Reviews: Book of Blood (2009) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Drama, Mystery
Subgenres: Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural, Haunted House - Investigation, Paranormal Proof
HellHorror’s review of Book of Blood (2009) breaks down the plot, scares, cast performances, and its lasting impact on the horror genre.
Clive Barker‘s Book of Blood (2009) is a British supernatural, mystery drama horror movie. There were wonderful views/sceneries of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK; Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK and London, England, UK. Director and co-writer John Harrison (Dinosaur (2000), Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), Painkiller Jane (2005)) did a phenomenal job with the small budget he had. The film contains graphic images, extreme graphic violence that gets very bloody, s**ual content, nudity, suspense, thrills, twist and intense tension building scenes.
Book of Blood starts by showing Wyburd (Clive Russell - Sherlock Holmes (2009), Thor: The Dark World (2013), The 13th Warrior (1999), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)) stalking Simon. Never accept a ride from a stranger. Wyburd convinces Simon McNeal (Jonas Armstrong - Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Robin Hood (2006), Walking with the Enemy (2013)) join him on his trip. Simon enters Wyburd’s truck and wakes up strapped to a table. Simon started to tell him the story of the Book of Blood after Wyburd asked him if he wants a slow death or a quick death. Simon now notices a lot of inscriptions carved on Simon’s entire body which also consist of scars. Simon told Wyburd he wanted a quick death. The movie goes on to parents hearing their young daughter being r**ed while she is screaming in her bedroom, but the parents cannot enter her room. Her face is soon ripped off which soon resulted in her death. Paranormal professor Mary Florescu (Sophie Ward - Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights (1992), Jane Eyre Jane Eyre (2011)) and her partner Reg Fuller investigates the young girls death several months later. Mary and Reg Fuller (Paul Blair - Outpost (2007), Hallam Foe (2007), Dear Green Place (2006)) discovers the house murderous past.
Mary began having an attraction for Simon McNeal, who is a clairvoyant. Simon, Mary, and Reg moves into the home, and it did not take long for one of them to die from a fall. There are ghosts, apparitions and other mysterious things going on, and they refuse to leave the house even after one of their partners dies. I would have been out of that house in a second. After a few events, Mary began making promises to the ghost for her, and the other survivor lives to be spared. The story was amazing, and I love how one of the characters aged while the other stayed young as the night progressed, and all of the events occurred.
The ending of the movie has a major twist that I did not see coming, and Simon knew from the beginning of the film why Wyburd kidnaped him. Mary creeped me out after she pulled the (**spoiler free**) from the suitcase and started smiling. I gave this movie a seven because it was entertaining and kind of original. The movie had enough of its content to be on my watch again list and for me to recommend it to my fellow horror fans. The actors did an okay job with their roles, but they could have done an excellent job because the screenplay was awesome from what I see. I think the movie would have done better compared to the majority of movies that was released in 2009 if it had a huge budget.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Book of Blood Rating Scores
- Our Score: 7/10
- Overall Score: 6.77/10
- IMDB: 5.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 8.0/10
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