Directed By: Jeremiah Buckhalt
Written By: Chad Coup & Ian H. Davis
Cast: Jose Miguel Vasquez, Kelly Kilgore, Danielle Lilley, Brandon Kyle Peters, Christopher de Padua
Synopsis: “After buying a nice house in the country, Laurie and Hugh, a successful young couple, throw a party for their friends. During the wild night a few friends decide to explore the abandoned and decaying boarding school next door, only to wake an emotionally broken killer: The Blood Widow.”
The synopsis for the movie Blood Widow triggered a lot of fascinating scenarios in my head, so I jumped at the chance to watch and review it. Unfortunately the story in my head was far superior than the movie itself. Sometimes good writing can save a hazy concept, sometimes good acting can save a bad script, and sometimes humor and a strong ending can save a bad horror flick, but Blood Widow had none of these going for it. I really wanted to like this movie, but the foreshadowing and dialog were so contrived that while watching it I found myself thinking of other movies that had done the same scenes, only better.
In addition to weak writing, there were obvious technical errors, sunlight streaming through windows during scenes set at night and the Widow appearing in places where they establish there was no footing. These errors, in addition to the over the top gore and obvious use of rubber prosthetics could have worked, had there been more humor in the script. It’s as if they couldn’t decide whether to go serious or campy, but either way you have to commit.
To make a great horror flick you have to make your viewers care about the characters that are inevitably going to die, or at the very least make us hunger for it, desiring for the killer to have retribution. The poor script prevented this, lacking any set up or substance on the part of the killer, and any natural connection to the victims.
The Blood Widow herself could have been a really intriguing character, but there was little background to her. A lovely yet creepy mask and an ambiguous back story, that was a little too ambiguous to drive the plot. More of a focus on her character, what drove her to put on the mask and kill, would have possibly added the element needed to save this flick. Aside from a kick-ass poster, the one thing the film did have going for it was a noticeably great original score written by John Czaban, which should have accompanied a much better movie.
Maybe I have become a jaded horror aficionado, expecting more than a little hipster hack n’ slash, but I felt let down watching Blood Widow. It had so much potential, but it amounts to little more than a snuff film.
