Blood Moon Movie Review

Written by Steven Wood

Released by Uncork'd Entertainment

Directed by Jeremy Wooding
Written by Alan Wightman
2014, 90 minutes, Not Rated
DVD released on September 1st, 2015

Starring:
George Blagden as Jake Norman
Shaun Dooley as Calhoun
Corey Johnson as Hank Norton
Raffaello Degruttola as Jeb Norton
Amber Jean Rowan as Sarah Norman
Anna Skellern as Marie

 

Review:

Held up on the property of a dead man, a group of people must survive the night of the blood moon and the creature that comes with it.

In the Wild West, there were enough things to worry about, such as outlaws and bar fights ending in a shootout in the streets; I don’t think anyone would have guessed werewolves would be added to that list. Unfortunately, adding this beast into the Wild West does nothing for the film as it isn't scary in the least bit. Most of the violence revolves around typical western shoot outs. Blood Moon seriously lacks in the horror department, and even more specifically in the werewolf department.

There is some originality, though, like including the Navajo legend of Skin-Walkers (the ability to shape shift into animals; in this case a werewolf); too bad we didn’t get to see very much of the beast. Go here if you want some history on the Skin-Walker legend since Blood Moon does a terrible job of explaining. The story, if that’s what you want to call it, is also lacking in just about every other way possible. Normally, when having a wide variety of characters stuck in a single location, you’d expect that at least half of them be interesting, and the other half serving as comic relief. Just give me something to watch where I’m not bored out of my mind. Calhoun is the only saving grace as he’s the typical “mysterious drifter” in most western flicks. His past is brought up as if it will have something to do with the plot, but yet it doesn’t; probably should have just left it all out and let him remain mysterious. He’ll hold your interest for most of the time with his dry humor and general bad ass attitude, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll be wondering what his deal is exactly.

 

Blood Moon is a great example of “being in the wrong place at the wrong time”. With the vast Colorado landscape, you have to wonder how the ended up crossing paths with the Skin-Walker in the first place. For a while, there was a Feast (great movie from 2005) vibe going on, but that quickly fell flat and we’re left with the lackluster ending.

There isn’t too much to say about Blood Moon, if I’m being honest. The Wild West aspect isn’t wild enough. And the horror is almost non-existent; although the beginning offered some good practical effects, which I am a huge fan. It’s rather unfortunate that the Skin-Walker itself is CGI, and what is practical was laughably done.

So what did we learn? Not since Cowboys vs Aliens has there been a western mixed genre flick so terrible.

 

Grades:

Movie: 1.5 Star Rating Cover

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