Movie Review: Blood Clots (2018)
Blood Clots is a horror anthology consisting of 7 horror short films from Hewes Pictures. They are all presented in order of “clots”, and we will review them individually, and then the anthology as a whole.
Clot 1: Hell of a Day is written and directed by Evan Hughes, and stars Alexandra Octavia. This film is beautifully shot, and Alexandra does a fantastic job in her role. The story begins with Alexandra’s car breaking down in front of a bar/restaurant in Shadow Lake, somewhere in rural Australia. She is injured and looking for some medical supplies, and while finding them, also finds herself in some trouble when some shuffling zombies also have found their way to the same place. There is some pretty good tension, and some great practical special effect work and makeup in this short. It definitely feels like a zombie apocalypse, and the production overall was fantastic. They were able to establish a timeline of events that spanned days within about 10 minutes or so and pulled it off well.
Clot 2: Never Tear Us Apart is directed by Sid Zanforlin and is about two friends out in the woods on their way to meet some people, when they get sidetracked at a cabin. Great intro for this one that used some Raimi-esque camerawork. There is a nice twist to this story, and even though it was CG, there is a really well-done kill scene. Not a fan of CG in most cases, but it was well-executed here (pun intended), and the rest of the film was great.
Clot 3: Blue Moon is written by Airell Anthony Hayles and directed by Martyn Pick. This film is a mix of found-footage and regular styles of filming. The production quality in this one is pretty solid despite using different filming approaches. The story is about a porn producer who gets more than he bargained for, and the actress he hires ends up being a bad casting choice. There is some shaky cam where we would have liked to see more of what was happening, but this film still won us over in the end. Loved some of the effects in this one, especially a scene with the van. Overall, it was very imaginative and didn’t hold back and we loved their take on an age-old monster.
Clot 4: Time to Eat is written and directed by Luke Asa Guidici. This is the shortest film of the bunch, clocking in at only about 3-4 mins long. Despite this, it has some great cinematography, score, and special effects packed into a small window. It’s about a mom cooking dinner for her son, who has to go into the basement for his ball. Something really unexpected happens. Needless to say, something is on the menu. There were some great special effects, and there is also a nice twist to this one.
Clot 5: Still is written and directed by Carl Timms and is about a human statue street performer who has to give the performance of his life when the streets are overrun with zombies. Fantastic concept and originality here. It’s great to see a fresh approach when zombies are concerned. Everyone will have a story in a zombie apocalypse. Even street performers. Loved the idea, and the practical effects and zombies in this film.
Clot 6: Hellyfish is directed by Patrick Longstreth & Robert McLean. It starts off with an Iranian terrorist and a Russian spy looking for a bomb that has supposedly been in the ocean since 1958, and they are out in a rowboat. After an accident it fasts-forward a bit, there are jellyfish everywhere, and the problem is getting… bigger. Loved the cinematography, and most of the special effects. You can tell that a lot of effort went into this, and most of it works well. The overall vibe is a lot like Jaws and there is a nice reference to it in this film along with a nice nod to DX. Overall, it’s a high-quality production that doesn’t take itself too seriously, is just a lot of fun, and leaves you wanting more. Kudos to all involved in this one.
Clot 7: The Call of Charlie is written by Guy Benoit, John Simpson, and is also co-written and directed by Nick Spooner, and is about a dinner party that has a couple of unexpected guests, and another guest who just also happens to be one of the Great Old Ones. It is a very cleverly-written short film that finds a creative way of incorporating some H.P. Lovecraft into an everyday situation and does it amazingly well. The costume design for Charlie was fantastic, and it was refreshing to see something like this pulled off so well. We have an affinity for Lovecraft, and this one was definitely among our favorites here.
Overall:
Blood Clots as a whole is a fantastic collection of seven of some of the best independent horror shorts we have seen yet. Each story either had a really nice twist or fresh approach or sometimes both. The amount of collective talent throughout all of these films is amazing and reinforces everything that we love about independent horror. There was obviously a lot of passion put into each one of these projects, and the level of quality that they bring to the table in each one exceeded our expectations. We can’t stress enough how much we loved all of these films, and sincerely hope that everyone out there shows them some love and helps #SupportIndieHorror. You can check out Blood Clots here at Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/281331268
