Blood Ransom (2014)
Starring Alexander Dreymon, Anne Curtis, Natalina Maggio
Directed by Francis dela Torre
With equal parts of horror, romance, and the film noir-ish look and pursuit characteristics of a crime drama, Francis dela Torre’s Blood Ransom gives vampire fans an adequate slice of cinematic blood sausage, without getting all of that Twilight residue stuck in your fangs.
The movie stars Anne Curtis (the Philippines’ Queen of the Box Office) as Crystal – a woman who is devastated due to the passing of her parents, and her solace is found at the immortal hands of an evil head-honcho bloodsucker (Caleb Hunt as Roman), thus beginning her seven-day evolution into becoming a creature of the night. Her hunger pains grow stronger every day, and if that isn’t enough of a problem to be dealing with, she is now being pursued by Jeremiah (Alexander Dreymon), a man that has been sent to bring her home to safety. Now you all didn’t think that would be the stone-cold endline of the plot, did ya? No way!
To further complicate things for those involved, a sadistic hitman named Bill (Jamie Harris) is dispatched to run the two escapists down and return Crystal to her rightful place at her master’s side. However, a strong bond begins to grow between her and Jeremiah as their attempts to flee from the villains that pursue them cause their hearts to grow fonder for one another.
Okay, I need to put the brakes on here for a few… I’m beginning to drone on like one of those Harlequin romance novels. In any event, as the two absconders continue their hot and heavy entanglement with each other, the violence level ratchets higher and higher when Crystal’s need to feed gets SLIGHTLY out of control (they don’t call this movie Blood Ransom for nothin).
The remainder of the film has a sound cat and mouse chase that will give the noir-nostalgists a nice feeling in their guts, with a semi-pleasing dosage of crimson to shower in. Performances are standard fare (with Curtis as the exception – her gaze is hypnotizing). The whole “vampire” centerpiece isn’t used to excess, and that is a good thing, mainly due to the fact that I don’t think at this point in cinema showcasing there can be much left to either present or accomplish with the undead nightcrawler plotline.
This film tosses a nice mix of ingredients into the bowl, and outside of some slow movement and scattered scenes here and there, I’d offer this up as a decent watch to those who like their vampire flicks gritty and paced with danger… and not so much damn glitter strewn all over the place.
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Film
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