“Blood Widow offers nothing you haven’t seen many times before”
by Nav Qateel
First-time writer-director Jeremiah Buckhalt’s Blood Widow is about as pedestrian as a slasher flick can get, with nothing new whatsoever being offered up in this low-budget affair. Released by the popular ‘Midnight Releasing’ label whose indie horror’s are generally quite entertaining, Blood Widow scores about as many points as it gives away.
We have a masked killer; cellphones don’t work; a group of twentysomethings; remote location; plot holes Uwe Boll could drive a Mack truck through (the large model) and a killer who can barely function as a human yet can get it together to arrange a cool costume. What saved Blood Widow was actress Danielle Lilley’s capable performance and some amusing over-the-top action by our serial-killer.
- Blood Widow
- Directed by
Jeremiah Buckhalt - Cast
Danielle Lilley, Brandon Kyle Peters, Christopher de Padua - Release Date
3 June 2014 - Nav’s Grade: C
*****
Laurie Sullivan (Danielle Lilley) and boyfriend Hugh (Brandon Kyle Peters) have just moved into their new house. Nearby is an old derelict boarding school, where a young girl was relentlessly bullied by her classmates, and now said young girl has grown up and developed a taste for using a cat o’ nine tails and a scythe. Hugh has arranged a housewarming party, which the unhappy Laurie knew nothing about and now gives Hugh a hard time over. After a load of their buddies turn up and get into the party mood, some of them go over to the abandoned school where they disturb a serial-killer. Next morning they realise a guest is missing and as time passes even more meet with a bad end, but they only have a tiny crossbow to protect themselves with. With the cars disabled by the killer, the survivors must try to last until the expected help arrives in the morning.
Danielle Lilley has good on-screen presence which served her well here, and you could feel the chemistry she and co-star Brandon Kyle Peters had. This was actually Peters’ first role as with the majority of the cast and most did a respectable job by giving it their all. My favorite character was hippy chick Harmony Lively, played well by Kelly Kilgore, but Harmony didn’t last very long as she was the first of the partygoers to get their ass handed to them.
Like with all very low-budget horror-films these days, you have to lower your expectations considerably, especially with so many being made in an already saturated genre. Blood Widow offers nothing you haven’t seen many times before, but the kills are rather novel and there are a few differences to this derivative tale to make it quite watchable. If you have a passion for indie horror’s then Blood Widow will keep you entertained.
