Clive Barker's Book of Blood

Slow, deliberate and disturbing
This isn't a remake or a sequel. Instead it is a good movie. Sticking quite faithfully to the original short story by Clive Barker, this is a well made and often disturbing film. Great performances by the cast, an excellent script, a haunting score and some moody photography all work together to make this one of the better adaptations of a Barker story. The Bluray, while not exactly eye candy, is a faithful reproduction of the directors intentions and all the scenes are sharp and decent looking. Not much in the way of extra features but the included documentary is fairly thorough if a bit short. All in all a great film and an excellent transfer.

Not bad, but nothing special either
Clive Barker adaptations are usually even more hit and miss than Stephen King ones. The last one we had was the surprisingly good (and dreadfully underrated) Midnight Meat Train, and now here we are Book of Blood. The story of this film revolves around a college student named Simon (Jonas Armstrong) able to channel the dead, who is brought to a supposed haunted house by his professor (Sophie Ward). This whole story is told by Simon to a demented man (Clive Russell) who has been hired to collect Simon's scarred up skin. As far as Barker adaptations go, Book of Blood isn't all bad, as it does provide some genuine scares and well-done gore effects. Where it falters however is the fact that the film as a whole is poorly paced, and the twist ending really doesn't come as too much of a surprise either if you think about it. Still, Book of Blood isn't all bad, and if you're a Clive Barker fan, you could do a whole lot worse. Look for Doug "Pinhead" Bradley in a blink-and-you-miss-him cameo.

A Mixed Bag...not sure what I just watched
Being an aficionado of horror films my entire life, I struggled before writing this review. While I loved the premise, the makeup, the cast, and the film sets, there was something missing from this Clive Barker book. It had its moments, but they were slow...congested...repetitive...and boring. It never grabbed me. It never scared me. The premise had all of the tools to have us jumping out of our skin...but it just didn't work out that way. It deserves 2 1/2 stars...but I gave it 3 because I want others to sample this ditty. If you haven't seen a slew of horror flicks like me, you may ,love it. I liked it. Barker needs to bark up a better tree next time.

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