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Fantastic Fest: ‘Bloodthirsty’ Hits All the Right Notes to Effectively Expand on Werewolf Lore

Published

3 years ago

October 2, 2020

Fantastic Fest has been an intense celebration of great film and werewolves this year. Bloodthirsty fits in nicely here. It’s also a great cross-pollination of Joe Dante’s The Howling and John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps and goes long way to elevate both body horror and lycanthrope lore.

Bloodthirsty comes from director Amelia Moses and writers Wendy Hill-Tout and singer-songwriter Lowell. The trio compliment each other nicely throughout the run of the film.

The story revolves around Grey a pop-star in the process of recording her second album after her first well-received entry. The pressure of being under the spotlight combined with her own past has caused her to have intense and often vicious hallucinations. That’s when Grey and her girlfriend Charlie receive an invitation from world renowned producer, Vaughn Daniels. The invitation takes them to a secluded cabin in the middle of the snowy wilderness where Grey begins to record her sophomore album. However, as Grey starts to record her album the hallucinations begin to become more intense and it turns out that their lovely producer Vaughn might have some murderous skeletons in his own closet.

The soundtrack for Bloodthirsty is a hungry and revealing through-line that ultimately separates this film from the pack. Each song, written by Lowell expands Grey and her character just as much as the visual FX do in terms of transformation. Added to that, the songs are just really good. I had to do a quick Google to see if the title track was available for purchase. Creating a great song is one thing, creating a great song that expands on an entire film arc is something else and boy is that done well here.

Bloodthirsty

Lead actress Lauren Beatty is absorbing and manages to create an onscreen transformation that feels entirely organic. Her ability to flawlessly and simultaneously be vulnerable, elegant and menacing all at the same time is the central piece of the film working as a whole. Beatty disappears into this role and emanates a deeply personal connection to Grey.

The isolation of the film works well as the backdrop for Grey’s psyche. Moses creates a constricting world that puts you and its main character in the same tight confines, and makes you just as desperate as her to escape.

“It’s hypnotic approach like rows of teeth

tightening around around your neck.”

Vaughn played by Greg Bryk brings an approach built out of a pure quite menace. The entire approach rests on charm. It ultimately makes the character of Vaughn someone that you would definitely want to keep your eye on but also has enough charm that you believe trusting him and following him down a possibly not so brightly lit path.

When it comes to werewolf films, its important to get down to brass tacks in the VFX. Ever since An American Werewolf in London and The Howling set the bar for on-screen transformations, it has become something that lycan films reach for. So, it’s great to see what Bloodthirsty does with its own transformation. We get the full on wolf out in a really well-done metamorphosis that uses pain as a backboard for stretching fingers and cracking maws and the reveal of an awesome monster.

I love films about writers block and the process of creating. Bloodthirsty almost frustratingly expresses the intricacies of that block and that fear of not knowing if your work will even be accepted once it does come out. The isolation, the transformation and constant self-discoveries are shown to great effect throughout. Best of all, all this could have been its very own drama picture without the horror elements and totally worked. But, the rage that an onscreen werewolf illustrates is at the core of many a writer block session.

Bloodthirsty hits all the right notes in furthering werewolf lore. It’s hypnotic approach like rows of teeth tightening around around your neck. A careful and plotted approach to the development of its characters carries nicely through a film that very much could have just been a drama and still worked. In fact, that’s what makes Bloodthirsty work as well as it does, it isn’t wearing its werewolf fangs on its sleeve. Instead the slow burn approach works here two-fold and makes the blood, gore and teeth pieces fly late in the film. Bloodthirsty is heatbreaking, transformative and gory, and takes you in places that few lycan films have gone before.

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Related Topics:Bloodthirsty Lowell Lycan Songwriter werewolf

Movies

Shudder Promises: “Goopy practical effects…and LOTS of blood” in Upcoming Movie

Published

10 hours ago

December 8, 2023

Timothy Rawles

Shudder has been hitting out of the park with new horror releases lately. Now comes word that they will release the horror/comedy Destroy All Neighbors on their streaming platform starting January 12. The movie is helmed by music video director Josh Forbes. It stars Jonah Ray Rodrigues (Mystery Science Theater 3000), and Alex Winter, Ted, of Bill & Ted Fame.

There is no trailer for the movie yet, but Shudder explains that Rodrigues plays William, “a neurotic, self-absorbed musician determined to finish his prog-rock magnum opus, faces a creative roadblock in the form of a noisy and grotesque neighbor named Vlad (Alex Winter). Finally working up the nerve to demand that Vlad keep it down, William inadvertently decapitates him. But, while attempting to cover up one murder, William’s accidental reign of terror causes victims to pile up and become undead corpses who torment and create more bloody detours on his road to prog-rock Valhalla. Destroy All Neighbors is a twisted splatter-comedy about a deranged journey of self-discovery full of goopy practical FX, a well-known ensemble cast, and LOTS of blood.”

Destroy All Neighbors will premiere on Shudder on January 12.

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Games

Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele Unveil Trailer for Chilling ‘OD’

Published

15 hours ago

December 8, 2023

Trey Hilburn III

Gamers have been waiting for Hideo Kojima to give us something in the form of a horror game ever since PT’s demo scared the heck out of all of us when it was released on PS4. Well, The Game Awards didn’t disappoint by bringing Hideo Kojima’s latest project OD out to tease. While the trailer didn’t focus on any gameplay at all, it did give us some motion capture of Udo Kier Sophia Ellis, and Hunter Schafer.

The short trailer focuses on close-ups of the actors; each of whom is reciting a haunting lines from a memorable text. Following the little video, Kojima came out on stage to share his excitement about the game. That wasn’t all though!

Kojima then brings out Jordan Peele, to announce that the game is in partnership with the director. The latest horror game is titled OD and is already on big most anticipated lists.

Kojima announces that this is of course a game but is also a new form of media altogether. He remains cryptic about the game but makes sure to give us all a lot to take in and be excited about.

Peele is on board to put gamers into the shoes of characters that will feel familiar to the sort of experiences that he brings to his films.

There is no word on when OD will see a release date but we are very excited and will be sure to let you know more when we receive more info.

Are you excited about Kojima’s new partnership with Peele? Let us know in the comments section.

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Games

Arkane Studios and Marvel Reveal Rad Trailer for Blade

Published

15 hours ago

December 8, 2023

Trey Hilburn III

One of the biggest and most exciting moments from last night’s Game Awards was the unveiling of Arcane’s latest game, Blade! That’s right, y’all. Marvel is getting together with Arkane Studios in order to tell the tale of the Daywalker.

Arkane has been responsible for some of our favorite games over the last few years. They are responsible for Deathloop and Dishonored just to name a couple. So, the idea of a Blade game is very exciting. Mainly because we have seen what Arkane does with their special powers and perks in game. So, we already can’t wait to see the powers they unleash with Blade.

Not much is known at the moment other than the game will be a third-person experience that takes place in Paris.

The synopsis for Blade goes like this:

In Marvel’s Blade, Eric Brooks is the legendary Daywalker, half-man, half-vampire torn between the warm society of the living and the rushing power of the undead. From Bethesda and Arkane Lyon, the studio that brought you Dishonored and “DEATHLOOP”, Marvel’s Blade is a mature, single-player, third-person game set in the heart of Paris, now in development in collaboration with Marvel Games.

We are already dying to see what Arkane and Bethesda does with Blade. It will undoubtedly be a huge and memorable experience. Marvel has been doing a great job of carefully brining their games to life. If you haven’t played Guardians of the Galaxy, please do. It is a singular experience that goes beyond the game films and gives us an all-new experience in the Guardians tales. We are sure that Arkane will give us another amazing Marvel chapter when Blade is released.

There isn’t any word on when Blade is going to be released. But, we will be sure to keep you updated as soon as we hear more.