BAD BLOOD
US, 2015, 87 minutes, Colour.
Taylor Cole, Billy Miller, Christine Adams, Brett Rickaby, Jeff Kober, Neil Brown Jr,
Directed by Adam Silver.
This is a serial killer thriller. The focus is on a young woman, who is revealed to have rather dubious background, in juvenile detention and under the influence of her criminal father who abandoned his family and whose absence she resents. She has a relationship with the local sheriff, some good friends in the town, but a fussy landlady who is murdered.
She is a suspect in the crime and is arrested, interrogated by the sheriff who is upset, critical of the expert who comes in for forensic examination.
The audience knows who the killer is, a man dependent on blood transfusions, getting them from his wife, then murdering women to harvest their blood. It is later revealed that he has had a bone marrow transplant from the heroine and is intent on getting her because their blood has the same DNA.
The film is also something of a chase, the authorities after the woman, who escapes to be with her father, working with him, going to the hospital to discover who the killer was, rescuing her friend who has been taken – with a shootout involving the forensic expert as well as her father.
A brief thriller but effective while it is there.
1. A serial killer thriller?
2. The town, homes, police precincts, the surrounding countryside? The feel? The musical score?
3. The title, the credit sequences and the blood cells? The theme of blood? Oscar Marcus and his illness, the bone marrow transplant, the DNA from the donor, his visits to the doctor, chemotherapy, getting blood from his wife, her death? The revelation of other women and his taking their blood? The need to get to Lauren Malone? Her being the donor? The theme of blood and the killing of the police deputy, her being laid out the like the angel in the drawings?
4. Lauren’s story, the landlady and her dog and her criticisms, out jogging, the encounter with a sheriff, the relationship, his proposal, waiting for her with the ring, her looking, leaving, driving around, talking with her friend, the news of the murder of her landlady, the police, the arrest, the interrogation, the attitude of the sheriff? Tommy Bates and her forensic examination? Lauren being sent in the van, the roadblock, Oscar and the confrontation, the shooting of the deputy and taking her body, imprisoning Lauren?
5. Oscar, his story, the room with his wife, gagged, taking the blood, the stock of blood, her death? His visit to the doctor? His self-preoccupation? Getting Lauren, the cruelty? Laying out the deputy like the angel in the drawing? Abducting Lauren’s friend, tying her up, the blood? Lauren, her escape? Her return, the confrontation – and the revelation of his son?
6. The sheriff, in love with Lauren, the evidence, wary of Tommy Bates, the interrogation, her escape, the search for her father, his presumptions?
7. Tommy Bates, forensic examination, the clash with the sheriff? The death of the deputy? Her suspicions, the doctor coming to the precinct, the CCTV, the photo, her interrogation, tracking down Oscar, leaving, confront him, her being shot? In the ambulance, to recover?
8. Lauren, the escape, tracking down her father, the back story, in juvenile detention, the stealing of the cars, her mother’s death from cancer, her father’s absence and making mistakes, his going to jail? His not being there for her – except when he asked her to steal the car with him? The interactions between the two, his wanting to support her, the gun? Going to the hospital, the information from the doctor? Going to confront Oscar, his leading the sheriff away from Lauren in the house? His being taken? Refusing to answer questions?
9. The buildup to the confrontation with Oscar, Lauren with the gun, his gun, shooting Tommy Bates, Martin arriving, the explanation of the drawings? Lauren’s father and his shooting Oscar?
10. Lauren and her friend her friend?
11. The resolution of the case, Lauren jogging – and the sheriff following?
