Tags:
Film: Book of Blood
Year: 2009
Director: John Harrison
Writer: John Harrison and Darin Silverman
Starring: Jonas Armstrong, Sophie Ward and Clive Russell
Review:
This film begins with telling us about that there is the world of the dead that runs parallel to ours. There are highways that intersect with our world. From there, we jump to a house where the parents of a girl hear screaming and come up to her room. We see that something is happening to her and then her face is ripped off her skull. The message tells us not to ignore them.
We shift to a teacher of the paranormal, played by Sophie Ward, who is beginning an investigation of the house that the girl was killed in. A new student joins her classroom, played by Jonas Armstrong. She runs into him while he is walking and she offers him a ride. Even though it is raining, he declines after he looks at her rear tire. That tire blows out later on.
Ward works with Clive Russell, who wants to find proof as much as she does and she tries to convince him to allow Armstrong to join them. He reluctantly agrees. They have cameras set-up to help catch any proof.
Things begin to happen in the house almost immediately. Messages in the closet that burst into flames, other messages wrote all over the walls. Markings appear on Armstrong’s skin and Russell begins to hear voices. Each time though they get no recordings and the cameras go out.
Are these things really happening? Russell doesn’t trust Armstrong and he thinks he is playing them? Is he right and are there really spirits in the house?
This film isn’t a bad adaptation of two Clive Barker short stories. At first I wasn’t sure if they were going to stay faithful to the Book of Blood story, but it did and I was impressed.
The film is creepy when the girl is killed, but the film then shifts to what is real and what isn’t. It immediately becomes scary at the end once again when the truth comes out. The acting to go with it is solid enough and the story itself is fleshed out very well.
I would recommend this one if you’re interested in a supernatural film that makes you question what is going on. That element really adds to this film and it makes it scarier when you see what is really happening. Not the best ghost story, but definitely not bad by any stretch. The acting and story are good enough as well, so I would give this one a viewing if this sounds interesting.
My Rating: 7 out of 10