Film Review: BLOOD VESSEL (2019)

A group of survivors on a lifeboat think that they’ve found salvation on the open sea when a large ship comes into view at the beginning of Blood Vessel (2019).  The lifeboat is filled with a mixture of characters including the Captain Malone (Robert Taylor) who managed to help save as many as he could from his ship’s disaster.  When they come across a German boat they think it is salvation despite the fear that the Germans may kill them instead of holding them as prisoners of war during WWII.  But when they get on the deck of the ship they realize that ship is a ghost ship and there is no one around.

 

It’s not long before they discover a young girl hiding and a German soldier who would rather shoot the girl first and ask questions later.  The language barrios between everyone is also a problem and when some of their group are suddenly killed by the German who wants to kill the girl, the group discovers that there are more secrets to behold on the ship and that they have no idea what they have stepped into.

 

Soon, the group discovers too late that the German ship’s precision cargo were coffins containing sleeping vampires and that the girl is just one of their biggest problems.  Now the group must find a way off the ship before they all become victims of one of the greatest dangers they’ve ever faced separate from Hitler’s army.

 

Written by Jordan Prosser and Justin Dix (who also directors) the film borrows a lot from Death Ship (1980) and John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) while has the atmosphere of Virus (1999) and Ghost Ship (2002).  There are also some nods to Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the plight of the crew on the Demeter ship.  The film is extremely well made but borrows so much from other films that it’s hard to see if it has any original ideas of its own.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as it is quite entertaining and the horror aspects and gore are very effective so the film never comes off as boring.

Film Review: WAR OF THE DEAD (2011)

The walking dead has taken over just about every genre of film from comedy (Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland) to period film (Fido) to action (World War Z) to drama (AMC’s The Walking Dead) and now with war as seen in the film War of the Dead (2011).  Now zombie-war films are nothing new (and you can even call World War Z a modern zombie-war film) but war takes center stage in War of the Dead. 

During WWII a platoon of American and Finnish soldiers are driven into Russian territory where they discover that they have more to worry about than just the enemy as the dead begin to return to the living with a ferocious appetite for the living and for war.  As the platoon’s number dwindles with each invading attack they soon discover the truth about the dead uprising and must decide who their true enemy in this new war is. 

This film is more in the vein of an action film but director Marko Makilaakso knows how to throw in the scary and gore moments (something missing from World War Z) making this the perfect film for gore hounds.  War films don’t always successful mix with the zombie genre but, in my opinion, this film has enough to satisfy.  What may be a detriment to the film is the more elaborate liberties taken with these zombies as they are reminiscent of the undead found in Verses (200) or Dance of the Dead (2008) or the bonkers Day of the Dead (2008) remake that seem to defy gravity and can do supernatural things but I’m a huge fan of Verses and welcome zombies with more menace.

War of the Dead is definitely not for everyone especially those zombie fans who want a little logic to go with their zombie film but if you liked Dead Snow (2009) or Braindead (1992) then you’ll enjoy entering combat in War of the Dead.

Graphic Novel Review: THE CROW: SKINNING THE WOLVES

It’s been awhile since comic creator James O’Barr’s iconic character The Crow has seen the light of day much less been a comic book in which he took part in but with this latest series The Crow: Skinning the Wolves O’Barr returns to bring an all new and different character that readers have never seen before.  In this new story O’Barr shares story create with Jim Terry (who also contributes the art) and O’Barr himself contributes the breakdowns for the script. 

This new story takes place in 1945 inside a Nazi concentration camp where the prisoners are lucky to see the morning of another day but salvation comes in the form of a resurrected man, a new Crow, bent on righting the wrongs done to him and his family.  O’Barr and Terry have crafted a different type of Crow tale as this story starts off with a bang as our no-named Crow quickly dispatches several Nazis as soon as his train arrives at a European concentration camp.  He is making a point to the Commandant of this concentration camp with his bloody arrival that sets the mystery in motion of who this new Crow is.  This new Crow and the Commandant have a deep rooted history that lies at the heart of this Crow’s vengeance and this is revealed slowly throughout the story like a typical mystery thriller. 

This story does not skimp on the blood and gore either as Nazis are literally torn apart and even the horror of a Nazi concentration camp are revealed.  At only 3 issues (as originally published) this is a fast and brisk story yet it hits upon the real life horrors of WWII while telling the ultimate revenge tale of an unlikely hero to the Jewish people.  This is a great start to what I hope is a continuing mandate to bring to light more Crow stories.