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Family Blood

Family Blood (2018)

March. 16,2018
|
4.2
| Horror Thriller

Ellie, a recovering drug addict, has just moved to a new city with her two teenage children. She has struggled to stay sober in the past and is determined to make it work this time, finding a stable job and regularly attending her meetings. Unfortunately, new friends, a new job, and the chance of a new life, can’t keep Ellie from slipping once again. Her life changes when she meets Christopher – a different kind of addict – which forces her daughter and son to accept a new version of Ellie.

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Cebalord
2018/03/16

Very best movie i ever watch

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KnotStronger
2018/03/17

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

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Hayden Kane
2018/03/18

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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Mathilde the Guild
2018/03/19

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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TheLittleSongbird
2018/03/20

Was drawn into seeing 'Family Blood' with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing but very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. 'Family Blood' is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. As a film it's weak, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is very little good about itLets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.Although most of it looks schlocky, some of the shots look decent. The start intrigues somewhat, shame the rest of the film completely goes downhill and never recovers.Unfortunately, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained and ridiculous in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting. Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both dreadfully done. Not to mention a whole novel's worth of inconsistencies and continuity errors and a structure so aimless and confused it renders some of the film incoherent.There are a good deal of underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending is not a surprise or interesting with it being too easily foreseeable that suspense is completely dissipated.There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative, very repetitive and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror and resorting to cheap typical horror tropes. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film, and the music doesn't really fit. There is no creativity or anything shocking.In summation, mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox

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napopincelli
2018/03/21

Do you remember the subtlety of certain novels about the addiction to blood of the night creatures and its metaphors? Now, forget about it, because Family Blood will try to force down your throat the comparison between drugs and vampirism. Despite the title of my review, Family Blood is not a horror-comedy. In fact, this is a horror-drama, produced by Blumhouse and distributed by Netflix, that centres on Ellie (Vinessa Shaw), a recovering drug addict who has just moved to a new city with her two teenage children. Ellie joins a support group, where she meets shady guy Christopher (James Ransone, Sinister 2), who helps the woman get past her addiction by providing her with a new one, for blood! Family Blood has a few enjoyable aspects. To begin with, the movie really tries to be original and tackle vampirism in a fresh, unconventional way: we see Ellie going to the phases of transformation and how they affect her life and the life of her children. Yet, albeit riddled with jump-scares (some of them fake), this movie creates a genuine tension during the first hour. This is backed up and strengthened by the very well-crafted technical features: very reminiscing of Let The Right One In (the remake, not the original) in terms of atmosphere and camera-work, Family Blood builds up its story through a sombre and dark tone. In general, the production values are really good and little cookie-cutter (surprisingly so for a Blumhouse production). Despite the Uwe Boll-esque CGI blood utilised during the last 20 minutes of the film, which really looked fake and cheap, the violence in the movie is quite effective and it's helped by the fact that many actions are only implied rather than shown. Unfortunately, that's about it. For starter, the acting is atrocious: I honestly wouldn't know whether to blame the cast (Ransone and Shaw never convinced me as actors) or the directing, since it's entirely plausible the director told them "just act and speak you're under suppressants okay?" I mean, this kind of line delivery makes sense for Shaw, since her character is kind of supposed to look and sound like an annoying, boring woman. It's inexplicable for all the others though. Aside from the performances, Family Blood suffers enormously from pacing issues. By that I don't mean the pace isn't balanced, more so all the scenes (excluding the last 20 minutes) are equally boring: I know, what one finds boring might be extremely exciting for others - heck, some of my favourite movies are considered boring by most - but here the movie is overall uneventful, every sequence drags for too long. In all honestly, I dozed off a couple of times while I was watching this flick. The aspect that bothered me the most, however, is the over-the-top and spoon-feeding social commentary (or agenda?) the movie is trying to push. Vampirism is shown as a metaphor for drug addiction, which is an old but interesting concept. The problem is that this concept is executed in an obvious and annoying way, which makes it impossible (at least for me) to be affected or involved by the idea. Horror movies can be a very powerful tool to convey a strong and important social commentary and several great horror films were able to pull that off. In Family Blood that doesn't happen, because the filmmakers were most likely too focused on making sure the message didn't get lost for anybody. The result is a superficial social commentary that is neither original nor impactful. This is the third Blumhouse flick I watched and reviewed so far this year: Family Blood surely isn't as wrenched and laughable as Truth or Dare, but it's also far from being as good and interesting as Stephanie. Check it out if you're into vampire flicks, just don't expect anything other than a little creepy movie that would help you catch some sleep. Check out this, and my other reviews at https://horrorworld.reviews/ Family Blood 4.5/10

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Headturner1
2018/03/22

I rather liked this. If you have an IQ and can think of the irony. I was laughing my butt off. Because well if you blinked you'd miss the small humor and connections to " the lost boys". I was cracking that they were so worried about her abusing again but oh no. That would be so much easier situation. I was rolling on the floor when the son went outside to research what might be happening and looks to catch her licking the blood off the floor from his cut on his foot. How he tried to every vampire myth to no avail. I mean it was so utterly but I couldn't help but finding myself cracking up throughout. I thought the boy and girl were rater good and my man James. I knew he could play a creepy character. if th script were better this could have been rather good imo.

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Páiric O'Corráin
2018/03/23

SPOILER: Family Blood: Elle (Vinessa Shaw) is a recovering addict, she moves to a new city with her children Kyle (Colin Ford) and Amy (Eloise Lushina). At an Addicts Anonymous Meeting she meets up with Christopher (James Ransone) who it turns out is a vampire. To "save" Elle from her traumas, Christopher turns her. Her children along with Kyle's school friend Meegan (Ajiona Alexus) presume Elle has started using pills again. We then get to observe her dark descent.Elle is unable to hold down food, even when she tries to take pills she immediately regurgitates them.Desperate she roams the night and eventually kills and exsanguinates a cat, later moving on to the pet's owner. These vampires don't fear crucifixes or garlic and prove rather hard to kill. They ask if they can come in, but they're just being (sarcastically) polite, they don't need an invitation.Some convincing acting by Shaw, Ford and Alexus, good vampire attack scenes but the pace is uneven. Too much dreariness between the action sequences, at times I felt it was like Angela's Ashes - with Vampires. 6/10. On Netflix.

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