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Hemoglobin Also known as Bleeders Also known as The Descendant In English (1997) "Hemoglobin" is not a vampire movie or a slasher flick. There were no chainsaws, and it didn't feature a serial killer in a mask. I could tell that they were really trying for a thought-provoking horror movie; there was actual cohesive writing in it with symbolism and humor, along with a fairly heavy-duty plot. And most of the acting was actually pretty good. Roy Dupuis plays John Strauss, a young man dying of a mysterious genetic disorder. Supposedly orphaned as an infant, he and his wife have come to New England to find his roots, hoping to discover the source of his illness and treat it before he dies. (They, of course, should have left well enough alone.) Rutger Hauer, a personal B-movie favorite of mine because of his Oscar-worthy performance in the classic sci-fi movie, "Blade Runner," plays an alcoholic doctor who is pretty much the hero of the piece. Rutger could have phoned this one in; his character initially had promise, but all he got was the bland action hero stuff while Roy's character descended into darkness. Roy clearly got the meaty (pun intended) part, and he was convincingly creepy as well as sympathetic: we really want John to figure it out and overcome his illness. Roy was made up as extremely pale and ill, and he wore one blue and one brown contact lens -- so no gorgeous green eyes, Roy fans. There was one bright spot: a seriously R-rated love scene, with nudity. No, not full-frontal, but still fun... although I think it went on a bit too long. If that's possible. There were disturbing themes and images in this movie. Incestuous inbreeding to the point of monstrosity? Chomping on formaldehyde-preserved dead bodies? Gag me with a spoon. The scenes with people being hit with flails and dragged down into holes were definitely scary. The creatures were unconvincing; I think they should have gone with something a little more real and closer to human. Some of the supporting actors could have been better, too. And I think they missed a cool plot point. Most of the men were out fishing during most of the action. What if, when they returned, we discovered that most of them had Roy's blue/brown eye mutation? "Hemoglobin" is not the worst movie I've ever seen. It was definitely not boring, and had some good points. Considering my current level of Roy-obsession, I'm not sorry I saw it. But on a scale of one to ten, it sucked. One star, Billie |
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