BLOODY HELL (2020) – This is actually bloody good!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
I have to admit that the title of this horror flic initially turned me off. It felt like it was just made up out of the blues and a bit impudent. But somehow the film’s background caught my attention. It had received raved reviews from various Horror Film Festivals last year such as the Fantasy Film Festival in Germany in September and Nightstream Film Festival in America in October. As of the time of writing this review, it has an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 92%!
What makes Bloody Hell stand out among the tons of horror movies produced every year is its originality. Its main character, Rex, who is introduced to as a crazy anti-hero, is played by relative unknown, Ben O’Toole. Ben carries the whole movie amazingly well as he has the charisma of a block buster movie star. His persona works well with the mix of black humour and violence. He is also gifted with a good physique which helps as he have to spend a good portion of the film hanging half naked from the ceiling with his hands tied. We also get a double dose of Ben as he talks to his imaginary self when he is thinking. The rest of the cast are unknowns and serves their purpose well. Perhaps the new comer Meg Fraser who plays the damsel in distress has the juiciest and more memorable role.
Horror movies all tend to follow some sort of fixed formula and it is always refreshing to see one that deviates from this. Bloody Hell does just that and director Alister Grierson and writer Robert Benjamin are probably a pair of talents to look out for. Their creativity succeed in elevating Bloody Hell into something that really stands out in the genre. Bloody Hell has enough WTF moments and unexpected twists to keep the action going from start to finish, and is one trip to Hell that one can actually say is fun!
And by the way, about the film’s title … after watching it, I can see why it is called Bloody Hell which I now confess is a very aptly named title. I would not spoil this for you but you will know what I mean after you watch this.
