Here For Blood accomplishes a lot during its moderately long run time. This is definitely a horror comedy, but has so many stunts I want to call it a horror-action comedy. Performances by the leads were pitch perfect in almost all the critical moments (more on that later), at certain points achieving Bruce Campbell levels of meme-ability.
Maybe exaggerated blood effects are not everyone's cup of tea, but the eerie art direction and some great editing and cinematography for particular scenes made parts this film's atmosphere a nod to more thriller-horror classics. For performance and appearance my favorite and most unsettling villain was the upside-down mask man.
At times the over-the-top nature of the violence takes away from the horror aspects of the film but this seems to be an intentional tone choice by the director and doesn't spoil the overall feel. One can't fault a film for achieving what it set out to do.
VFX is used quite sparingly in this film. Pretty much all the blood looks practical and VFX were mainly used to remove things from a shot that needed to be hidden or to replicate things that would be unsafe to do practically. A bit looked to be used for supernatural elements.
As for my major criticism of the film, the lead villain just didn't seem to have the intimidating gravitas that he might need to instill terror from his henchmen or others. It weakens the character elements towards the end. The final battles are sadly the weakened by this fact, and feels a bit underwhelming in performance, despite being rather grand in effects and action.
The writing in overall structure had many moving parts with essentially two ensemble casts: heroes and villains. This allowed for some twists and surprises that kept the pacing interesting although at times a bit overwhelming. However this is more noticeable in retrospect. I do wonder if there could have been a bit faster paced edit but to do so would mean sacrificing some plot points.
Here for Blood attempts to accomplish so much and pulls of 85% of it. I think if the vision were a little more focused this could be a more refined action horror. Regardless, considering the budget, and likely a compressed shooting schedule what this film does accomplish is impressive. The film is best ridden like a rollercoaster not read like a book and when enjoyed that way it is a great ride. If you are looking for a horror movie that will make you laugh, root for the good guys, all while keeping you wondering what's next you can't go wrong with Here for Blood.
Maybe exaggerated blood effects are not everyone's cup of tea, but the eerie art direction and some great editing and cinematography for particular scenes made parts this film's atmosphere a nod to more thriller-horror classics. For performance and appearance my favorite and most unsettling villain was the upside-down mask man.
At times the over-the-top nature of the violence takes away from the horror aspects of the film but this seems to be an intentional tone choice by the director and doesn't spoil the overall feel. One can't fault a film for achieving what it set out to do.
VFX is used quite sparingly in this film. Pretty much all the blood looks practical and VFX were mainly used to remove things from a shot that needed to be hidden or to replicate things that would be unsafe to do practically. A bit looked to be used for supernatural elements.
As for my major criticism of the film, the lead villain just didn't seem to have the intimidating gravitas that he might need to instill terror from his henchmen or others. It weakens the character elements towards the end. The final battles are sadly the weakened by this fact, and feels a bit underwhelming in performance, despite being rather grand in effects and action.
The writing in overall structure had many moving parts with essentially two ensemble casts: heroes and villains. This allowed for some twists and surprises that kept the pacing interesting although at times a bit overwhelming. However this is more noticeable in retrospect. I do wonder if there could have been a bit faster paced edit but to do so would mean sacrificing some plot points.
Here for Blood attempts to accomplish so much and pulls of 85% of it. I think if the vision were a little more focused this could be a more refined action horror. Regardless, considering the budget, and likely a compressed shooting schedule what this film does accomplish is impressive. The film is best ridden like a rollercoaster not read like a book and when enjoyed that way it is a great ride. If you are looking for a horror movie that will make you laugh, root for the good guys, all while keeping you wondering what's next you can't go wrong with Here for Blood.