In 1936 West Virginia, German immigrants, the Wollner family, are asked by the Third Reich to host a visiting professor, Richard Wirth.  Wirth is researching ancient rune stones left behind in the Americas by the Vikings when they first discovered the New World before that charlatan Columbus, and the other vile explorers who followed in his wake.  Armed in occult practices, included rune legend and blood rituals, Wirth becomes a vampiric powerhouse Nazi bent on world domination.  The Wollner family, ageless thanks to the mad professor’s powers and tired of giving up their blood to him, imprison Wirth using rune symbols.  From then on, instead of killing the damned monster man, they continue to feed him the blood of vagrants and later resort to kidnapping people from the woods of Town Creek.

In the present day, Evan Marshall, a paramedic, feels stuck in his life taking care of his sickly father and helping with his nephews after his brother, Victor, goes missing while on a camping trip.  Even has already had his war hero brother declared dead after no trace of him could be found, then in the middle of a stormy night Victor, long haired, bearded, and frantic, drags his little brother out of bed, telling him to get the guns ready.  Evan obliges, and Victor takes him up river to the secluded Wollner farm.  Soon, as you can deduce, all hell breaks loose.  The brothers become holed up in the house with the Wollners while the mad professor does his Nazi damnedest to drink their blood, open a third eye in his forehead, and soon take over the world  HA HA HA!!!


Blood Creek may sound kind of out there, but it’s not too far out there.  It pretty much rocks, I know that.  Director Joel Schumacher is known, really, for two things:  The Lost Boys (classic) and helping to kill the first Batman film series (Batman & Robin, forever shall I hate thee).  Schumacher has had his ups and downs, but this little gem is damn near perfect.  It moves at a breakneck pace, setting up the back story in a beautiful black and white opening and rocketing through to the leave’em-wanting-more finale; in between is plenty of action and blood and occult practices to make our tongues wag.

Admittedly, I didn’t understand all of the movie.  Why didn’t the family just let Wirth starve to death once they had him trapped?  I figure that maybe for all their good intentions, they liked being, somewhat, immortal.  Ooh, a movie that raises questions and opens discussion about the nature of us mere mortals.

And I have to give a big YOU SUCK to Lionsgate.  They put out drivel like My Bloody Valentine and an endless barrage of Saw flicks, but dump Blood Creek into a limited run in, I believe, dollar theaters with practically no promotion, much the same way they did with Midnight Meat Train.  And with The Burrowers they skipped theaters completely, shuttling it straight to DVD.  I don’t know who runs the show at Lionsgate, but they are near to brain dead.

4.5 out of 5
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