Book of Blood
2010 Directed by John Harrison
Synopsis
The dead will not be silenced.
Based on the wraparound story penned by Clive Barker in the author's "Books of Blood" collection, the story centers on a paranormal expert who, while investigating a gruesome slaying, finds a house that is at the intersection of "highways" transporting souls to the afterlife.
Studio
Popular reviews
More-
“The stories go on. They bleed and bleed. The dead have highways, only the living are lost.”
-Mary Florescu (Sophie Ward)Book of Blood is an adaptation of Clive Barker’s wraparound story of the same name in his Books of Blood collection. As is often the case with the reworking of Barker’s visions, a substantial amount is lost in translation. Despite any preconceptions, especially given the title, this is not a bloody gorefest. It’s actually very slow-moving, and plays out like a drama with supernatural overtones. Now whilst this does allow for more character development than his other adaptations, it can seem to drag along at a snail’s pace.
One marked difference between this adaptation, from director Harrison, and Barker’s,…
Recent reviews
More-
A slow, sparse of scares horror that does what all terrible horrors do: A collection of wafer thin characters who make some terrible decisions. There's only so many times loud bangs are effective.
-
I was hoping this would be an anthology, but it sticks with a single story in a closely tied framing device.
Covers some pretty familiar ground for Clive Barker fans, what with the skinlessness and the illicit sex and the bloody goings-on in what should've been some English family's happy home. The overfamiliarity blunts its effectiveness, but at least the director knows how to stick his stingers where we probably won't be looking for them.
Ending's a bit bonkers, which is just as well because by that point it really needed the shot of caffeine. Not one of the better Barker adaptations, but worth a look if you've worn out your Nightbreed VHS.
-
“The stories go on. They bleed and bleed. The dead have highways, only the living are lost.”
-Mary Florescu (Sophie Ward)Book of Blood is an adaptation of Clive Barker’s wraparound story of the same name in his Books of Blood collection. As is often the case with the reworking of Barker’s visions, a substantial amount is lost in translation. Despite any preconceptions, especially given the title, this is not a bloody gorefest. It’s actually very slow-moving, and plays out like a drama with supernatural overtones. Now whilst this does allow for more character development than his other adaptations, it can seem to drag along at a snail’s pace.
One marked difference between this adaptation, from director Harrison, and Barker’s,…
-
A typically twisted tale by Clive Barker but unfortunately let down by the ending.
Also, some very dodgy accents. The lead character's keeps switching between, english, scottish and american.
Initially (acting aside) the story looks to be quite scary and sets up to be harrowing like you would expect from Clive Barker, with the "supernatural presence" looking like it was going to be something terrible and evil. Then in the end you end up feeling like "was that it??!!"
-
Awful
-
Seemingly put together after somebody had half an idea, the premise is good but never fully fleshed out(!). The sleeve quotes promise a film that's up there with Hellraiser; maybe Hellraiser: Hellseeker but nowhere near the calibre of the first. A couple of okay gore scenes but ultimately dull.
-
Kind of crap. I think this would have worked better as a BBC horror mini series. Some chilling scenes and good ideas.