2 out of 5

Director: Joel Schumacher

Schumacher wins again by turning compelling ideas and visuals into a mess. Blood Creek is about someone disappearing, and then it turns out theres a vampire involved. If you like thrillers theres not much suspense ever built herein, and if you like horror movies there are some nifty visuals (zombie horses!) but nothing gonzo enough to make you sit through the whole show. Blood Creek starts off well enough – beautiful black and white and wonderfully set-up shots of a German family and the beginnings of some mystical going-ons. I was surprised it was Schumacher. But once the film flips to color (ten minutes in, maybe?) I got my reminding via a quick recap of whats happening to the main character delivered via his ailing father. Oh your brothers missing and its your damn fault! This would be forgivable if it was twisted into some type of revelation, but brother shows up ten minutes later and even though hes been dead for a couple years, theres nary a question asked before the two head up to Blood Creek to shoot some old people. This would all be campy fun if the film didnt seem to want to be taken seriously. Anyhow, as mentioned, there are some cool ideas – and the horse scene is full of some daring stuff (with slightly dodgy CGI, but still) – but its just messy. The last hour of the film wouldve sufficed as a climactic final chapter. Oh well. Nazis!