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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Thriller > Mystery > Supernatural > Nazis > Zombies > Blood Creek (2009/aka Town Creek/Lionsgate DVD)

Blood Creek (2009/aka Town Creek/Lionsgate DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C-     Feature: C+

 

 

What do you get when you cross Nazis, the occult, undead zombie horses and West Virginia?  Simply, you get one of the most original horror films in recent memory.

 

In times like these, when originality is the least of filmmakers worries (especially in the horror genre), Blood Creek deserves more attention.  I'm honestly surprised there haven't been more movies revolving around Hitler's obsession with the Occult, like this.  Blood Creek's premise sets it apart from any other in the genre.  Sure, there are films such as Zombie Lake and Raiders of the Lost Ark where Hitler's focus on the occult are mentioned, but none so much as Blood Creek.  That's not saying this film is an under-the-radar masterpiece, but it is a fun flick to watch if you're bored.

 

It seems as though the once A-list director, Joel Schumacher, would receive more attention for a movie as imaginative as this, but Lionsgate has swept this horror movie under the cover with no attention just as they did with Midnight Meat Train among many others.  The Saw films seem to be the only films in this genre they really care about marketing.  But I digress.

 

The film opens with a beautifully shot black and white opening sequence taking place in West Virginia during 1936.  A German family residing on a farm gets a visitor in the form of a Nazi “historian” named Richard Wirth (Michael Fassbender, Inglourious Basterds).  From this point on, the film takes a frenetic pace where the character development isn't great.  As a matter of fact, it's barely present at all.

 

The story switches to present day (West Virginia), where EMT Evan Marshall (Henry Cavill, The Tudors) is reacquainted with his long-lost brother Victor (Dominic Purcell, Prison Break).  Victor takes him on a mission to exact revenge on the family who had tortured him for the past two years.  When they arrive, and take over the household of the ageless German family, all hell breaks loose and Wirth begins the final stage of his plan by drinking human blood and transforming into an unstoppable monster.

 

This is your typical house siege film, where the blood-sucking super-Nazi monster reanimates any dead creature into hell-beasts, including a hilarious scene where a horse is reanimated only to storm into the house stomping on any fool caught under his hoof.  All the while getting pumped full of buckshot.

 

Fassbender as the monster looks like a Cenobite who ended up on a West Virginia farm.  His make-up is excellent and there is no shortage of blood in this movie, as Schumacher tries his hardest with gross-out gore.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image and Dolby Digital sound are disappointing and not as good as expected, while the only extra on the disc is the director's commentary with Schumacher.  Even though it takes him around halfway through to begin talking about the film, the first half is full of Nazi trivia which makes it seem as though you're watching a History Channel special.  It's full of useful information for people who enjoy that type of thing.

 

Due to the non-existent marketing campaign, this film will probably be looked over by many who notice it on the shelves.  It shouldn't be though.  As one of the few original movies these days, it deserves the attention.

 

 

-   Jake Kocan


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