Bleeders (1997)

Director: Peter Svatek

Writer: H.P. Lovecraft, Charles Adair, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett, Gerald Seth Sindell

Tagline: It's in the blood

Actors: Gillian Ferrabee, Pascal Gruselle, Roy Dupuis, Kristin Lehman, Joanna Noyes, Felicia Shulman, Janine Theriault, Michelle Brunet, David Deveau, Spencer Evans, Rutger Hauer, Leni Parker, Lisa Bronwyn Moore

Runtime: 1h 29m

Category: Book Adaptation, Creature

Synopsis: John and Kathleen Strauss arrive in a small island town in search of his ancestors. John has a degenerative blood disease that causes him seizures and hemophilia. During some investigation, Kathleen discovers from the local doctor that a family known as the Van Daam’s, who settled the area over three-hundred years ago, had the same type of disease, including dissimilar eye coloring, just like John. The doctor explains that the Van Daams were in-breeders, and that the vast amount of time had subjected the bloodline to countless mutations. But what Kathleen doesn’t know is that John’s relatives, the Van Daam’s, who supposedly died out seventy-five years prior, are still alive…and feeding. Once they are discovered, the town pulls itself together and wages an all-out war against the freakish family, leaving John with the ultimate decision: long-lost family, or his wife.

Review: I was very surprised by this movie. I was not expecting to like it at all. I figured it was gonna be some kind of chemical mutation movie or something like that, but the story was quite different. I think that it is my duty to let the masses know about good and bad movies, and I have a good one for you…

The story is not an old one; a rich and powerful family fearful of disease polluting their bloodlines begins in-breeding to keep their blood pure…oh, sweet irony! But the way they went about it was absolutely fantastic. I loved that John was the only Van Daam to have been born normal. I also loved the fact that he was like the Van Daam prodigal son; their long-lost heir. It was definitely an enjoyable story with some cool twists that will not scare you in the least…but they will make you smile.

The acting was not as bad as I thought it really could have been. I was expecting something B-rate and cheesy with some comedy thrown in because the director and writer are cracked-out, pudding-eating cowboys with leather, ass-less chaps, who’s living room looks like page 37 of the Pottery Barn catalog. But…I was wrong. And, I must mention, again, even though I am not a fan of nudity or sex in horror movies…I was very impressed by Kristin Lehman’s sex performance…in other words, her sacting (that’s sex-acting…artard!). She was able to convince me beyond a reasonable doubt, your honor, that she was actually having great sex. Not a lot of actresses now-a-days can act like that; or even act. But apart from some amazing sacting, the acting was just ok; great for a sleeper, but could have been better… Roy Duffus…I mean Dupuis, could have been less of an effeminate, vampirish weirdo, and more of a…guy. Yeah, what the hell…that sounds good.

The gore and effects were a merit in their own rite. The prosthetics, make-up and props were masterfully done; believable, realistic, and freaky. I’m not gonna pull a Tyson on you but, it was actually very good. It’s not that the costumes and prosthetics were scary-looking; it’s more of the fact that since in-breeding cannot be scientifically tested and analyzed, and therefore studied and mapped, when someone comes up with an idea of what they think people could end up looking like due to severe in-breeding, it really freaks me out. Think about it: we are the most complex of all of God’s creations…we are the most intelligent, most skillful, and most evil…and when you take that kind of complexity and complicate it further, what do you get? A freakish race of subterranean humanoids with a nasty taste for embalmed human flesh. Yum.

Rating: 22. I really couldn’t find much wrong with the movie apart from some minor slips here and there. The only thing I think could have made this flick better would have been a more extensive back-story on the Van Daam’s. I would have liked to see some visuals of the Van Daam’s transformation from the societal norm to mutated cave-people…but nothing’s free I guess. Other than that this movie was actually really good. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for an interesting story with some cool make-up and prosthetics. (22of25).