BLOOD VESSEL
Australia, 2019, 94 minutes, Colour.
Nathan Philips, Alyssa Sutherland, Robert Taylor, Christopher Kirby, Alex Cooke, Mark Diaco, John Lloyd Filling ham, Troy Larkin, Vivienne Perry, Ruby Isobel Hall.Directed by Justin Dix.
The title is nicely evocative for a film about a ghost ship. It has been written, produced and directed by Justin Dix, his expertise has been in special effects, especially for his company (again an evocative title) Wicked of Oz Studios, Melbourne-based where Blood Vessel was shot.
So, audience expectation is for a horror film. But horror film suggests different expectations from different audiences. For diehard Monsterfests fans who want instant blood and gore, even in the opening credits, unless it is immediately gory, the film is seen as a failure. Which, is what happened to some of the commentors on this film (recommending only the second half). which is a pity, not doing justice to the establishing of the scene, introducing the characters, a sense of mystery, evocative moments, with the action moving credibly towards the blood and gore in the final 30 minutes.
For this reviewer, the first hour is particularly interesting. We are immediately informed that the action takes place towards the end of World War II. A group of men, and one woman, are adrift in a lifeboat in the North Atlantic, two British, a Russian, two Americans (one sympathetic, African-American?, the other of noxious), an English woman, an Australian soldier. They see the German ship coming towards them in the night. It is a mysterious ship, as they discover dead members of the crew, others vanished.
Apart from the Marie Celeste atmosphere, the first part of the film has a sense of realism, the challenge to each of the characters as to how they are to survive, to make contact, to be rescued. The Australian is a born leader. The Russian is a supportive ally. One of the Americans is surly and presumptuous. And the British woman is a dignified British mother. The Englishman, a code breaker for the British government, is rather weasley (in appearance, glasses and stature, reminding horror fans of Donald Pleasance).
Looking at aspects of the cargo, there is more than suspicion, especially in the discovery of gold bars which might explain what happened to the ship. But there are also evocative suggestions of middle European superstitions, carvings, contents of boxes, mysterious books.
So, most audiences, except for those who have been impatiently longing for the blood and gore) can be satisfied with a mysterious drama.
Spoiler alerts, and alerts to those who might find blood and gore too hard to watch, it does move into demonic presence, overtones of Transylvanian vampirism, as well as echoes of And Then There Were None. And a grimly disturbing ending.
Certainly one of the better films of its genre. (And, impressively made and post-produced in Australia.)
1. Title? The tone?
2. Made in Australia? Locations? Sets and atmosphere? The cast? The special effects? The musical score?
3. The ghost ship genre? Conventions? The ship in the sea, the dead bodies, the missing crew, the radio contact still working?
4. At the end of World War II, the group in the lifeboat, British, American, Russian, Australian? The experiences of each of the characters in the war, Australian prisoner of war, wounded Russian, American sailors, British volunteer and the loss of her daughter, British code breaker?
5. Floating on the sea, sighting the ship, the shot freeing the rope, the group pulling to the ship, boarding, the deserted ship? Discovery of the corpses? Dying in shock? The exploration? The American clashes? Bigelow and his superior manner, Jackson, stopping the engine?
6. Nathan, Tobruk, prisoner of war, taking charge? Discovering the bodies? Later the exploration, the books and boxes with carvings, the contents of the boxes, Bigelow discovering the gold?
7. The sight of the young girl, speaking Romanian, biting Miss Prescott, calming her? Her hiding, eating the rat? The sinister transformation of her face?
8. The Russian, his wounds, the confrontation with the sailor in the locked room, the guns, his death? Miss Prescott tending the wounds? The Russian, collaboration with Nathan?
9. Faraday, his manner, the fears, wounded arm, code breaker, exploring by himself, making radio contact?
10. The transition to horror, the opening of the vault by Bigelow, the monster inside, coming to life like a vampire, his wife and the blood, her resuscitation? Bigelow’s death? The creatures going around the boat, the death of Jackson?
11. The discovery of the cross, the holy water and its use, the book and its spells? The Russian and his being bitten? Wanting to save Nathan and Miss Prescott?, with the axe, cutting off the female monster’s head, into the sea? His being transformed and dying?
12. Miss Prescott, her cross, confronting the monster, her being transformed? Yet appearing normal? Nathan, his rescuing her? The Russian setting off the detonation for exploding the ship? The two going into the water?
13. Miss Prescott, her drowning Nathan? Her being rescued, the British sailors, the final comment about the bloody war? The sinister smile?
14. The use of the conventions, the initial drama, the supernatural transition, the blood and gore?
