Blood + Roses (2010) Reviews

• interesting but flawed

  markthetranny2011-05-25

  I think this film is something of a mixed bag. It has a great deal of potential which it doesn't quite live up to. The basic idea is quite interesting and different. It's an idiosyncratic take on the horror fantasy genre. The realisation doesn't quite live up to the idea. At first I thought the pacing was too slow initially. I should make clear that I'm not a gorehound or a viewer who wants frenetic shock tactics. I welcome the slower more leisurely build up. The problem is not with the pacing- for me at least- many horror fans will probably find it slow. The problem is not with the script- although some of the dialogue is a little awkward. The problem is certainly not with the technical aspects. Simon Aitken and his crew seem to know what they want and are capable of achieving that result. The thing that takes this movie from a solid seven to a below average four is the actors. They're just not good enough. Most of them seem to be reciting their lines from a card. None of them have the charisma to be leads in a feature film. It's frustrating that what could have been a nice little debut film is rendered unsatisfying by poor performances that seem more like dictating a letter than playing a role. Ultimately I think Simon Aitken has a future in this industry and I wish him well with it. I hope to see more of his individualistic and imaginative vision.He just needs to take a little more care with casting in the future.

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• Too slow for its own good

  Leofwine_draca2017-06-07

  BLOOD + ROSES is another indie horror flick about a young couple in a remote household being plagued by sinister events. This one sees an idealistic pair heading off to an isolated cottage, where the woman quickly falls victim to the machinations of a traditional vampire. This type of set-up is cheap to film and very familiar these days (check out the mainstream likes of HONEYMOON if you don't believe me) so the movie has to be very special to work. This one isn't. The vampire attack is arresting but the story loses momentum after this point and ends up feeling repetitive and slow. The lack of creativity in terms of shooting style (the actors are always shot in mid-to-close ups) is also somewhat wearying.

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• A quirky different horror

  rob-wickings2010-10-28

  Blood + Roses is a film about a girl who cannot help but get involved with bad boys. At the beginning of the film we meet Jane, who is stuck in a loveless relationship with Martin, a cold, controlling bastard played with misogynistic glee by Kane John Scott. Jane, frail and wounded, has nightmares of something awful that has happened to her in the recent past. Something that she can't quite remember, and that Martin is in no hurry to help her recall. Something that they have driven to an isolated cottage in the country to try and put behind them. Once there, things don't seem to be improving for Jane. Martin is unsympathetic, selfish. Then she meets, and is seduced by the ultimate tall, dark stranger – Seth, a vampire. As Jane begins to change, her memories of what has happened begin to return, and her frailty is shed in favour of something more primal. Physically and mentally, her strength returns. As it does so, Jane begins to thirst. Not just for blood, but for revenge. Blood + Roses is an attempt to tweak some of the more romantic aspects of the vampire mythos, to tease out some dark truths about the nature of attraction and desire. Jane may be stuck in a loveless marriage, but she knows what she's getting into with Seth. She embraces her new life with relish, and an almost unseemly haste, considering the consequences. Jane is played by Marysia Kay with a touching fragility in the early stages of film, before her transformation. After, she becomes stronger, sleeker, more feline, graceful yet deadly. She portrays this change nicely, and as a vet of the BritHorror scene, I would have been surprised if she hadn't. This is, after all, an actress who specialises in portraying strong women – sometimes strong enough to pull their hapless victims in two! Seth, the third point in the triangle, is played with louche charm by Benjamin Green. Seth appears worldly and urbane, but at the same time he is very much the predator of the piece. He simply walks into Martin and Jane's life and takes what he wants, without a wasted thought to the consequences. Jane is quick to embrace his attitude – any escape from the airless trap that her life has become with Martin would seem to be acceptable, even the loss of her soul. Blood + Roses is a film to muse over, something that needs a little time to sink in and percolate. It's careful to play with the mythos just enough – the "v word" is never mentioned, and in this film they can be seen in mirrors. An interesting move, perhaps to bring home the point that the life Seth offers is a dark mirror of the one Jane is so keen to leave. The life of a vampire is, in it's way, as constrained as her marriage to Martin. She will never see the sun again, eat real food be able to have children. Her time with Martin may have stripped away most of her humanity, but accepting Seth's bloody bargain means turning her back on what's left of it. The isolated location of Blood + Roses works in its favour. Most of the action takes place in the confines of the small cottage Martin and Jane have rented. The camera stays tightly framed on the actors, trapping them in dark corners, unable to escape their fate. The cinematography is lush and rich, though, and colour is used to surreal effect in a couple of dream sequences. Kudos to DoP Richard J. Wood and director Simon Aitken for resisting the temptation to desaturate the colour palette and give the pictures a mud wash. This is a good- looking film, even if it was shot in nasty HD video. The film really comes to life when it focuses in on the vampires. The chemistry between Seth and Jane comes across beautifully, to the point where I was disappointed when they weren't on screen. By contrast, I felt too much time was spent on the plot cooked up by Martin and his doctor friend Ted, and their crime against Jane. This wasn't helped by the dry reading given by Adam Bambrough, which made the pair come across as buffoonish rather than truly evil. A shame, because on the whole I thought the script, by Simon's long-time writing partner Ben Woodiwiss, worked well. And the guy can write a mean vampire. On the whole, then, I found Blood + Roses an entertaining take on a couple of standard horror tropes. It doesn't wallow in grue or histrionic performances, preferring instead a low- key approach that builds slowly towards the finale. Here, at last, my gorehound tendency was satisfied in an ending that riffed nicely on classical and Elizabethan revenge tragedy. It's something a bit different, and I wish it well.

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• Evolution of a Vampire

  ksj8702012-06-20

  Blood + Roses is an unconventional but alluring vampire film. A young woman and her husband retreat to their secluded vacation house to recover from an unnamed trauma. But a vampire has his eye on the troubled wife, and she soon falls prey to his seductive bite. Can she resist the dark urge to taste the blood of others, or will she become the vampire's bride? Highly stylized and poetic as a dream, Blood + Roses rises above its evident low budget thanks to an intelligent, carefully structured script, confident direction and quality performances. The deliberate pace and character-oriented drama may put off some genre fans who expect more blood and thunder from a vampire film, but viewers who let the story unfold on its own terms will be pleasantly surprised. The film alternates between images both beautiful and shocking, and the plot builds inevitably to a disturbing yet satisfying climax. A triumph of Gothic melodrama over the constraints of formula and budget.

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