Joel Shoemaker is a crazy mofo. He got his start in the film industry as a window dresser at Bloomingdales in New York. (Really!) Then somehow got to make THE LOST BOYS, an 80’s classic horror comedy that jump started the careers of Corey Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland, and Corey Haim. The film was hot, sexy and cool. Verhoven went on to make some really amazing pictures, like A TIME TO KILL and TIGERLAND with Colin Ferrell and PHONEBOOTH and the most recent musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. There is a story that during the filming of PHANTOM, Mini Driver went up to him after a take and said “was that ok? I think I may have been a little over the top.” To which he responded with “well sweetie, people don’t pay for UNDER the top!” That sums him up perfectly. No matter what the films failings, if any, his pictures always look lavish and sumptuous and rich. After all, he also made BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN FOREVER…..eek!
Enter BLOOD CREEK, a totally original hybrid of genres that come together to make one of the coolest horror films I’ve seen in a while. The films opens in sepia toned snap crackle pop 1930’s film stock, and true to form it takes place in the 1930’s. A German family is seen going about their farming duties on their barn in Wyoming; slaughtering the livestock, cleaning the house, and teaching their teenage daughter how to speak English with an American accent, so she’s not picked on at school. They have defected from the 3’d Reich, and want to start anew in America, setting up a very sympathetic group of people. Then they get a letter from Germany stating one of Hitler’s scientists needs to conduct experiments, and needs to do it in safety, outside of war torn Europe, and will pay the family handsomely if they allow this border to come live with them for a few months. Against the idea in principal. They are desperate for money, and are assured they will not have to participate or help this man in any way. The scientist, Dr. Worth shows up and starts asking about these rune stones, ancient rocks with Gaelic markings on them, brought over by the Vikings when they first landed on the American continent. It seems Hitler is obsessed with the occult, and these stone are said to hold magical powers, which this scientist is ordered to obtain and harness. Now, though the story above is fictional, all the details are in truth fact. The rune stones, Hitler doing extensive research into the occult, Germans defecting to America to start anew. See, I told you this was original!
The movie cuts to present day where a med student takes care of his ailing, abusive father, whose always going on and on about the “better son” who disappeared after a tour in Iraq, and “died like a hero.” Not long after this setup does the long lost brother (Dominic Purcell from PRISON BREAK) show up out of the blue one night, and taking his brother along for one hell of a ride. Apparently this war hero brother came home and on his way to a sweet family reunion was kidnapped by a family living in the sticks of Wyoming, and tortured. He escapes and enlists the aid of his brother to go exact revenge on this family from hell. Things take a “twilight zone-esque” twist when the family turns out to be the same from the beginning of the film, only they haven’t aged a day.
To go any further into the plot would spoil the fun. But just know that things get weird. I mean SUPER weird. For example, there is a possessed horse at one point that smashes through a window plucking out a poor guy and eats him. THE HORSE EATS HIM!!!!!! There are crazy exorcisms. There are decapitations by barbed wire. There are people killed, only to immediately reanimate as zombies and attack the very people they were fighting to protect moments earlier. OH and a full moon play an important part as well. Oh, and did I mention the monster chained in the basement? Yea, it’s weird, taking a page from the EVIL DEAD series of films, or even the most recent DRAG ME TO HELL. Anything goes, including the kitchen sink. The only thing missing is the jokey fun those other features had. There are no light hearted winks at the audience in this, it’s played straight.
I HIGHLEY recommend you see this movie, for the sheer audacity of it all. Think RUNNING SCARED only in horror film mode. Oh, and Verhovens panache and style are on full display, with every sequence being overlite, under cranked, or glossy. He goes berserk with the visual flourishes, but it only adds to the mad cap nature of this. Its one wild ride and a refreshingly original horror film.
And here is an OBNOXIOUS trailer that really doesn't do it any justice:
P.S. did they really mis-spell "magic" in there? WOW!!!!
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