and the keen pacing of the films execution delivers an all round package of great entertainment. The leads of apprentice Serena (the aforementioned Albright) and her mentor Butch Harlow (played by another Tempe regular James L Edwards) carry the show brilliantly with top performances throughout, enhancing the already high standard set by the wickedly humorous script.

The film had a troublesome production which is covered in great detail in the discs extra features and seemingly may never have seen the light of day (it had started as a short film that all involved never wanted to see again) but thankfully was revived for this very worthwhile production.

And so onto the disc itself, well whilst I was very much satisfied by the UK release of 'Bloodletting' this US release by Tempe is without doubt the definitive special edition. The image is pretty good for a low budget indie production and here contains an all-new 5.1 surround audio track. Supporting this on the audio front is a detailed and informative audio commentary with troubled writer/director Matthew Jason Walsh and stars Ariauna Albright and James Edwards (which considering each participant recorded their contribution individually it has been very well edited together and is hence paced well).

But it is no doubt the meat of the extras that tip this release into definitive package territory. UK fans will recognise much of the 35-minute documentary 'Building A Better Bloodletting' which is one of the most fascinating 'making of' featurettes on independent cinema you're likely to see. This extended version openly and honestly reveals the true face of the joys and tensions making low budget features such as this - fascinating and wholly entertaining. Following this is 2 minutes of deleted scenes which are welcome additions for the Bloodletting fan completist but what will excite fans of the film the most is the inclusion of the original 32 minute short 'I've Killed Before' that spawned the main feature. By the time you reach this bonus feature you'll no doubt have watched some of the cast berate the original short when interviewed on the documentary, but is it really so bad? Well no. Of course it's not as polished or easily gratifying as the full length remake but it does have its merits, well mostly the great performance by lead James Edwards who steals the show. But for the genre fan it's very much a welcome addition as along with being very watchable it's interesting to see the seed that developed into the final withy and bloodthirsty full length project (and would you believe even this short contains its very own audio commentary!)

The stills gallery section is up to the usual high Tempe standard, none of your bog awful handful of screen grabs here, What you get is a stack of on set photos alongside a collection of promotional materials (and even Michael 'Fangoria' Gingold's throwaway snaps taken whilst working his cameo!) There's also a collection of review quotes (which may seem pointless to some as well you've obviously already bought the disc!?) and three variant trailers for the main feature (including a recent abandoned release trailer for Wizard Video) which showcase the films bloodiness perfectly. Finally, wrapping things up nicely are a collection of trailers for other very worthwhile Tempe releases including the tastelessly hilarious 'Townies', J R Bookwalter's 'Demon Fire', Scott Spiegel's sleeper gem 'Skinned Alive' and the highly anticipated (well round these parts anyway) and long overdue releases of 'Ozone', 'polymorph' and 'Eddie Pressley' (hopefully some day soon eh?)

'Bloodletting' is a vastly underrated clever and twisted genre romp and this special edition release from Tempe is the final word as a package. If you haven't already discovered its wonders then do so now!

Review by Alan Simpson

For ordering details visit the Tempe site by clicking here.