More Month of Spooks content comin’ your way. So what’s on the menu today? *checks notes* Murder? Can’t be more specific? Serial murder? Well that sure clears it up, let’s see if the movie itself can make more sense.
Ladies, gents, and non-binaries… “Bloodline”.
Evan Cole (Seann William Scott) seems like your everyday guy. Loving husband and father, caring and deeply liked high school counselor. But what is not known to the public around him is that he harbors a deeply violent bloodlust within him, which starts erupting when he finds out about some of the horrific things that happen to his young patients. I found the story here pretty interesting, a psychological horror-thriller that never really tells you how to feel about the violence or people you witness. This does bring a certain hypnotic tension to it, which keeps it somewhat engaging. I say somewhat though, because it’s not flawless. The pacing here is really strange. Now, if you’ve followed me for a while, then you know I like a slow burn, but “Bloodline” can feel outright sluggish at times, but at times it feels like some things can be too quick and underdeveloped. Generally I do think it’s an interesting chain of events and I do think its turns and big swings are enjoyable, but that pacing keeps the story from greatness.
The characters in this are… fine, nothing really special. Our protagonist, Evan, is arguably the most interesting, and I did find him interesting to follow. The rest though feel like they could use a bit more development. Now, obviously this is mainly intended as a character study for Evan, but the others get enough play that I started to feel like we could’ve gotten to know them a little better. Where I can give complete praise here however is for the cast, all of which are solid. Seann William Scott has been great in the comedies I’ve seen him in, but this is the best I’ve seen from him. An understated, nuanced, complex performance that I couldn’t stop watching, the guy was fantastic. Mariela Garriga is good, Dale Dickey is great as always, Raymond Cham Jr is really good, Kevin Carroll’s solid. Not a bad performance in this cast.
The score for the movie was composed by Trevor Gureckis and it is great. What we get are a series of driving synth tracks that add to the strangely hypnotic vibe of the movie, almost adding a bit of a weird dreamlike feeling that works really well to keep me engaged. It’s just great.
“Bloodline” was directed and co-written by Henry Jacobson, and I think he did a great job. His direction is very clearly inspired by De Palma, a lot of interesting angles, split diopter shots, and even a pretty cool split screen sequence are used throughout. There’s also a lot of stark colors, which is a bit akin to the works of Argento. Jacobson, along with cinematographer Isaac Bauman, wear these influences on their sleeve without making it feel like they’re just ripping them off or not doing anything of their own with it, because they do use these influences in interesting, gorgeously shot ways that don’t just feel like they don’t have their own vision. Add on top of that some stellar moment to moment editing by Nigel Galt, along with some gore that actually took me aback a few times, and you get some really good craft on behalf of the crew.
This movie’s gotten some mixed reception. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 50% positive rating. On Metacritic it has a score of 50/10. And on imdb.com it has a score of 6.0/10.
While it is flawed, I still think “Bloodline” is solid and makes for an interesting debut from director Jacobson. It has an alright story, okay-ish characters, great performances, great music, and fantastic directing/cinematography/editing. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Bloodline” is a 7.66/10. So while flawed, I’d still say that it’s worth renting.
My review of “Bloodline” is now completed.
Seann William Scott in… Dude, Where’s My Murder?
TheMarckoguy 
I hadn’t heard of this film, but based on your review, I will look out for it.
Best wishes, Pete.