Release: Bloodsong

 

Bloodsong

Genre: Horror/Fantasy

Director: Issa Lopez

Writer: Holden Abbott

Cast: Devery Jacobs, Martin Sensmeier, Aidan Turner, Wes Studi, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Tantoo Cardinal, Michael Greyeyes, Angus Wright

Budget: $27,000,000

Domestic Box Office: $22,254,209

Foreign Box Office: $15,003,934

Total Profit: -$18,760,010

Reaction: Writer Holden Abbott is going to have to wait a bit longer for his first box office success. This one had the odds stacked against it a bit as a period horror film lacking in international stars aside from LRF's Superman in a supporting role.

"Bloodsong is a visually striking and atmospheric horror-fantasy that blends Choctaw folklore, historical tragedy, and supernatural horror into something genuinely unique. Issa López feels like a natural fit for the material, and the script's strongest asset is its haunting imagery—from the burial mound and Deer Woman to the crow-shadowed transformation of Kinta into a folkloric protector. Devery Jacobs is given a rich and demanding lead role, carrying much of the film through quiet emotion, spiritual conflict, and an increasingly unsettling transformation. While the mythology is sometimes explained too directly and the central conflict could benefit from more ambiguity surrounding Kinta's fate, the film succeeds as a dark, melancholic legend about identity, land, and resistance. Ambitious, memorable, and refreshingly different from most modern horror." - Tom Parker, The Playlist

"Bloodsong is a haunting piece of folk horror elevated by Issa López's atmospheric direction and a strong performance from Devery Jacobs. The Choctaw mythology feels lived-in rather than decorative, and the imagery of crows, blood-soaked forests, and burial mounds creates a lingering sense of dread. While the final act drifts toward more conventional horror territory, the film remains unsettling and memorable throughout." - Kiki Fawcett, Fangoria Magazine

"Bloodsong embodies nearly everything frustrating about modern horror films. Holden Abbott's screenplay buries the audience beneath antlers, crows, rituals, visions, and cryptic symbolism, yet somehow forgets to be scary. There’s virtually no suspense, no tension, and certainly no meaningful scares - just an endless procession of moody imagery. Despite not being particularly long, the film also feels quite sluggish, repeatedly circling the same folkloric imagery instead of building momentum. The result is aesthetically interesting, but never figures out how to be an engaging horror film." -  Dave Manning, Ridgefield Press

Rated R for strong violence, grisly images, language, and thematic material.