Following a miscarriage, a woman plays with forces she does not quite understand in her quest to have a child to love and care for.
Written and directed by Jennifer Phillips with story editor Emily Schooley, Blood Child is based on a true story, but how much of it is left here is not easily found with a quick Google search. Here the story is taken in a very supernatural way so the belief in whether or not it’s fully based on a true story will depend on the viewer’s level of belief in the supernatural. Nonetheless, the story is well written and takes the beliefs it plays with seriously while also adapting them to the screen. The characters feel like they are perhaps not developed at their best or the performances for them is what causes this lack of care for them from the viewer. The lead is interesting, but her husband comes off as unlikable, her best friend comes off bitchy, while the housekeeper comes off as a cliché complete with an accent that can only be fake (and if it is not, apologies to the actress).
The cast may be to blame for how these characters come off. In the lead, Alyx Melone does good work as a woman traumatized by her loss and trying to reconnect with her life while also trying to figure out how to fulfill her motherhood need. She is definitely the best of the cast here which may be due to mostly her talent, but also to the script. In the same train of thought, Biden Hall plays a husband that is unlikeable at best, if this part was written this way, great work, if not, then not so great work. This applies also to Charlotte Cattell and her performance as Naomi, possibly one of the most grating characters seen I a film this year. The rest of the cast does decent work, with an odd performance Cynthia Lee MacQuarrie and a few others, but in general, the acting is decent, but nothing to really write home about.
The supernatural angle in Blood Child is what makes the film interesting, adding interest to the film and its story and making the characters mostly simply people living through the events caused by someone’s incomplete knowledge of what they were dealing with. That being said, the film takes this element, develops it, gives it some of the best scenes in the film filled with tension and original ideas, and squashes it all in an ending that renders the rest of the film mostly moot depending how one reads that said ending. It’s one of those endings that is both frustrating and annoying. It’s one of those endings that people will either love or hate. Sadly, for this reviewer, it’s more hate than love for the ending.ss
Blood In The Snow runs November 23rd to November 26th, 2017.