Frank and Donnie are two brothers who lives peacefully outside of a small town, until one day when Donnie is attacked and Frank has to use violence in order to help him out. It doesn't take long before Donnie shows up with a dead girl who was with the attackers, but that Donnie did not kill. Since the brothers come from a tragic and murderous past, which has affected Donnie deeply and left him to completely rely on his older brother, they feel that no one will believe them and therefore they kidnap the only witness, and from there on, things only tend to go down-hill.
Bloodshed tells a quite simple, but yet very intriguing tale that is just as captivating as it is easy getting into; and getting into it is as easy as to snap your fingers. While the budget for this movie might not have been very high, the thought put into it really shines through and in the end that is of course a helluva lot more rewarding for the viewer than just looking at a flashy film that might have cost fortunes, but that has nothing to stand on. Bloodshed is a solid movie with the story in focus and is a film that does not rely on cheap gore, cheap scares and bad CGI. Instead it delivers atmosphere and feeling, showing us that a good story accompanied by a good script does not require heaps of cash for it to work - something that a lot of people within the industry of today seem to have forgotten. In other words, I was pleasantly surprised over the fact of just how good this film turned out to be.
Having no expectations whatsoever always seems to be the best way to go about things and it really turned out to be true this time around. I wasn't really expecting anything, good or bad, and early on in the film I wasn't sure what to think, but luckily, it got good real fast. I believe that too many people are just too focused on how a movie looks that they tend to forget to look past that first impression and focus on what's on the "inside". I'm more than willing to admit that I've been pretty much like that too, but have over the years learned not to be so shallow and have tried to look behind what the eye first sees before judging whatever it might be. Wow, getting a little too deep here maybe, sorry bout that and we're moving on.. For a low-budget film though, Bloodshed definitely looks good enough and more importantly, it really works as a whole.
 
We get to follow two brothers in the film, Frank and Donnie, who lives peacefully outside of a small town until one day when Donnie gets himself in trouble. Later on he finds a girl in the forrest that he brings home to his brother Frank. Since the brothers comes from a tragic past that involved a murderous father, Frankie figures that no one will believe that they did not kill the girl and their only chance to keep their freedom seems to be to kidnap the only witness - a girl named Beth. Having done that, it turns out that easy street was further away than they first had thought and since some people turn up at their house to look for the missing girl, the brothers need to, yet again, take action into their own hands. Needless to say, thing just keep getting worse.
What I really liked about Bloodshed was the two brothers that were Donnie and Frank. They were both just minding their own business until fate was cruel enough to get them tangled up in a big bloody mess. The thing though is that while these two were the bad guys in the film, you still felt a lot of sympathy for them all the way through, and even though they did what "had to be done", no one in the movie came off as the despicable villain, but instead you kinda rooted for all of the character - how strange that even may sound. Both Íce Mrozek and Christopher Childs really delivered as the two brothers and Shana Lee Klisanin also pulled off a terrific performance as the kidnap victim as she was truly believable all the way through. As for the other actors in the film, they were decent enough to make it work and my only complaint would've been about the sheriff who wasn't your regular award-winning type of actor, but it's a minor thing that in the end doesn't really matter. But with all the actual suspense, likable characters and good story-telling that Bloodshed has to offer, it's more than easy to forget about the small faults that it might have and instead see it for what it truly is - and that is one bloody good movie.
Bloodshed is a little gem that you should most definitely check out. It had an intriguing story that, once it got started, also kept one pretty much glued to the screen. Rare movies like this definitely deserves more credit because they do what Hollywood has since long forgotten all about, and that is to tell a good story that feels genuine and that is easy to get into as well as to appreciate. Recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 2005
DIRECTOR: Jim McMahon
WRITING CREDITS: Jim McMahon, Michael Roy
GENRE: Horror, Thriller
CAST: Íce Mrozek, Christopher Childs, Shana Lee Klisanin
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 82 min
RATING: 8/10
Bloodshed Website/IMDB Click here
Bloodshed Trailer Click here
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