A Horror Film Blog

Derivative, formulaic that often feels like pastiche.  Watchable enough until the monster rears its unconvincing head.  Then all hope (of fear) is lost. It is mostly a coincidence I'm writing this up in the immediate aftermath of Ghost Ship .  There I may have revealed a somewhat erotic fixation on ships, rust and torches and the diligent peruser of this blog (if such a thing exists) might understandably conclude watching Blood vessel - which is on a ship and where torches are used - might be evidence of a further attempt to sate these deviant desires.  I claim innocence, but expect no-one to believe me. "I am making it off this boat alive!"  And he does. (Luckily, it seems, I can say whatever I like here and no-one will ever know, as - other than a weird anomaly with The Sadness readership numbers have not, shall we say, blown the roof off the fucking joint.) Anyway, Blood Vessel .  I found it trawling through the nether regions of Shudder, and admit that ...

I have vague memories of watching this film years ago.  I remember not liking it very much.  Seeing it appear on Shudder, I thought I would revisit it, in case I had judged it unfairly. Perhaps.  It's an okay film, blessed with a good cast and budget 'all on screen' as they say; but it struggles to put its story across convincingly. Torches.  There are a lot of torches in this film.  at least these guys came prepared. The producers include Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver.  Big name producers guarantees a decent budget and access to resources but it also puts some limitations in terms of tone and story.  It can't be too dark, it's a Robert Zemeckis film.  It has to be brash and loud and in-your-face, it's a Joel Silver film. So, to the story.  A crew of rugged, tough-as-nails salvagers are commissioned by a completely unsinister stranger called Ferriman (geddit?) to locate and salvage a liner that has been drifting in the Bering Sea for 40 yea...