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Released by: Intervision Picture Corp.
Released on: November 10th, 2015.
Director: Chris Alexander
Cast: Carrie Gemmell, David Goodfellow, Shauna Henry
Year: 2015
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Let's just cut to the chase, ok?
I'm all for independent filmmaking exploring alternative frontiers, but let's face it: there IS a serious downside to the rampant democratization of the industry. You get movies like QUEEN OF BLOOD 2015. And unlike that "other" QUEEN OF BLOOD from the 60's which was ironically also made on a micro budget (but had Roger Corman and Curtis Harrington on hand to provide quality entertainment), this film is painful.
Of course, cobbled Russian footage or not, Harrington's QUEEN OF BLOOD was shot on film. This 2015 effort was shot on... an iPhone. A Canon HD consumer grade camera does make an occasional appearance as a guest star, but this film is mostly the house that Apple built. That's correct - this movie, made by someone who spent years working in the cult film industry at a respected genre magazine, could not manage even the paltry budget required for a proper camera.
And it currently retails for close $20 at Amazon.
The plot? There is none. This is a feature shot with ambient sound and a discordant score featuring a wasted looking female vampire (Shauna Henry) that pops out of a lake in a wooded area, is found by a hermit (David Goodfellow) she drains and kills, and is then hunted by a local preacher (SKINNY PUPPY band member Nivek Ogre). And that is it. At 75 minutes.
The obvious influence is French auteur Jean Rollin who mined this genre quite well on micro budgets. But Rollin A) shot on film and B) utilized plots most of the time. When Alexander tries to ape the Rollin dreamy atmosphere he fails hard. And this isn't a particularly gripping feature in terms of any storytelling, And the pacing is deadly.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1080i AVC encode here? It looks horrific. Digital artifacting swarms this image. Haloing pops up regularly. The overall effect is harshly digital and very hard to watch due to the inherent artificiality. This is a case where my description will barely help you. Look at the screen caps - if you dare.
Sound is covered by a dual channel PCM track. It gets the job done and is the only thing approaching professional quality on this disc. Extras include an even worse looking and duller second feature called BLOOD FOR IRINA that has actress Henry running around a seedy motel as a prostitute/vampire sucking on the necks of punk rock girls. Or something. And that one doesn't even have ambient sound - just a headache inducing industrial rock track.
Alexander gives a commentary that is far from the usual jokey fanboy persona he showed on the likes of his CONTAMINATION track. He tries to be humble about his intentions with the films, but when he starts talking about "tone poems", it all gets a bit too much. Two featurettes- one on the gore effects and one on performer Nivek are included which is too featurettes too many. Oh, and that's not all. A nearly half hour Q&A from a Toronto screening with cast and crew is here along with two alternate endings.
The Final Word:
Blu-ray was not invented for this. Hell, I'm not sure VHS was invented for this. Avoid.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
