American film director, producer and screenwriter Joel Schumacher has often impressed whenever he is taken to shy away from the Hollywood millions that have at times been bucketed into his production coffers (Batman & Robin, 1997). These smaller, more modestly budgeted, productions (see Tigerland (2000) and Phone Booth (2003)) showcase an eye for suspense, both emotional and situational, that seem orchestrated by an entirely different man. Gritty and invariably highly watchable, they are a million miles from the directors dogged penchant for overblown nonsense, a nasty trait that culminated in his 2007 Jim Carrey crash n’ burn stinker – The Number 23.
Blood Creek – Synopsis (Spoilers Ahead)
It cannot be said that the warning signs were not already blaring, and the crows circling, for Schumacher’s little shop of supernatural horror as it limped sadly under the radar in 2010. Multiple title changes (Town Creek), reported steaming animosity between screenwriter and director and then the final nail – a dreaded straight-to-DVD release, all conspired to kill this deservedly maligned tale before it even had chance to flow. But even with this knowledge the lure of seeing a dark and esoteric Nazi yarn, interpreted by the same guy that gave us the excellent Falling Down (1993), held for many at least a glimmer of horrific promise.
Michael Fassbender and Dominic Purcell Star
If I were to single just one out of the most annoying aspects of this near totally avoidable misadventure, then, it would surely have to be the incessant drone of its didactic narrative style. It’s a lazy game of join the dots that begins within an opening credit segment replete with lets-leave-nothing-to-the-imagination mini back-story. In its favor it is a narrative device that is channeled through the distinctive growl of the films plodding star Dominic Purcell, a decision that is at once cartoonish and misleadingly dread inspiring.
We are instructed that Adolf Hitler, in the years just prior to his descent into total madness, also had a hobby. He was drawn to collecting icons of the occult. All powerful knickknacks with which he could further facilitate his dreams toward world domination and Volkswagen’s for all. In Blood Creek's case said objects are ancient Nordic runestones – esoterically inscribed chunks of rock that supposedly spelled out the road map to… drumroll… immortality! Which is nice.
Paint By Numbers Storytelling
It is 1936 and we enter the story proper within frames saturated in stark black-and-white. This is rural America and the expatriate Wollner family has received a request. A Germany emissary, of the now fledgling Nazi party, requires room and board. But it turns out that Herr Wirth (Michael Fassbender), when he finally arrives, proves to be far from the perfect guest.
The timeline shuttles forward to 2007 and into the life of paramedic Evan Marshall (Henry Cavill). His brother Victor (Dominic Purcell), having returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq, has disappeared without trace. This leaving Evan to hold his family together and brew bitter resentment against his once revered older sibling.
The plot-line again stutters, punctuated by various characters as they pause to explain exactly what is actually happening on screen. No matter how manic the action, they duly pull up a chair and spell out the proceedings in great depth. This is especially obvious when Evan, and a newly rediscovered Victor, burst back into the Wollner compound and confront the family that (as it transpires) have held him captive against his will.
Liese Wollner (Emma Booth) chops and changes gear as she alternates between mild mannered storyteller, knife-wielding crazy woman and finally fellow victim. She fleshes out the story as if she were reading a voice-over, leaving precious little to be uncovered, as the film begrudgingly cranks ever forward.
Barely Passable Gore and Substandard CGI
There is decided unevenness here that suggests that Blood Creek is far from sure as to what kind of beast it actually is. The horror aspects of the script are here a hybrid of barely passable gore and substandard CGI. On the one hand it leans toward splatter-laced horror before settling in as an underdeveloped tangle of half-baked high ideas and wasted potential. Witness as chilling images of poor collected souls, strung up like grotesque scarecrows, then compete with B-grade zombies as they claw-punch their way through shoddy balsa wood doorways.
It should have been a master stroke, casting the ever excellent German-born actor Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) as the Nazi to out Nazi all Nazis. But here his many talents are all but totally submerged beneath a thick layering of latex and bad scriptwriting. He is reduced to shaking his fist at the night, all the while muttering musings of utter nonsense beneath his breath.
There is no construction of character or of motive. In fact there is no mention of his fascist powered mindset at all, save for a faded poster of his ex-boss and a hastily hung swastika emblazoned flag. Though, as it turns out, it is perhaps all for the better. It seems that Mr. Fassbender, rendered here so unrecognizable, has shuffled off this waste of a film and not at all allowed it to stem his decidedly upwardly mobile career arc.
Mack truck chested Dominic Purcell, on the other hand, appears to revel in such straight-to-video fare. He broods and he rasps as always, but is given nothing to even attempt to impress with.
Cinematic Nazi Horror
There is some debate as to the appropriateness of using Nazism, and all the bitter imagery that it conjures, for use as a backbone to films such as Blood Creek. Horror is one particular genre that often straddles this wavering line and its psychopaths and killers, no matter what their heritage, will always find bitter resonance with their real life victims.
It was in the reflection of this true terror that classic and affecting horror once found its hook, most all of its iconic characters finding genesis in society’s dark and twisting underbelly. So with reality continually proving itself to be exceedingly more brutal than fiction, there must surely be a bounty of untapped terror ripe for cinematic interpretation. Though here, even with Joel Schumacher at the helm and Michael Fassbender on-board, Blood Creek never even scratches the surface.
Blood Creek
- Director … Joel Schumacher (Tigerland)
- Cast:
- Dominic Purcell, Henry Cavill, Michael Fassbender, Emma Booth, Rainer Winkelvoss, Shea Whigham
- Runtime … 90 minutes
- DVD Release Date: January 19, 2010
- United States
- Trailer: Blood Creek
Hari Navarro - Hari Navarro is Topic Editor for Suite 101's Horror Film section and Editor/ Writer at online horror review site, The Hell Street ...
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