Tweet
Released by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Released on: 3/1/2011
Director: Chris Picerni
Cast: Michael Matthias, Vinnie Jones, Michael Madsen, Armand Assante, DMX
Year: 2011
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Ever wonder what it would be like if there was a low budget version of the Fast And The Furious thrown into a blender with a low budget version of Blade or maybe Underworld, all mashed together? What if there was a Vin Diesel looking dude in the lead and rapper thrown into the cast and Michael Madsen played a wise crackin' shotgun totting priest? No? You've never wondered what this movie would be like? Oh, in that case you can safely skip this review and come back tomorrow in hopes of reading something you might find more interesting. But just between you and me, I never wondered what that movie would be like either - though with The Bleeding I found out the hard way.
Michael Matthias plays a bald tough guy named Shaun Black who drives around in a supped up muscle car all grumpy because his brother was killed in the line of duty while serving in Afghanistan. It also turns out that vampires killed his family and that his predetermined destiny indicates that he's going to be a slayer and essentially wage a one man war on the bloodsuckers of the night. Thankfully there's one man who can help Shaun, and that man is Father Roy (Michael Madsen), a priest well versed in the ways of killing vampires and who owns an arsenal of anti-vampire hardware.
Together they seek out the vampire leader, Cain (Vinnie Jones), another tough bald guy who happens to have a thing for raves I guess since he's turned a massive old warehouse into a giant night club/party palace full of nubile young hotties just waiting to be bitten. Oh, and Kat Von D., DMX and Armand Assante have somehow found their way into the cast as well.
Director Chris Picerni's experience as a stuntman shows in some impressive car chase sequences and fight scenes, but outside of that, The Bleeding doesn't have a whole lot going for it. A few interesting cast members are watchable enough in their roles but Michael Matthias lacks anything remotely resembling charisma. He looks the part but doesn't do much outside of concentrate on the look, eschewing things like believability, compassion, sympathy or even personality which pretty much guarantees we don't care about him or his story - and this is more or less a really big nail in The Bleeding's coffin (see I made a vampire joke there). Assante tries to class things up and Madsen is at least moderately amusing even if he's played this type of character plenty of times before, but it's not even close to enough.
You get the impression that everyone involved with the production side of things was trying very hard - maybe a little too hard even - to make a 'cult' movie rather than make a good movie. There's loads of potential and talent on display here if you look for it, from the well shot car sequences to some good fight choreography to some very strong editing but somewhere in all of that the story gets lost. The female cast members deliver enough eye candy and the effects team enough gore that less discriminating viewers might be able to look past that and drink deep from the picture's exploitative qualities, but there just wasn't quite enough here to let the movie grab you the way you would want it to.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation sometimes belies the movie's low budget origins but otherwise looks pretty decent. It's intentionally gritty looking in spots but that is at least in keeping with the movie's aesthetic. Some minor compression artifacts pop up in the darker scenes but there isn't any heavy edge enhancement to complain about. Colors are a bit erratic but this looks to have been an intentional choice on the part of the filmmakers - sometimes the movie has a cool, blue tint to it, other times it looks arid - but all in all the transfer here is fine.
The English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is a good one, replicating the rush of the muscle car engines nicely while still managing to deliver solid dialogue and a strong score. The levels are well balanced and there's plenty of good channel separation, particularly in the last half hour or so of the movie when the story becomes more action-centric.
There are three featurettes here, each one running about five minutes - Cast Interviews, Makeup Effects and Stunts. The interviews allow the cast and crew to lie about how great this movie is while the other two featurettes do at least manage to give us some moderately interesting behind the scenes footage. Rounding out the extras is a trailer, some animated menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
By mixing up elements from different genres, The Bleeding winds up not being quite able to focus on any one particular aspect of its story long enough to really shine. It winds up feeling like a really lousy The Fast And The Furious sequel with vampires in it, and while there's some appeal to that on paper, it just never comes together the way that it should. Anchor Bay's DVD release, however, is an okay one offering up a fine presentation and some mediocre extras.
