BLOOD
CONSCIOUS

		Review by E.C. McMullen Jr.
BLOOD CONSCIOUS - 2021 USA Release: AUG!. 20, 2021 Ben Cove Entertainment, Old Bear Film, Film Seekers, M. O Pictures, Dark Sky Films Rating: USA: R

The 5 Minute Gotcha.

I've often mentioned it here. Overwhelmingly it's a bad idea. That first 5 minutes that has little to do with the rest of the movie. It's often poorly grafted on in an attempt to keep the audience in their seats and captivated.

What always works for Stephen Spielberg (JAWS, POLTERGIEST, JURASSIC PARK) and what John Carpenter uses sparingly (HALLOWEEN), is nearly as bad as opening narration. The 5 minute Gotcha is so onerous that in those movies where its stretched out beyond 5 minutes, the rest of the movie usually tanks. This is particularly noticeable in those movies that, immediately following the 5 minute Gotcha, we get something to the effect of,

20 YEARS LATER

It's as if the movie makers are telling us, "We have a low opinion of you, so this should hold you during our world building."

Ugh!

Far better to have Horror movies that start out mysterious and draw us in (ALIEN, John Carpenter's THE THING).

Or, for example, this one, BLOOD CONSCIOUS.

Writer, Director, and Editor, Timothy Covell (his first feature film) begins with a quote from Job 9:32 - 9:35. No voice-over reads it to us. As a quote we know it's not telling us what this world we are about to enter is, but setting a tone. It fades in and fades out.

The movie begins with long shots (though no overhead drone shots) of an SUV driving through the autumn woods. The cinematography here and throughout the movie (Sung Rae Cho: THE TRANSFIGURATION) is compelling, as is the ominous music by Sam Tyndall and Akira Uchiyama that holds and haunts us throughout.

Kid brother Kevin (Oghenero Gjabe) sits in the backseat bored and pouting. His sister Brittney (DeShawn White) sits up front with her fiance Tony (Lenny Thomas).

Throughout the trip, Tony can't help lording his successful life over the unambitious man-child, Kevin. Brittney loves Tony but Kevin is family and she finds herself in the undesired position of running and blocking interference between the two. Not that Kevin puts up any resistance. Tony's mouth means nothing to him.

They're all getting together for a family gathering in the woods. Brittney and Kevin know the area well, but have never been in the camp during off-season. The quiet solitude and utter lack of other people is unsettling, but their parents' cars are there so they just have to find out where they are all hanging out.

When that question is answered BLOOD CONSCIOUS kicks into high gear and never throttles back.

Soon all three are at the mercy of a shotgun toting maniac (Nick Damici: AN AMERICAN CYBORG, IN THE CUT, MULBERRY ST., STAKE LAND, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE, THE SACRAMENT, NIGHT OF THE WOLF, DARK WAS THE NIGHT, CONDEMNED, THE STAKELANDER) who openly admits he murdered everyone and will murder the three of them if they don't do what he says.

He had to kill everyone, you see? They were all demons. He believes they were people once, but he's seen things.

At gunpoint he takes their car keys and cell phones and leaves the house with a warning. Lock the doors and don't let nobody in after dark no matter what.

Naturally they aren't about to sit there and wait for the killer to return, but they are miles from everywhere so what are they going to do?

As night falls the tension remains high in a way I've rarely seen in Horror cinema. Kevin and Brittney are overwhelmed with grief. Their family is dead, brutally slaughtered and they have no one but each other.

This was supposed to be a celebratory get together for Fiance Tony to meet his future in-laws and all he can do in this moment of tragedy is third wheel it. In the heart of so much trauma, Brittney is retreating to blood consciousness - nesting with her sibling and walling Tony out.

As a sudden outsider, isolated in the horror of it all, there's nothing Tony can offer either of them as long as he's there. So he makes up his mind to walk the many miles to possible help. Brittney doesn't want him to go alone and Kevin is convinced the maniac is out there waiting for them in the dark.

Tony doesn't want to go either, but they can't just wait there for the killer to return.

Throughout BLOOD CONSCIOUS there are ever-changing balances of power and every time it ramps up the tension more and deepens the mystery. Is the homicidal stranger insane or is there something evil in the woods that possesses humans?

Who else is out there in the night's woods?

I won't be making any SCIENCE MOMENTS here, but that doesn't mean BLOOD CONSCIOUS slips into the supernatural either.

You'll just have to watch it for yourself and you really should.

BLOOD CONSCIOUS is one of the best of what low-budget indie can be. With a 4.3 aspect ratio (old fashioned TV set box screen, nearly square), director Covell keeps the characters close and the claustrophobia tight. The Horror is streamlined, economical, and maintained by the terror and grief of the survivors who are convinced they might be next and, in their suspense, can't hold it all in and can't stop scaring each other more just by blurting out their fears and panic every time they hear the slightest sound.

BLOOD CONSCIOUS might become one of my favorite movies!

Four Shriek Girls.

This review copyright 2022 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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