Blood
I finally watched Brad Anderson’s “Session 9” last year, and one of the things I love is how the film is very much a slow-burn, but every moment is ratcheting up the suspense, whether it’s developing character, setting, or plot. His latest film, “Blood,” employs the same storytelling balance, and while it doesn’t pack a punch quite like the earlier film does, it offers similarly challenging questions about the struggles of keeping people we care about safe.
Jess (Michelle Monaghan) is in the middle of a divorce with her husband, and has moved her children into childhood home. Jess is a nurse, as well as a former drug addict, which- despite her trying to recover from the latter- is how the divorce started. Her ex-husband (Skeet Ulrich) is fighting for custody of the kids, using her history against her, but that might not be the worst thing Jess has to deal with. One day, Tyler (Skylar Morgan Jones) and Owen (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) come across a desolate area with a tree in the middle of a muddied area. Later that day, their dog runs into the woods, and when it returns, it attacks Owen. In more ways than one, Jess is going to have to show her love for her son as she tries to keep him alive.
The screenplay by Will Honley sketches out a simple scenario that is like a merger of “The Thing” and “Let the Right One In,” giving Anderson a strong opportunity to test Jess’s mettle in not just her own sense of addiction, but trying to keep Owen’s at bay, when she discovers something dangerous happening to his body after the attack. “Blood” seems to put moral question after moral question in front of Jess as it asks the question of how far a mother would go to help her child? Her addictive history plays a part, and we certainly can judge her for her actions, but we can also empathize with them. Monaghan gives a very good performance as the stereotypical horror movie parent who will do anything to protect her child. As the film progresses, however, we get the sense that she will only be able to go so far. How will things play out when she gets to that moment?
In contemplating “Blood,” I feel as though it would have been better served as an 80-90 minute film than a 108-minute film. There’s ultimately not enough story, and a bit too much repetition, in Honley’s script for this length, and while I do appreciate Anderson’s slow-burn approach to horror, this one could have gotten to its climax a bit sooner, and made as strong an impact as a film like “Session 9” does all the same. Through much of the film, though, Anderson kept me on the hook for what his film was working through thematically and narratively. He continues to impress as a genre filmmaker looking to challenge his audience in subtle, lasting ways.
