Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Blood Link. Before we get into it, here are my ratings:
Story - 0.75 Direction - 1.00 Pace - 0.75 Acting - 1.00 Enjoyment - 1.00
TOTAL - 4.50 out of 10
No sooner had the film started than I had the feeling the picture deserved more respect than the writers, director, or cast gave it.
The opening scenes of the first kill are washed out (which you later realise is a camera filter used to show looking through another's eyes), drab, and boring. Murder should never be boring, especially the first one. And it was the reason why it took so long for me to watch the rest of the film. After catching the beginning before; I knew I needed to be in the right mood to watch the rest. The right mood came last night.
Blood Link tries to be a Giallo and fails. The cause is that it misses two principal elements of the genre - Mystery and Evil. Because you know who the killer is, there's no mystery involved, and the audience can't be fed andy red herrings, which takes out a lot of the enjoyment. Lamentably, the murderer, Keith, isn't demented enough to be called evil. And he's so poorly written he's nearly insignificant. And the same can be said of his twin, Craig, who is searching for him. All the characters are inferior to the ones in similar stories. Everything, except the basic premise of the story, is weak. The terrible thing is that it wouldn't have taken much to rectify these issues.
And the same can be said of the picture's directing. For the most part, the filming is pretty standard and uninteresting. The director tried adding interest by showing that the twins saw through each other's eyes. He did this by using soft focus filters to add a hazy distortion. Unfortunately, the effect is too distorted, and you can't easily see what's happening. And that goes against the principle that Craig saw everything clearly and even felt Keith's murderous feelings and joyful satisfaction. Surely, if that's the case, then the killings should be viewed with perfect clarity. It didn't help that the movie had a sluggish tempo. Some films work with a single pace, but Blood Link isn't one of them. Added to the poorly written script, it only adds to the apathy.
And the cast adds more listlessness to the film. I've never been a fan of Michael Moriarty, and Blood Link is a film to show why. He either hits or misses in his performances. This one is a resounding miss. What this story required was an actor who could portray two different personalities. Though what we get is Moriarty being Moriarty, and Moriarty with a higher-pitched voice. There is absolutely no way to distinguish between the two, which would have been brilliant had the writers used that factor in the story.
I would recommend staying away from Blood Link unless there really is nothing better to watch - and in this day and age of choice, I seriously doubt that.
Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers list to see where I ranked Blood Link or to find yourself better entertainment.
Take Care & Stay Well.
Story - 0.75 Direction - 1.00 Pace - 0.75 Acting - 1.00 Enjoyment - 1.00
TOTAL - 4.50 out of 10
No sooner had the film started than I had the feeling the picture deserved more respect than the writers, director, or cast gave it.
The opening scenes of the first kill are washed out (which you later realise is a camera filter used to show looking through another's eyes), drab, and boring. Murder should never be boring, especially the first one. And it was the reason why it took so long for me to watch the rest of the film. After catching the beginning before; I knew I needed to be in the right mood to watch the rest. The right mood came last night.
Blood Link tries to be a Giallo and fails. The cause is that it misses two principal elements of the genre - Mystery and Evil. Because you know who the killer is, there's no mystery involved, and the audience can't be fed andy red herrings, which takes out a lot of the enjoyment. Lamentably, the murderer, Keith, isn't demented enough to be called evil. And he's so poorly written he's nearly insignificant. And the same can be said of his twin, Craig, who is searching for him. All the characters are inferior to the ones in similar stories. Everything, except the basic premise of the story, is weak. The terrible thing is that it wouldn't have taken much to rectify these issues.
And the same can be said of the picture's directing. For the most part, the filming is pretty standard and uninteresting. The director tried adding interest by showing that the twins saw through each other's eyes. He did this by using soft focus filters to add a hazy distortion. Unfortunately, the effect is too distorted, and you can't easily see what's happening. And that goes against the principle that Craig saw everything clearly and even felt Keith's murderous feelings and joyful satisfaction. Surely, if that's the case, then the killings should be viewed with perfect clarity. It didn't help that the movie had a sluggish tempo. Some films work with a single pace, but Blood Link isn't one of them. Added to the poorly written script, it only adds to the apathy.
And the cast adds more listlessness to the film. I've never been a fan of Michael Moriarty, and Blood Link is a film to show why. He either hits or misses in his performances. This one is a resounding miss. What this story required was an actor who could portray two different personalities. Though what we get is Moriarty being Moriarty, and Moriarty with a higher-pitched voice. There is absolutely no way to distinguish between the two, which would have been brilliant had the writers used that factor in the story.
I would recommend staying away from Blood Link unless there really is nothing better to watch - and in this day and age of choice, I seriously doubt that.
Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers list to see where I ranked Blood Link or to find yourself better entertainment.
Take Care & Stay Well.