It is very easy these days for a horror film to relate to a point in history when wars were fought and the world knew who the good and bad people were. As history has taught us, World War II and the battle with Nazi Germany was probably the definitive war in which a leader and his army were considered evil. Since then, tons of horror films have related to Nazi-related killers, zombies or ghosts as villains. Most recently, we had Nazi zombies in the film Dead Snow, and now, acclaimed director Joel Schumacher is getting in on the action with his latest film, Blood Creek.
Blood Creek starts in 1936 when a family, the Wollners, living in Town Creek, West Virginia, are summoned by the Nazi party to let a visiting professor live in their home. They need the money, so they let the professor stay, unaware that the Nazi party is heavily involved in the occult. Now, the family is bound to the occult practices, and a curse is shadowing them. In the present day, more than seventy years later, two brothers, Evan and Victor, reunite. Evan has not seen Victor in more than two years, but without question, packs up his rifle and other weapons and equipment and follows his brother to Town Creek where to take revenge on a group of people that held Victor captive and are continuing the Third Reich’s experiments.
While the concept is original and the story shows some promise, this film falls apart about halfway though. The script establishes the story within the first half hour of the film, and as viewers, we are able to understand where the story is going, but in the middle of the second act, the film becomes a competitive game of cat-and-mouse between the protagonists and the villain. It is simply some fighting with a lot of running around, nothing more. The film has its decent share of action-packed sequences and its fair share of jumps and scares, but it is nothing that we all have not experienced before in a typical horror film.
I figured with a director like Joel Schumacher, who bought us some good horror films like The Lost Boys and Flatliners, behind the camera, that we would at least get a decent horror film. However, the story simply is not interesting. Still, it‘s better than his Batman films, though not as nearly entertaining. The only familiar face in the film is Prison Breaks’ Dominic Purcell, who stands out among the cast. The film does have some decent special make-up effects and some eye-popping sets and visuals, but nothing spectacular.
The DVD does not have many features, but does include Director Joel Schumacher’s audio commentary and is presented in widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio with English and Spanish subtitles.
I can understand why Lions Gate has decided to release this film direct to DVD instead of giving it a theatrical release. The film had a limited run while on the festival circuit, but it’s nothing special. It is not a film that stands out and screams for attention. It’s your basic run-of-the-mill horror film which some will enjoy, while others, like myself, will just see it as another direct-to-DVD horror flick that will fade away in time.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
