Blood Review – A Bone Chilling, Arresting, Thriller

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Saturday, 10 August 2013 07:00

Written by Janet Walker

“Blood,” from BBC Films and Lipsync Productions, presents, spine tingling, chilling mystery thriller that weaves haunted memories with the cat and mouse chase that is unexpectedly stunning from the beginning.

Directed by Nick Murphy and written by Bill Gallagher, “Blood” stars Mark Strong, Paul Bettany, Brian Cox, Stephen Graham, and Ben Crompton, as the unfortunate flasher, Jason Buleigh.

“Blood” opens with the central characters, Detectives Joe and Chrissie Fairburn, second generation cops living under the legend of Lenny Fairburn, played by Brian Cox, considered one of the toughest detectives in the town, who was attacked by Alzheimer’s, and Robert Seymour, played by Mark Strong all gathered around  a crime scene.

A local girl is dead, murdered, an unusually grisly, frenzied, slashing for the tiny coastal town, where everyone knows everyone. The girl, at the age where teenage attitude is pushing the boundaries, and the innocence of childhood is lost in peer pressure, identity challenges and the inner drive to be recognized, needed, wanted and not lost in the shuffle of family life, was known in her young age as troubled.

Rounding up the usual suspects the two brothers, Joe embodied by Paul Bettany and Chrissie personified by Stephan Graham, work the case deciding to question the local sex offender, who, as is stated, has been quiet for six years and “found Jesus.”

We met Buleigh, the unfortunate flasher, who found Jesus, working in a local church. With Sex Offender tattooed in the minds of the detective he is caught in the tangled mind weave before he has a chance to utter one word. With his record, he is an instant suspect in this shocking murder, which seems like a jump and yet as the investigation progress, the mounting evidence adds credibility to the detective’s initial belief.

Questioned and released, Buleigh is hounded by Joe Fairburn, who follows on gut instincts and believes every gesture, every word, every nuance is a sign of guilt. Joe Fairburn, is haunted by another brutal murder, a memory that plagues him, of a suspect who viciously raped another local girl, and was released as the DA needed more evidence to ensure a slam dunk. The suspect was released and immediately murdered the women he raped.

Buleigh’s devoted mother Sandra, played by Sandra Vow loves him unconditionally even through the embarrassment that ostracizes them in this tiny seaside town.

As a seaside community, the scenery, the boardwalk which looks over a small set of islands, are interwoven into the plot.  The picture paints the islands, as a place of mystery, a place where confessions are brutally wrought and when suspects refused, in arrogance or innocence, to comply with the sequence of events determined by the detectives, the demons of the islands take over.

I enjoyed the film. The director, Nick Murphy, and writer, Bill Gallagher, merge every element of the community as well as the lives of each member of the police task force in this fast action and unexpected sleeper hit.

The sibling rivalry, is played well, between the Fairburn brothers in life, love, and career, and becomes the catalyst for devastation as they jockey for power and authority by living hard, drink harder, and seek to impress. Both are dealing with the deteriorating mind of their legend father and their escapades, in the films beginning, liven up the station house. Camaraderie becomes the killer.

As a fan of the genre, the talent and I want to say, especially Crompton, and that would be remiss as the entire cast of impeccably talented actors brought serious game to the film.

“Blood” is more than a murder mystery, a whodunit. “Blood” grabs the characters from this small community where every sin is laid bare for all to see, mock and witness, and where the only forgiveness is guilt, confession and punishment, a place where there is no escape from the box and boundaries that fate has ordained, with the same intensity that it holds the viewer.

In the flooded summer box office season "Blood" is an arresting mystery thriller that will capture.

“Blood” opens August 9, 2013 and is playing in select cities.