Bloodwork (2012)

OK, so I watched it without much hope, since I had read a few comments here and I expected something quite bad, especially considering this movie doesn't seem to be widely distributed and it had been quite difficult to find. But I actually found out it really wasn't as bad as I feared.So first, a little summary - with quite a few spoilers, so be warned if you haven't seen it: two college boys accept to be part of an experiment in a pharmaceutical lab for what is presented to them as a test for a new drug for allergies. The test quickly proves itself to be something completely different though, as the drug being tested aims at making people more or less invulnerable. The problem being that it has quite nasty side-effects: first removing all feeling of disgust, then basically every kind of social inhibition, and also being extremely addictive. In the end, the movie gets into zombie-movie territory, even though there are actually no zombies in it, but flesh eating people who are almost impossible to kill are close enough…So of course, the characters are quite mono-dimensional, and there isn't a lot of surprise here. The most "complex" character seems to me to be Dr Wilcox, and I think Tricia Helfer did quite a nice job: she has obligations and wants it to work, she's probably paid a lot for it and she might also know how everything will end up if she fails, knowing who her clients are. But her doubts show more and more as the experiment turns slowly into a complete disaster. So of course, she has cheesy lines, but after all, she hasn't been the one writing the dialogue… I found the acting mostly quite good, considering the obviously low budget and the simple enough characters.I thought the atmosphere was quite good too, and I really ended up weirded out and wondering as the side effects started to show. The scene with the couple having sex while they are run over by cockroaches and don't seem to care the least definitely worked for me. The idea of having one of the study subjects needing an operation and ending up dying because it was impossible to cut her open as the wounds healed instantly was also very nice.There are a few things that were quite bad though, mostly because they were completely unbelievable: the team of 'specialists' putting explosives more or less randomly in the building, the two college guys miraculously succeeding to escape after we've seen them running before the explosion when they were like on the 4th or 5th floor (hint: the only way they could have escaped here would have been to jump out of a window, and from this high, they would be dead or severely injured), the Aaron guy still alive in the end, but with a wound around his neck (either he has taken the drug, and he wouldn't have the wound, or he didn't, and he would be dead), and the guy chopping a head off with an ax, which is so unrealistic that is is quite laughable.But in the end, I found the movie quite enjoyable. I spent a nice moment watching it, and I find myself remembering more the good points than the bad ones. I'll probably even watch it again one of these days.

****SPOILERS*** Movie about these two not so bright collage students Greg & Rob, Travis Van Winkle & John Bregar, who decide to spend their spring brake as guinea pigs in this weird experiment-In them being paid $3,150.00 each-in being subjected to this drug RXZ19 that's to rejuvenate their bodies no matter how much damage is done to them. With the sexy Dr. Wilcox, Tricia Helfer, in charge the two feel that they can hit on her or some of her women patients to make things even more interesting for them. It soon turns out that the experiment is really being conducted by what seems like the CIA headed by the man in charge or in the dark suit Eric Roberts who planned to have all those involved including Dr. Wilcox killed to keep the results from being made public!What this experiment does to its victims is turn them into flesh eating zombies as well as have them become indestructible in that no matter what's does to them they come back to life with the bodies rejuvenating themselves minutes after their destroyed. Things got so out of hand that Dr. Wilcox calls for reinforcements from a nearby US Army base to stop the rejuvenated Zombies from breaking out of their confinement and killing and devouring anyone, man or animal, in the vicinity.****SPOILERS**** It's both Greg & Rob who finally make it to safety after the military lead by Eric Roberts-The man in the dark suit- wipe out and burned the flesh eating zombies and had the entire place roped off and quarantined from the public and media. But the bad news for the two boys is that in trying to escape to civilization their picked up hitch hiking by the chubby Aaron,Joe Pingue,one of the few who wasn't effected by this experiment who to their shock, by him locking the car doors, is now himself a flesh eating zombie and driving them back to where they escaped from, the secret laboratory, to be incinerated.

Two incredibly stereotypical college buddies (one carefree party-animal and one responsible party-pooper) seek a method to earn fast & easy cash and stumble upon an ad for pharmaceutical guinea pigs. After carefully verifying that nobody will put any tubes up their rectums (because, apparently, that's the only unacceptable condition), they sign up for a two weeks stay at a medical facility and agree with the terms that they cannot have any contact with the outside world and swallow whatever medication Dr. Wilcox and her team prescribes them. Several indicators prove that the testing of Ravenix' new drug isn't kosher, like the decaying state of the hospital facility and the lack of medical staff involved, but the new drug appears to show off positive results immediately. The recovery ratio in case of illnesses and the healing processes in case of physical wounds increase at phenomenal speed and, after a few days, it even occurs that cutting wounds heal instantly. But, like usually the issue with new medicines, the side effects and shortcomings are quite extreme. Most notable is the fact that the human lab rabbits become completely inadvertent to all kind of emotions. And, of course, what to do in case of urgent surgery when the body can't be incised? I watched "Bloodwork" at the annual Brussels Festival of Fantastic Films, where it got promoted as a state-of-the-art and innovative thriller. This isn't quite correct, unfortunately, as far too often the film comes across as derivative and mundane, but it's nonetheless a very entertaining thriller with a handful of original aspects and occasional flashes of sheer suspense. Particularly the unfolding of the drug's side effects is adequately demonstrated. We initially witness how the group indifferently reacts to a rotting animal's carcass in the cafeteria and you actually wonder why they're not repulsed. A little while later, there's even a couple having sex in a cockroach-infested room and remain unbothered. Regretfully however, after a fairly solid and plausible middle-section, "Bloodwork" rapidly descends into a bad spiral of dull clichés and routines. Obviously the project supervisor will stop at nothing to continue the experiments and naturally the tests are all part of a secret government scheme led by one political big shot. None other than Eric Roberts – civilized übervillain #1 – makes a less than 2 minute cameo appearance for this part and presumably also received the largest paycheck. But still, if you manage to switch off your brain functions and look passed all these hopelessly annoying defaults, you'll find a worthwhile thriller perfectly suitable for a lazy Saturday evening in a comfortable couch. As said, the film contains a few admirable ideas and highlight sequences, the motivated acting performances from the ensemble cast are much better than the routine script deserves and supportive actress Mircea Monroe demonstrates that she has beautiful breasts.

Now how many horror films have had a basis as this, two friends think they will make a fast buck upon volunteering to become lab rats supposedly for some allergy drug and they will be living there for a two week period. Well we the viewer know that it's got nothing to do with allergies. The testing goes from good to bad to horribly wrong pretty fast for our main character's actually there is a point in the film where you really didn't know much about anything, the characters, the drugs, the anything, so damn cliché at every corner. Of coarse obviously this was all run by the government as every other genre film is. Also every time this extreme drug testing takes place it ends up turning everyone into *spoiler* in the end I'm sure you know what I mean, Well that's about all I can really say as far as giving the viewer an idea of what to expect, like bad acting,low budget etc. I was able to make it to the end just to see who lived or died or if everyone died. It is sort of interesting I wouldn't tell someone never to watch it, well it would depend on what time slot they were looking to fill I guess. I give it a 5