PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Being a fan of vampire movies, I was quite eager to sink my fangs into Blood Immortal, set to be released in the US on DVD and for streaming on October 20, 2020. Sadly, this movie did not quench my thirst.
The story follows three generations of female vampires who, due to their environments and economic surroundings, find themselves plagued by a mystery illness. I found the plot quite mundane and confusing. This description reminds me of seasons 5 and 6 of True Blood as they entered the political world, and the show received negative reviews due to this change. In my opinion, True Blood pulled off that combination because the acting was up to standard, the effects were decent, the soundtrack was catchy, and the were characters memorable and familiar. I can not say the same for Blood Immortal, such as when new characters were introduced in the last 20 minutes, which left me somewhat dumbfounded and asking myself, “What is the writer trying to say with this movie?” Maybe some people out there are interested in the mixing of vampires and politics/economics, but I, for one, am not.
What Works
I want to point out some of the positive aspects of the Blood Immortal, as I don’t want to be scathing, and I do appreciate and respect anyone with the balls to go out and make a movie, especially in the horror genre. The movie takes place in three parts: past, present, and future. The past scenes are promising and gripping, and I quite enjoyed the acting by Richard Tyson (Kindergarten Cop 1990) who plays Mr. Duncan, a mature vampire looking to purchase land. He creates a vampire, Josephine, played by Aphrodite Nikolovski (Agramon’s Gate 2019 – read our review here), who is quite ill before being turned and then cared for by her daughter, Eliza (Julie Kline: Mimesis Nosferatu 2018).
What Doesn’t Work
Cut to the present, and we see, Fiona, Mr. Duncan’s daughter, who is eluded to by him in the opening scenes. Fiona is played by Jordan Trovillion (Kampout 2017), and this is where the storyline fell apart for me. The majority of the scenes in the present take place in an economics class, and they display the growing relationship between Fiona and her professor, played by Erika Hoveland (Before I Wake 2016). I simply did not understand why the inclusion of their relationship was pertinent to the storyline.
The future scenes also bring Josephine and her daughter back as they are seen to be in possession of some very valuable coins which they exchange for blood. An attempt to rob them occurs, but does not go well, obviously. The blood being sold by dealers is at a high price and the only clean blood a vampire can come across in this climate.
Blood Immortal is Director Robert Joseph Butler’s first full length feature, although he has directed shorts such as The Girl On The Mat (2016) and Dark Heart (2009). His films tend to be female-driven, and I certainly support that. Butler has also won many awards during the course of his career as a director. We at PopHorror wish him much success in the future!
Blood Immortal is not the original name of this movie. It was released in 2019 as Love Immortal and did receive good reviews upon opening. It is unclear why the name change and re-release, as not much information is available online about the film. The movie may have not been for me, but clearly, it is well liked by others and has received a 7.5/10 on IMDb.
If you are a fan of vampire movies and this sounds appealing to you I’d recommend Blood Immortal for you this Halloween season, however if you aren’t much of a fan of low-budget flicks that mix politics with horror, you may want to steer clear of this one.
