The Blood Red Sky poster reminds me of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963), an episode of The Twilight Zone. Carrying the premise of “the appearance of a vampire in a hijacked plane”, this film by director Peter Thorwarth has the potential to present an exciting, terrifying, and mind-blowing spectacle like the series. Potential that instantly disappeared due to Thorwarth’s lack of expertise in working on horror. Top Movie Site
The first few minutes of Blood Red Sky feel like a straight-to-DVD movie. Maybe because of the B-class action-thriller-style scene about the hijacking of the plane, or because Dominic Purcell plays the leader of the terrorists who carried out the hijacking.
That familiar impression continues after we meet Nadja (Fairy Baumeister) and her son, Elias (Carl Anton Koch), who are about to fly from Germany to New York, where Nadja will undergo treatment for the leukemia she suffers from. Several flashbacks imply that Nadja’s husband has died due to an accident.
“The protagonist who has not been able to let go of the grief caused by the loss of a loved one” does sound formulaic. Until after the plane that Nadja and Elias were traveling in became a victim of hijacking, it was revealed that Nadja kept a secret, both about her illness and the death of her husband. He’s a vampire (not a spoiler, considering this was already shown in the trailer).
Nadja transformed, and the situation changed 180 degrees as soon as she started hunting down the hijackers. The “vampire Nadja” figure looks alive thanks to the convincing makeup. Like the combination of Count Orlok in Nosferatu (and many other films where vampires are not beautified or appear sensual) with Dren from Splice (2009). Best Movie
Violent, above average strength, can also withstand gunshot wounds. Will this be a one-sided battle? Luckily not. First, Nadja tried to keep herself from getting out of control in front of Elias. Nor was he an experienced vampire who had been hunting humans for years. Second, among the hijackers is Eightball (Alexander Scheer) the psychopath who does not hesitate to take extreme actions. Both parties are both hunters and prey.
An interesting concept, which if executed optimally, can cover the failed attempt by Thorwarth and Stefan Holtz’s script to criticize the stereotype of “Muslims are terrorists”, which appear as knick-knacks without any significance. The problem is, Thorwarth, who has spent most of his career working on action-comedy, is still very weak in handling the horror elements.
In fact, many scenes are presented inadvertently ridiculous, as if Thorwarth had a hard time resisting the urge to be funny. When a girl cries while calling her mother as soon as she sees Nadja’s face, or when in one flashback Nadja hisses at Elias who is still a baby, are just a few examples. There’s no sign that Blood Red Sky really intends to spice things up, so the cuteness is purely a result of poor setting.
It’s really hard to take this film seriously after the silliness above. Not to mention the director’s awkwardness in handling the bloodshed. This film is too “tame” for the size of the show with a TV-MA rating (equivalent to an R rating in cinema releases), and it lacks creativity in presenting violence. Everything just happened and perfunctory.
Another weakness is Elias’ characterization. Boy characters can add emotional weight if the ingredients are right, on the other hand, can be devastating if handled incorrectly. Elias is the second case. He sucks. It’s not Koch’s fault, it’s the script. Elias sucks, because he often commits reckless stupidity that is impossible for a child his age to do. Even the useful actions of Elias always end up triggering new problems. Movie Review
