BLOOD RIVER

BLOOD RIVER

Adam Mason first hit the horror scene with 2000's THE 13TH SIGN, an ambitious if not altogether successful attempt at British horror on a budget.

The film had its share of detractors, who were vociferous in their cynicism when Mason's next film was announced. That film was BROKEN - co-written by Simon Boyes. It became an instant hit here at SGM following an extremely well-received premiere at the Dead By Dawn festival.

Easily one of the strongest home-grown efforts of the last decade, BROKEN demonstrated that horror could be expertly effective even when filmed with limited means and under troublesome conditions (read the filmmakers' earlier interview in the SGM archives for more on this). The film was dark, bleak and unapologetically nihilistic - just like all the best horror films are.

After that, Mason and Boyes continued their successful working relationship with 2006's THE DEVIL'S CHAIR. This was poorly marketed and consequently failed to capture the genre crowd's imagination en masse.

Bruised but unbowed, the pair then set about making BLOOD RIVER. And what a ferocious film it is.

Like BROKEN, BLOOD RIVER wastes no time in getting its minimal exposition out of the way: Clark (Ian Duncan) and Summer (Tess Panzer) are travelling across America by car to tell her parents that she is pregnant with Clark's child.

In the opening minutes, they pass Joseph (Andrew Howard) strolling along the deserted highway. They choose against picking him up for a ride, and carry on to the nearest motel where they recuperate overnight. Unbeknownst to them, Joseph also stays there for the night - and he's the reason they can't locate the receptionist (Sarah Essex) the morning after ...

Resuming their journey, all seems good with Clark and Summer for a short while. But it's not long before their car suffers a blow-out and careers off the road, leaving them bloodied and stranded in the middle of a forsaken highway devoid of shelter from the searing sun.

Realising they will most likely die in the sweltering heat before another car passes by, the pair resolve to make their way on foot in search of civilisation.

Stumbling across an empty farmhouse, the pair use it as a base to rest and shelter while hoping for someone to come to their rescue. They don't have to wait too long before Joseph strides into view on the horizon. Seemingly unbothered by the scorching desert heat despite wearing a leather jacket and Stetson, Joseph quickly imposes himself upon the shattered couple - much to Clark's increasing suspicion.

From there, BLOOD RIVER unravels into an entertainingly tight, tense triple-header as Joseph's biblical rhetoric starts to push Clark's patience to the limit, while Summer becomes more and more intrigued by her sympathetic new acquaintance. With the threat of being forgotten to die out in the middle of nowhere looming, the trio agree to work together to find a way out of their predicament alive.

But can Clark and Summer trust the somewhat shifty and obsessive Joseph? Indeed, is Joseph really the one that we should be being wary of?

BLOOD RIVER exists on what is essentially a threadbare plot. Which is fine as this allows for the story to get going quickly and never let up as tensions mount and secrets are exposed in agonising fashion. Playing with themes of guilt, redemption, hypocrisy and morality, it's a deceptively political and human film - while working first and foremost as a highly efficient thriller.

Performances from the three leads are excellent. Which is a Godsend, because with such an isolated set-up and limited number of characters, so much depends on actors you can believe in. Howard and Duncan are particularly impressive, both rivalling each other in the manic stakes at later stages of the film. Duncan's transition as a character is especially thrilling, amplifying the intensity that the viewer feels as events unfurl.

Boyes and Mason have crafted an astute, keenly observed script out of potentially daft material (the initial straightforward premise leans towards having more supernatural connotations as it progresses), enabling the audience to continually empathise with the distress of Summer's predicament, even when the finale threatens to go totally over-the-top.

The religious undertones are perhaps a little heavy-handed (a point Mason acknowledges in the attached interview) and there are a few too many visual references to Americana, giving it away that we're watching an America-set film helmed by a British director, but ... so what? These are minor quibbles that don't compromise the sheer enjoyment - if that's the right word - of the terror on screen.

Mason directs horror scenes extremely well and, although BLOOD RIVER plays more like a thriller (a Western, even) for the most part, when the brutality kicks in - earlier scenes exhibit a more restrained approach to the violence, leaving much of it up to the audience's imagination - I'm pleased to say it's all presented as grimly, bleakly and gorily as it was in BROKEN.

The final third of BLOOD RIVER takes a detour into dark, twisted and ultra-violent territory that proves once again that Mason in Britain's best genre director around today.

Cinematically, a special mention must go to Stuart Brereton's sublime widescreen (2.35:1) cinematography which captures the great American outdoors in all its haunting splendour, and Mason's own cannily assured editing.

Unfussy, direct, angry and effortlessly beautiful, BLOOD RIVER stands as an elegant and sharp contemporary horror thriller with a surprising amount of heart to back up the grue and vitriol. In this respect, it reminded me of the type of thing Stephen King would have written many, many moons ago - when he used to be good.

Highly recommended.

Review by Stu Willis


 
Directed by Adam Mason
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