Sink Your Teeth Into 'Blood Vessel'
Blood Vessel is the story of a life raft full of shipwreck survivors that encounter a Nazi vessel. Boarding the ship, they find a far more daunting enemy.
The cover art tells a complete story in itself. In fact, the cover reveals everything you need to know about the movie and that is three things:
There is a rag-tag group of Allied soldiers and spies that is in peril
There are Nazis, hands-down one of the most insidious forces in the universe
There are vampires. Big ol’ ugly-ass Drakuhlas running around, sucking on every neck they can get their nasty, undead hands on
You honestly can’t ask for much more than this. If you’re at all familiar with our fellow contributor, Daniel Edenfield, he has a very succinct method when it comes to film criticism: he asks Does the Cover/Poster Art fulfill the promise it makes?
In this case, the answer is a resounding YES.
Set in World War II, the movie opens in the middle of the ocean, where a life raft is drifting. Onboard are a British Intelligence officer, a British medic, an Australian soldier, a Russian soldier, and three American soldiers. They’re doomed to die, until a ship appears, headed right towards them. Unfortunately, it isn’t a friendly.
They make their way onto the ship, and ask the same question we all do: With all the noise and clamor they were making, why didn’t anyone come on deck, much less open fire? The ship is ominously quiet. They soon discover the bodies of the captain and a couple of crew members. They’re not just dead, they’re torn to pieces. They find a little girl, and yeah, you’re asking yourself “What’s a little girl doing onboard a Nazi ship?” Not really concerned with such details, they continue searching and find a locked door in the hold. There’s a German soldier inside. Here’s where the real action starts. They try to find out what’s going on, and things go all to Hell.
You know the beginning of The Thing, where the Norwegian team is trying to tell the American crew why they’re trying to kill that wolf, and if they only spoke the language, they would understand, or if you spoke Norwegian, the movie would be spoiled? Well, if you speak German, plug your ears.
Things don’t go so well for the surviving crew member, and the rest that makes it through the exchange continue to search the ship as the medic tends to the wounded. A greedy turn by one of the American soldiers brings even more trouble upon them. It turns out that with their obsession with the occult, the Nazis took a trip to a little place in Romania called Transylvania, and dug up Dracula and his whole family. The vampires are fantastic; ugly, savage, and powerful. They command all the traditional powers, controlling fog, being able to throw glamours, and of course bite the bejesus out of everyone around.
With an ending I didn’t expect, fantastic practical effects, plenty of tension, and a great tapestry of history and fiction, Blood Vessel delivers one of the finest vampire movies I’ve seen in a long time. If you like historical horror, vampires, gory action, or a solid, dark tale, you will do yourself a favor by watching this one.
Blood Vessel, co-written by Jordan Prosser and co-written and directed by Justin Dix, award-winning special effects supervisor, and director of Wicked of Oz studios. You’ve seen his work in The Babadook, 100 Bloody Acres, Crawlspace, The Loved Ones, Lake Mungo, and many more.
Blood Vessel features a fantastic cast, starring Alyssa Sutherland (Vikings), Robert Taylor (The Matrix), Nathan Phillips (Snakes on a Plane), Christopher Kirby (Daybreakers), and Alex Cooke (Preacher).
Blood Vessel is available across all major screening platforms, but from now through October 31st, you can get 31% off of the digital price on this as well as other selected titles by The Horror Collective by going directly to their Vimeo Page and using the code Halloween31. Just click the button below!
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