A reporter who looks into myth’s, is told about one where every thirty years a person vanishes without a trace. He travels to the remote village to investigate, along with his pregnant girlfriend…only for her to vanish…
Co-written and directed by Sean Brown and Luke Gosling, Blood Myth is a low budget British folk horror film. The idea behind it certainly is an intriguing one. However, I don’t think, as written, it has been been fully exploited.
The idea that there is an upcoming date where someone could go missing you would think would give the locals a sense of uneasiness. But the only local spoken too before doesn’t seem too concerned at all (to be fair she wasn’t born the last time it happened). However, the dialogue exchange does bring out what I think is an issue, which is the script. It feels like the dialogue was written by people who don’t understand how people actually talk. It’s a flaw that runs through the film.
I mentioned the story being intriguing. It is. Sadly, the film doesn’t fully exploit it. The reporter, James, spends all his time wandering about trying to find his girlfriend Harriet after she disappears, but that’s all he does. The police aren’t any help at all. But there’s no urgency in these scenes, no building of tension. It’s not until a local, Alexandra, gets involved that things pick up, leading to the ending…which throws in a twist that doesn’t work at all. The climax too is poorly shot and edited which certainly doesn’t help.
The performances of the cast, which I think are unknowns (certainly to me), are a mixed bag. Jonathan McClean plays James and is okay, as are Anna Dawson who plays the girlfriend Harriet and Hannah Chalmers as Alexandra. The rest of the cast aren’t bad, but barely made an impact.
But if I had to sum up my main issue with the film it lies with little details. If I’m enjoying a film, little errors in continuity, or plot or whatever don’t bother me that much, certainly will not effect how I feel about the film. However, if I’m not enjoying the film, if something like that happens, it does get to me.
Blood Myth has such a moment, where James takes his jacket off, leaving it outside the house, for absolutely no apparent reason at all. That such a little thing was bothering me a lot, sadly reflects on how I did not enjoy the film, which is a shame as I do have a soft spot for folk-horror films in general.
Blood Myth is the debut film as directors for Sean Brown and Luke Gosling. Sadly, it pains me to say that it’s not a good or even promising one. It’s weakly written and poorly directed. But it commits the worst sin of all for a film.
It was dull and boring.
Rating: *1/2 out of 5
