Dare I be the one to say that I've never really understood the magic of Clive Barker? I always dug the first Hellraiser flick and enjoyed the audiobook presentation of Coldheart Canyon, but other than that...I just don't get it. It's not that I actively dislike his work or anything of that nature, but to me it's all just kind of indifferent. This latest DVD release (with Barker on board as a producer) does nothing to sway that opinion.Book of Blood is a mish-mash of two Barker short stories ("The Book of Blood" and "On Jerusalem Street"). The first ten or so minutes are interesting enough. We see a low rent bounty-hunter type catching up with his prey, a fucked up guy with writing carved all into his skin, and spiriting him away to a remote cabin. The hunter has been paid to skin the kid, but wants to hear his story first. Here's the part where anything remotely interesting comes to a screeching halt.
The bulk of the movie consists of the flashback tale of how this odd captive came to be a literal "book of blood." It's a ghost story that possesses all the flair, charm, and impetus of a Lifetime original movie. Psychic investigator employs this guy as a medium to help investigate a haunted house. Guy's a fraud. Rather slow-witted investigator finally catches on. Real ghosts start presenting themselves in all sorts of boring, badly-paced ways. They begin to use phony medium to write their stories on. In a totally unsurprising twist, we find that it's the psychic investigator that is hunting down the fake medium. Fini.
This is one of those movies that you want to get behind. It looks good, the actors are good, the story premise and the movie art piques your interest. Then sadly enough, it goes absolutely nowhere. Dull, plodding, and perhaps the unscariest thing I've seen in years. The dead will not be silenced? We should be so lucky. You've been warned.
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