Tags:
Film: Blood Relations
Year: 1988
Director: Graeme Campbell
Writer: Steven Saylor
Starring: Jan Rubes, Lydie Denier and Kevin Hicks
Review:
This film begins with a man in his office. We learn that he is a brain surgeon and he is played by Jan Rubes. He kisses his fingers before leaving to go perform surgery a picture of his wife, who is played by Marilyn Haskell.
We then see a young man in a sports car pull up to a mansion. He is played by Kevin Hicks. Along with him is his foreign girlfriend, she is played by Lydie Denier. They have passionate sex that starts on the stairs and ends up in a bedroom. Denier goes to a take a shower and Hicks gets on the phone. He calls Rubes who is his father and we learn that they have not seen each other since Rubes’ wife and Hicks’ mother passed away.
Rubes comes home, excited to see his son, but when he arrives he finds Denier crying on the floor. He then goes into the bathroom to find that his son has committed suicide. It does turn out to be a prank. Rubes slaps his son around and goes into having a heart attack. He takes a pill and it stops. He is still upset with both Hicks and Denier.
They are then joined by an attorney, played by Steven Saylor, and his girlfriend, played by Lynne Adams. Saylor is working with the grandfather and his estate. This is a rich family and his will needs to be in place before the old man passes away. The old man is in the hospital and played by Ray Walston. He is dying.
We begin to see the dysfunction of the family as Hicks and Denier are planning to kill Rubes and they want all of the money. Rubes even states that he thinks Hicks is trying to kill him and tries to get Denier to admit to it, also that she is helping. Hicks and Denier see that Adams is having an affair with the much older Rubes, much to the disgust of his son.
The film then takes a turn when Hicks recommends to Denier to have sex with his father, because he believes that could make him have a heart attack. Denier sees Rubes after his morning run and wonders if he really has a heart condition. We get a weird scene where Denier is given something by Rubes and she passes out. She has a hallucinatory experience where Rubes makes love to her. The following morning, she asks if Hicks and her made love, in which he states that he does not remember doing so. Hicks then tells her he has business in the city and leaves.
Denier has another of these experiences and believes that she sees Adams in the basement, tied up with Rubes while he is performing brain surgery. He then gives her something and she passes out, waking up in her room.
Walston is brought home from the hospital to pass away at home. He is a nice old man and he takes a liking to Denier. He does have his issues and seems to be overly sexual, as he asks her to strip naked for him as a last wish.
Saylor then hears Denier on the phone with Hicks. He hears that his girlfriend has been murdered. Saylor proposes that if Denier marries Hicks and they kill Rubes as well as Hicks, Denier would get all the money. He asks for a small portion of the fortune though. She agrees, but Rubes attacks Saylor and knocks him out. What will happen with Denier? Will Hicks believe what she is saying or will she killed as well? What is really going on here in this mansion?
This is yet another horror film that I knew nothing about before coming into it. I have to say that the best part for me was the soundtrack. It sounded a lot like the theme from A Nightmare on Elm Street and it does make the scenes this song was used in even scarier. I also really liked when Rubes is playing the piano, because some of the songs he plays are creepy as well. I would say that Denier is really good in this film as well as Rubes. The story has some good twists and I thought the ending was solid. This film has some blood, but it is not over the top. The concept isn’t bad either of what Rubes is really trying to do.
My biggest issue is that it too a little too long to set up. We got a lot of the relationship between Denier and Hicks, as well as with Rubes and Walston. I get why it was established, but I was a little bored and wanted to know when the film was really going to get going. Once it does though, it doesn’t stop until the end. I wasn’t really impressed by Hicks, Adams or Saylor in this film. I also think the film does a little bit of liberty with the ending, but I won’t hold that against the film.
This film is actually not all that bad. It does take a little bit too long to get going, but once it does, it has an ending that is good. The concept isn’t bad, while some of the acting is. Denier and Rubes are pretty solid though. There isn’t a lot of blood, so that is something to keep in mind. The idea at the end is a little farfetched, but nothing too implausible. This is not the best medical horror film out there, but it definitely is not the worst either. If you like horror, I would recommend giving this one a chance to see how you like it.
My Rating: 6 out of 10