Bleeders (1997)

Though it came out in what is generally considered a dead time for B cinema Hemoglobin is a film that I have quite a nostalgic interest in. I nearly saw it some 11 odd years ago, I guess it must have been right about the time it first came out and I recall seeing the first couple of minutes and being put off by talk of inbreeding. That sort of thing gave me the willies back in the day, I was a lot more prudish and so as I recall I skipped to another channel and watched Species. Fast forward to yesterday and I finally got around to watching Hemoglobin after all these years. Worth the wait I'm happy to say, plus I probably wouldn't have got a huge amount out of it had I watched it back then, its darker and more adult oriented than the sort of thing I used to groove to and most likely would have been a snooze. The plot deals with the unfortunate John Strauss, cursed by a degenerative and life threatening blood disease, a cure for which he searches on his ancestral island. Unfortunately this is a place of dark shenanigans, notably the aforementioned inbreeding whose repercussions are still present and making trouble. Its gloomy stuff, moving at a measured pace it melds dark drama with creature feature, stirs in disturbing themes and cooks the lot with solid performances and well woven atmosphere. Roy Dupuis summons appropriate sickly desperation as John, convincingly driven to far places, while Kristin Lehman handles the role of his wife with a nice feel of love and support. Genre fans will be most pleased by the inclusion of Rutger Hauer though, having a blast as an alcoholic ex doctor nonetheless able to rise to the occasion in times of need, a rundown but definitely not out performance that's gladdening to see given his occasionally rather forgettable work in other b pictures of the era. Other performers do well enough, no one really shines but they work well with the wet and dreary location. A solid if unremarkable script from genre legends Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusset (with Charles Adair) keeps the film serious minded and interesting whilst throwing out some fun character quirks, things get a bit sketchy towards the end though with character behaviour stretching beyond the characterisation and wavering tone. Mostly its solid work though and the bleak edge works well, aided by fine monster effects. The beasts are shown to just the right extent and look impressively grim, every bit the foetal distortions brought to monstrous birth that they are supposed to be and their attacks are tightly edited and intense, occasionally even bloody. Sadly the direction here isn't terribly dynamic, Peter Svatek can maintain a dark atmosphere but not much in the way of tension so the film suffers in the final block, he also fatally shies away from what could have been a fantastic bit of grotesquery, this was a film that needed real balls and they are sadly lacking, so what should have been a terrific climax falls a bit flat. Inevitably this brings into sharper relief other problems with the film, lulls in pacing, plot holes and the like, but I prefer not to dwell on them. Basically I had a fine time with this one for the most part, more unsettling than expected and well worth the wait. Inessential if you don't have much time for creature features or this era of horror in general, but otherwise I'd say its pretty well worth checking out...

"Bleeders" is a dull, disappointing creature feature with little to like about it.**SPOILERS**Stranded on a small island, Kathleen Strauss, (Kristin Lehman) and her husband John, (Roy Dupuis) decide to stay there following an outburst of a physical condition he suffers from. Unable to find help from Dr. Marlowe, (Rutger Hauer) he advises them to stay there anyway to rest up from his condition. Realizing that the island's cemetery is being overhauled, a series of strange disappearances of the locals manages to get wind back to them about a deadly curse plaguing the island. When it's claimed that he is the descendant of a long-cursed bloodline of European royals that were doomed due to their incessant inbreeding and forced to come there, he initially disbelieves the stories until an encounter with a race of devilish creatures, hungry after the removal of their food-supply, are terrorizing the island and must team with the locals to keep the ravenous creatures at bay.The Good News: This here is a disappointing, but potentially worthwhile entry. One of it's best features is the absolutely creepy, and potentially great story for this one. This one had the perfect potential to be incredibly creepy with the way it went about building up it's story, with the rare blood disease and the deranged ancestors meshing well with the suspense of the subterranean menaces plaguing the town through the cemetery was ripe for a series of incredibly atmospheric scenes, and while the occasional shot of something scurrying around breaking open the coffins or dragging someone away underneath the series of tunnels do get pretty creepy, they pale to how great it could've been. The other really big plus is the look of the creatures, which are appropriately grotesque. Despite only being glimpsed clearly rather briefly, they're pink lumpy, hermaphroditic blobs with multiple stomachs, numerous nostrils and eyes. They also act quite viciously, only attacking when they themselves appear to be in danger but causing a lot of damage when it happens, a really nice touch that adds to their credibility. The only other part to work nicely is how well-done the finale is, which is great. With the suspense of the huddled masses inside the darkened lighthouse with the snarling creatures right on their heels to the enormously satisfying confrontations within the tunnels below and all the more, this is a great conclusion and works nicely. These here are the best features of the film.The Bad News: There was a couple of rather big flaws in this one. The biggest out of all of them is the film's incredibly languid and utterly boring pace. It's really hard to stay interested in this one because it really doesn't have all that much going on for it during the beginning half. Rather than build off the incredible potential it had with it's fantastic story, it concerns itself with useless scenes of the family's wandering around the village trying to find something to help them or just taking too long to explain anything. There's no reason why the meeting at the house where his past is spelled out for him should take over ten minutes to get through, especially since the thing is given in two lengthy discussions that really only needed one, since one ends with the revelation of a flaw in the argument and the second go-round gives it completely, wasting tons of time in the process. Even going deeper in the histories of the other townspeople is a lot of time taken up there that could've been better served in getting the creatures some time, since they have so little time anyway and given or even removed them from the film somewhat lets them shine a little more. That also brings up another rather big flaw to this one, the incredibly limited time the creatures themselves are involved. As mentioned, it's only around the last twenty minutes that they are shown with any kind of frequency, and that's due to the amount of time that's spent with the other story lines here. This is especially troubling considering how potentially promising the story could've been with so many great things in it. Another rather big flaw is the film's really hard-to-see gore scenes, as nearly everything takes place under the cover of night and rendering them practically impossible to see. The fact that it's body count is so small it's hard to generate much of any under that condition is the film's last big flaw, since, even though it's impossible to see them, when it doesn't have a lot to offer it stands out even more. That really could've been fixed during the assault at the end, but overall, the biggest flaw is the boredom.The Final Verdict: An incredibly dull and boring creature feature that's all the more maddening knowing what could've been present is wasted. Really only worthwhile for those who enjoy the work of the creative crew or find these slow-burning films interesting, while those who can't stand the flaws should seek caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, several Sex Scenes, several attempted Rapes and some Language

Before you even start watching this movie you just know that this is not going to be a very good or tense genre movie, so expectations shouldn't be to high before watching this movie. If they aren't, you'll probably be surprised by the fact that this movie is not totally unwatchable.The story, the monsters, the effects, it's visual look, the locations...all really aren't that bad but yet the movie does not work out. It's not a real bad movie to watch but it's just that basically nothing really interesting or tense occurs in the movie. The movie is like one big build up to nothing and in the end it falls flat as an horror movie. The movie has the look but not the feeling of a good horror movie. A wasted opportunity, since this movie had definitely more potential in it.The concept of the movie doesn't sound like anything solid but it's well written and the story is well brought to the screen by Peter Svatek, who does it with style, unlike some of his other less talented business colleagues operating in the same genre. The story and monsters of the movie are all quite enjoyable. And all this due to Dutch incest! Crazy! Somehow I have the feeling that this little story element was Rutger Hauer's input.The movie is really not that bad, at least not halve as bad as the current rating here would suggest. The rating here suggest that this movie is an horrible fake looking Z-movie, like they used to make in the '50's. I mean I've seen worser genre movies than this, also with a significantly higher budget. This movie still has some entertainment value and is not completely unwatchable and even recommendable to the fans of B-horror movies and Rutger Hauer.It is the uncrowned king of the B-movies, Rutger Hauer, that puts down the most interesting character and his acting is like 5 times better than any of the other actors in the movie. The story of his life. But once you really start thinking about it, is his role really necessary? He seems to be only in the movie because well, he is Rutger Hauer! The role seems to be specifically written purely for him. But who is complaining about it really.Obviously just watchable for genre fans only.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I just saw Bleeders for the 2nd time this weekend, and I must say that it's a great film. It's really offbeat and different, and I'm not afraid to say that I give it a 10! You have got to be able to appreciate a classic bad B-movie, and as a bonus, this one is actually quite interesting.If you're fed up with the classic Hollywood bullcrap, and you just want something to check out for sheer entertainment value, then pick up Bleeders - you won't be disappointed... And if you are, then you can join the ranks of all the "holier than thou" pseudo-critics who panned this movie.This is not a spoiler, but I will say, can you imagine being with a significant other that loves you, no matter the RIDICULOUS things that you do? Just think about that one, because it's pretty absurd that the main character's girlfriend wants to stay with him, even when it's revealed what he needs to do to survive!