Blood Runs Cold (2011)

Winona (Oldenburg) is a successful musician who needs a break from the fast life. She returns to her home town and her agent rents a quiet house in the snow in the middle of nowhere for her to relax in. She goes to the local bar and runs into her old boyfriend Richard (Saxe) and along with another couple go back to her rented house. When they get there they party, have sex and eventually realize they are not alone. What can best be described as a cannibalistic slasher in a frozen snow suit is walking around with an ax stalking and eventually hacking up the cast. Despite being shot and stabbed (in which air, not blood comes out) our silent killer continues until it's just Winona left. With a classic slasher film set up, this modern slasher film still manages to miss the mark. Okay the killer is creepy, but what exactly is it, or he? In one scene he's eating part of his victim, so is he a cannibal? Is he a supernatural being? Is he alive or some sort of reanimated dead? These are questions the audience has when we first see the killer. The problem is, you still have all these questions when the end credits are rolling. This movie never really explains anything. There is even a bloody scene that starts the movie that makes no sense and ties in nowhere to the story. The rest of the characters are underdeveloped and despite a good set up, this film doesn't have a clue how to generate a slasher scare or suspense.

The fact that a movie is low-budget doesn't make it a bad movie, however it doesn't mean that the movie's flaws should be forgiven as if they don't count.This movie is dreadful. Interminably boring and with exceptionally poor dialog. I couldn't make it all the way through, none of the performances conveys any kind of fear at all. The worst actor is definitely the clown playing "Karl". I can see one of the ways they saved on budget was using people who don't know how to act.Grainy cheap cameras I can forgive, but for Pete's sake, *don't* shoot "night" scenes during the day. It's (a) obvious that it isn't night and (b) confusing because sometimes a shot comes along and you can't figure out if it was "supposed to be night".My recommendation is skip it. There is nothing to see here.

Yes the movie was pretty bad, but I'd give it a 5 stars vote only by respect for the director. Indeed once I had finished the movie this afternoon, I went on the Facebook page of the film and just told that it was bad ( the acting, the lack of suspense, the thin scenario... ) but the DIRECTOR himself answered and we kinda had a talk about this. I told him how I was surprised the main character happens to have a phone (with service, that's new in this kind of film) BUT she never never never has the idea of calling the cops! No, she keeps trying to contact her already dead boyfriend... And this boyfriend actually saw the killer before anything happened but didn't react at all. And an other character realizes someone has been messing with the car they used to get where they are, but no, whatever, he just keeps going on with his (short) life as if everything was normal. Well the director actually told me that 1- Of course it's difficult to make a perfect movie with such low budget and 2- If he had a chance to, he would have modified about 50% of the script before shooting it so... The movies deserves 2 stars but the honesty of Sonny Laguna and the good death effects and his will to do good deserves more like a 7 so... Let's hope his next flick "Mither" is gonna be better produced.

The plot and formula of this movie: people in isolated place+monster, has been used and re-used so very many times that all you see has been done before, and much better I'd like to add. And this, coupled with the fact that they pretty much add nothing at all new, no surprise twists or anything, the movie soon becomes a drawn-out, near total bore. It's almost consistently boring, the plot is extremely poor and dull-yet I still felt that it was very basically entertaining and enjoyable. The surrounding wintry tundra really sets an oppressive, eerie tone-it looks absolutely freezing and just chilled me right through the screen! That setting is the only true star of this flick in my opinion. I also liked a lot of the cinematography on show. They try out a lot of really strange and creepy camera angles that to me delivered and created an okay subtle kind of tension. I don't believe that just because a movie has a really s****y budget, that it and the acting need automatically be classified as horrible. I'm a big fan of another cheaply made independent horror movie called "Rise of the Dead." Regardless of the cost to make, if everything about a film rolls together, gels and works well it can be great-I mean look at "Friday the 13th." But sadly to me this, mostly because of the actors, definitely does not work. The tension of the picture really started to develop well, just so long as there was only one character on the screen at a time. But the second another appeared and they began to converse, things just seemed to fall flat fast. One character I couldn't stand and couldn't wait to be horribly butchered for my personal viewing pleasure was the annoying loudmouth who couldn't seem to open his mouth without uttering the F-word. Gah, die already! Everyone had a weird little foreign twang, like they were from Bratislava or something. Maybe this was what hindered the acting. The stunted accents really made the actors sound amateurish and stupid at times. I think perhaps I may have enjoyed this movie a whole lot more if it had just been released as a Swedish movie with subs. As it is, you don't ever care that much about any of the characters, including the lead. I thought Hanna Oldenburg was good in her thankless and hectic role. Not brilliant of course, but much better than everyone else-not counting the killer. That possible Blair Witch homage with her nose overflowing like crazy was so incredibly gross! I'd like to say that it was great that she as an actress was willing to "go there" and look so disgusting that she was snotting with terror, but I'm pretty sure it was probably just the natural result of the temperature! One of those "organic" acting type things I've heard so much about then... She sure was a dead ringer for Kristen Stewart! ::: For me one of the big pluses about Blood Runs Cold is its masked killer. I liked the way that no explanation was ever offered as to who or what the guy was. They didn't give a reason for the terror, it just existed for its own sake and was its own rationality. I've always really liked that idea. He clearly wasn't alive, and maybe not even human. The design of his suit was very similar to the killer from the original My Bloody Valentine, and the way that he was some kind of dried-up zombie with dust for blood was reminiscent of that clockwork ninja guy from Hellboy. The kills were effectively blunt and brutal, although some of the cgi blood splashes looked really cheesy. I liked the part when the last girl standing(such a classic in movies such as these!) discovers the killer's lair which is this big cave mine underneath the house. That was a cool scene. There is a very quick hint that's easy to miss near the end of the movie that suggests that "Winona" may have gone to the wrong house. So from the killer's sick perspective she and her friends were trespassers. I thought the shabby and cold-looking house made for quite the creepy environment, particularly during the gruelling chase scenes that lead up to the ending. This movie only really ever rises up during the frenzied climax, which is good, but it also highlights just how slow everything else is. The final image of the traumatised Winona wailing right into the camera is simply terrible. I guess the film had to have some kind of conclusion, but that? That ridiculous non-ending that single-handedly demolishes whatever fragile icy kudos this dumb excuse for a picture had managed to build up? Bah!!! Couldn't they have at least sprung for that well-worn old chestnut where the seemingly vanquished killer opens his eyes, or clenches a fist in vengeance? It did make me laugh though, as it was so freakin' lame! The ending has gotta be a big letdown, no matter how you wish to view this film... Just a cheap slasher flick, not really deserving of any special attention whatsoever-although on the other hand, what's wrong with a little good old-fashioned chop-up carnage to kill 1hr 20? Definitely a bad film, but not one I believe would be a total waste of your time if you're into horror slashers. Keep this one on ice...