Director: James Cullen Bressack
Writer: James Cullen Bressack, Madeleine Wade (Screenplay)
Starring: Madeleine Wade, Augie Duke, Michael Welch, Dave Sheridan, Mark Rolston, Dominique Swain
Plot: Two sisters who suffered abuse as children at the hands of their sadistic father decide, after his death, to use witchcraft to bring his spirit back to get revenge.
Tagline – How far would you go for revenge?
Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Disturbing Horror Revenge
Story: Blood Craft starts when a stripper Grace (Wade) gets news of her abusive father’s death forcing her to return home to see her sister Serena (Duke) and face the memories from their past, with Minister father (Sheridan) and their mother Hilde (Swain) who was terminally ill when they grew up, but did teach the girls the early stages of witch craft.
Serena talks Grace into using their witchcraft to bring their father back to life they can punish his spirit for what he made the girls do when they were growing up.
Thoughts on Blood Craft
Characters – Grace is the eldest daughter, she left the abuse, heading off into the world, turned to stripping, she is making a health living. With the news her father has died, she returns home to face the nightmares of her past, to confront her father’s spirit. She has managed to hide away most of the abuse in her life. Serena never managed to escape their father’s abuse, she has worked on ways of getting back at him, which involves witchcraft, only this will see her talk Grace into turning to these arts, as she doesn’t forget any of the abuse they suffered.
Performances – Madeleine Wade in the leading role gives us a wonderful performance of a lady haunted by her past, not wanting to enter her past, living the best way she can after a life of trauma. Augie Duke brings us a character that does remain calm through the situation the character has been through. Michael Welch does take on a dual role at times, neither does he get to show any true determination. Dominique Swain might be the big name draw, but her role is only in the supporting role not getting enough time even though her scenes are big impact.
Story – The story here follows two sisters that want to make the spirit of their abusive father pay for what he once did to them, it involves witchcraft, which shows how adults can look to deal with abuse. The dealing with abuse is easily the highlight of the story’s quality because it shows how two different adults have dealt with it and shows just how much damage it can have on the victims. Mental health has been used in horror before and always makes it one of the more powerfully elements from the real world. when it comes to the revenge side of the film it can be seen as something different because it asks the question on how to deal with revenge on the dead? The story is also filled with plenty of twists along the way, which surprise and become even more disturbing along the way.
Horror – The horror in the film comes from dealing with the real world abuse the sisters have experienced and how they are planning to confront it. We do get elements of witchcraft which works, though isn’t truly as scary as it could have been.
Settings – The film is set in one location, the house where the sisters grew up, suffered their abuse, it keeps the problems they are dealing with in house, which is what is need for them to confront them.
Special Effects – The effects are simple enough, we don’t get many, but the ones we get are used we enough.
Scene of the Movie – The morning after.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – There was a lot more to process than I was expecting.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror that digs deep with the emotional factors, it tackles real-world problems and shows the extremes two people would go to confront them.
Overall: Shocking and Disturbing.
Rating
