An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
Spoilers! If you don’t want spoilers – check out the Spoiler-Free post
I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.
Today we’re looking at the Netflix 2018’s exclusive, Family Blood
Recovering drug addict Ellie (Vinessa Shaw) becomes addicted to a deadlier substance after she’s attacked by a vampiric monster.
Is it Scary?
While there are a few cheap jump scares and Family Blood tries to set up a creepy atmosphere, it leans more into a character study of how addiction can destroy a family. In the end won’t you leave the movie scared unless you’re weirdly addicted to blood and refuse to try any other means to get it besides murder.
Detailed Plot:
The film opens with a crying girl hiding in her home from an intruder. Thinking she’s safe she grabs a crucifix off the wall and slowly walks through the house as she calls out for her other family members.
Approaching a closet, a man, who she calls Richard, off-screen tells her he couldn’t help himself implying he killed them. After she sees her family’s bodies in the closet she raises the crucifix up to Richard but he says it won’t work.
Richard tells her he loved her and her family and could’ve brought them but he couldn’t help himself. Richard tells her to run before it’s too late but as she runs to several exits he appears at each of them preventing her escape, which is sending some pretty mixed messages.
At one of the doors, although we don’t see his face, Richard removes his teeth to reveal some pretty jacked-up teeth and he attacks as we cut to black. So I guess he’s a vampire or wolf kind of monster?
Title screen!
We open at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting and meet our main character Ellie (played by Vinessa Shaw). While another member named Eddie shares his story, Ellie looks out in the distance so we, the audience, know that she’s been through some shit. Who cares what Eddie is saying right?
When it’s Ellie’s turn to share her story we learn she and her family just recently moved to the area. Due to alcohol and pills, her husband divorced her and took away the kids. She eventually got them back but she still struggles with keeping clean.
Arriving back at her home, there’s a jump scare when a cat jumps out of the bushes and we learn it belongs to her neighbor Ms. Jensen. There’s a bit of hostility when Mr. Jensen accuses Ellie of trying to buy her out of the neighborhood, AKA gentrification, but Ellie assures her she’s just renting.
The following day at a high school we meet Ellie’s kids, troublemaker Kyle (played by Colin Ford) and the younger introvert Amy (played by Eloise Lushina). Kyle is suspended by the principal for pulling the fire alarm, getting into two fights, and defacing school property. Although Kyle says he didn’t tag the bulletin board with graffiti it doesn’t help his case when the principal never mentioned the bulletin board.
Later Kyle is at a skatepark drawing in a notebook when another student, Meegan (played by Ajiona Alexus) approaches him. She reveals she was the one who tagged the bulletin board and asks to see his drawings. Kyle is a bit shy but eventually lets her, and Meegan comments “wow… you might be a serial killer Kyle, in a good way.” What the fuck does that even mean?
That night Ellie is back at the Narcotics Anonymous meeting and the group welcomes new member Christopher (played by James Ransone). Afterward, feeling good about herself, Ellie decides to head to the nearby park to swing on the swings and spots Eddie who didn’t show up to the meeting.
She approaches him asking why he didn’t show and he offers her some pills which she takes. Back on the swings and tripping balls, she doesn’t see Christopher attack Eddie. As she passes out, Christopher walks over to her and removes his teeth revealing himself to be Richard from the start of the movie.
After biting into his wrist, Richard pulls Ellie’s head back and drips blood into her mouth. He then grabs Eddie’s body and jumps clear over a pretty large wall.
Sometime later, Ellie wakes up and stumbles back to her car but slips and gives herself a pretty nasty cut on her forehead. Before she can open her car door, Richard appears behind her and snaps her neck making you question, “hey why didn’t you just do that before when she was unconscious?”
We see a quick glimpse of a scene with red lighting (red light always means evil) where Richard is draining Eddie’s blood into a bucket. Cutting back to Ellie, she wakes up with no recollection of her death and heads back home.
The next morning Amy wakes Ellie who has a large bandage on her head and asks her to see the wound. Ellie removes the bandage and she no longer has a wound. Meanwhile, Kyle is standing by the door and it’s clear he believes Ellie is using again. Later Ellie starts having other vampire symptoms when she stares a bit too long at Amy’s neck.
At Narcotics Anonymous, Ellie reveals she used but we cut away before we see any fallout from that admission. Now in a diner with Richard, he thanks her for agreeing to get coffee and tells her she’s the only one who can understand him. Also, he has no reflection…
The next day Kyle catches Ellie vomiting up her entire life and assumes it’s drug-related but after searching the home he doesn’t find anything. That night while Ellie tastes some blood from a raw steak, Kyle and Amy are upstairs eating pizza trying to figure out if Ellie is using again.
Amy then looks at Kyle’s sketches and says she likes them because they make her feel at home.
Outside as Ellie has a cigarette she stares at her hand and possibly to test her new Wolverine-healing powers, she decides to burn her hand multiple times. Later as Kyle is sketching he gets a paper cut and after he falls asleep, Ellie smells the blood on the tissue in his trashcan. Searching through it she finds it and eats the tissue.
Heading back downstairs, she opens the front door and it’s Richard. The two sit outside and he admits to Ellie that he turned her into whatever he is. The whole conversation is pretty relaxed with barely any questions from Ellie despite the fact that she should be asking, “The fuck you mean whatever you are?” and “Wait, did you fucking kill me?”
Terrified Ellie realizes the burns on her hand are gone and starts to stumble back inside. Richard tells her it will get easier and asks to be invited inside so they can talk. Ellie refuses and goes inside.
The next night, Kyle finds Meegan spray-painting a random wall and the movie doesn’t want you to think how it was possible for this scenario to come about. Meegan doesn’t appear to ask either and instead, she brings him to a gallery where they talk about Ellie’s addiction.
Meegan tells Kyle that maybe Ellie is going through something else, not drugs. She shares that her mother passed away from cancer but, despite showing signs of an illness, her mother always said she wasn’t sick. Since trauma bonding makes the best relationships, Kyle and Meegan kiss.
We cut to Ellie arriving at Narcotics Anonymous but deciding not to go in. Instead, she heads back home where she spots Ms. Jensen’s cat running by. Ellie chases after it, kills it, and starts just chomping on some raw feline mignon.
Walking back to the house, Kyle steps on a random nail, and at this point, the whole thing feels forced. I could buy the paper cut happening, but the very next day he just happens to step on a nail which will have him leaving blood on the floor? How many times is this kid going to get injured?
We then have a very cheap forced jumpscare when Amy, who is wandering around the house looking for Ellie, gets scared when Kyle walks into the house.
Instead of tending to his wound, Kyle walks through the different rooms in the house leaving a blood trail and looking for Ellie. Hearing her crying in her room, he offers to help her and says he’s not going anywhere until she tells him what’s wrong. After she says he can’t help, Kyle leaves so he’s not the most resilient person.
Still not tending to his wounded foot, Kyle finds the backdoor open, walks outside, and finds Ms. Jensen’s cat in pieces. Turning back around he sees Ellie licking up the blood trail he’s been leaving behind with his foot. Looking up she sees him staring at her… awkward.
They then don’t talk about it! Not a, “hold up, what?” or even a “hey mom, once you’re done licking up my blood that’s on the ground, I got a quick question for ya. I’d be surprised if you didn’t know what it is.”
Instead, Kyle forces Amy to pack a bag and they leave to go to their father’s house. Meanwhile, Ellie cleans up the rest of the blood trail, the normal way and is interrupted by the doorbell. Opening it, we see it’s Ms. Jensen who asks if Ellie has seen her cat. After Ellie says no, Ms. Jensen asks to search Ellie’s basement. Before Ellie can answer, she just walks right in and heads to the basement to search.
In the basement, Ellie kills her, and honestly, I’m with Ellie on this one. If you show up randomly at someone’s house, walk in uninvited, and then start searching their rooms like it’s your house don’t be shocked when you’re killed; I don’t even like unscheduled phone calls.
Meanwhile, Kyle and Amy have arrived at their father’s house and Kyle announces that he’s going back home to check on Ellie. So that’s a random change in character that just happens with no motivating factor.
Entering the basement Kyle is kicked out of it by Ellie who yells at him from a dark corner. Kyle runs up the stairs, grabs a knife, and heads back downstairs. A deeply regretful Ellie tells Kyle to call the police as the knife won’t protect him. Kyle sees Ms. Jensen’s body and goes to turn on the light but Ellie swipes at the lightbulb breaking it. A terrified Kyle runs upstairs and shuts the door behind him.
Moments later, Ellie breaks through it and runs out the back door in the sunlight. So the sun doesn’t hurt these vampires. That night Kyle is still contemplating calling the police and Ellie returns to the house. Later Richard arrives at the front door and Ellie tells Kyle to let him as he is the one who turned her.
Kyle implies that Richard is a vampire but Richard corrects him that the word is made up as if all words aren’t made up. Kyle refuses to let him saying that since he’s a vampire he can’t come in unless he’s invited in. But Richard says he was just being polite and walks right in. Honestly, that got a pretty good chuckle out of me because it was a great joke set-up in several prior scenes.
Kyle asks why Richard turned Ellie and Richard says it’s because he cares about her… what? When was this shown? We also learn that the transformation is not curable probably because of the whole snapping the neck part but Richard says it’s a manageable addiction.
Basically, he’s saying that the “need to kill for blood” craving can be controlled after some time but, at first, you’ll need to get a few murders in.
Kyle yells at him to leave and Richard does… but only goes as far as sitting outside on the porch. Also, it’s nighttime now all of a sudden. Ellie shamefully looks at Kyle and leaves the house to join Richard on a hunt. Realizing that his mom and a stranger are about to kill someone for their blood, Kyle finally calls the cops.
Oh, wait, no he doesn’t. He just sulks at the house while Ellie and Richard target the waitress at the diner from earlier in the movie. While Ellie distracts her, Richard grabs her from behind and they presumably kill her.
The following morning Ellie and Richard shower to get the blood off of them because I guess they’re messy eaters. Richard tries to talk to Kyle who for some reason is still in the house. Why wouldn’t he have left? Did he see them come back bloody and was just cool with it?
Also, he’s still holding that knife and wearing the same clothes as the day before; he’s in his house, he could have changed at any point. This makes me think this scene was supposed to happen a few scenes earlier in the movie during the random day/night switching.
Kyle watches as Ellie and Richard dance and Ellie asks Kyle to stay. Later as Ellie rests, Richard tells Kyle the vampirism will prevent Ellie from ever using drugs again. He then tries to convince Kyle that though he may perceive him as a monster, he’s actually there to keep him safe. Although this sentiment is completely undermined when a MOMENT later Richard throws Kyle down the stairs. What the fuck is happening in this movie.
We next see Kyle buying some things from a hardware store and then at his school using tools to make something. As he leaves he bumps into Meegan who tries to talk to him but he dismisses her and runs off. Kyle returns to the house and pulls a wooden stake out of his backpack but finds the house empty.
That night Ellie and Richard break into her ex-husband’s house and while Ellie wakes up Amy, Richard kills Amy and Kyle’s dad. In the morning they bring Amy back to the house, shocking Kyle who takes her to her room.
Later Kyle tells Amy to stay in her room no matter what she hears and, if you’ve seen movies, you know that means she’ll be leaving that room the first chance she gets.
Taking his wooden stake, Kyle approaches a sleeping Richard and takes forever to attempt to stab him. Unsurprisingly this gives Richard enough time to wake up and throw Kyle across the room. As Richard grabs him, Ellie appears and throws Richard across the room threatening him to stay away from Kyle because all of a sudden she wants to protect him.
Ellie tells Kyle to leave her alone with Richard to talk and Kyle reluctantly leaves. Ellie confronts Richard about her cravings and he admits he lied about it being a manageable addiction. So she beats the shit out of him. We don’t see any of it as we cut to Kyle and Amy (called it) outside the room reacting to the sounds of monstrous growls and items breaking from within the room.
The door opens and a severely injured Richard is gasping for air as he lays bleeding from a deep gash on his neck. Kyle enters and stabs him in the chest with the stake several times, eventually resorting to beheading him with a hatchet. By the way, Amy is watching the whole thing and no one has mentioned anything about what is going on to her.
Kyle drags Richard’s body to the basement and burns it. Meanwhile, the doorbell rings and it’s Meegan… in the same clothes as the day before. This further proves my theory that all the scenes are out of the originally intended order.
Ellie opens the door and Meegan is pretty freaked out because Ellie hasn’t cleaned Richard’s blood off of her. Meegan walks in and calls out to Kyle who runs up from the basement holding the bloody wooden stake pretty aggressively in his hand.
Ellie grabs Meegan from behind and we see her contemplating biting her as Kyle yells for her to let her go. Ellie fights the urge and throws Meegan away from her causing her to accidentally land on the wooden stake that Kyle is holding. So she’s dead.
From the stairs, Amy announces she’s called the police. You know, the thing Kyle should have done 2 days ago… or was it 3 days ago? Honestly, I don’t even know at this point. Also, the police literally arrive moments later, it’s like they were just waiting outside for a call.
Ellie sends Kyle and Amy to the basement but before doing so, begs them not to leave her. She then kills the cops. I have to say, knowing your mom is about to murder some cops is a pretty strong incentive to leave when she’s not looking.
In the basement, Kyle helps Amy escape through a window and tells her to run. He then grabs his wooden stake and heads back upstairs. Kyle reveals to Ellie that Amy is gone and Ellie tells him he should leave too but he refuses. He throws the stake away and he hugs her completely forgetting she’s a vampire.
Ellie refuses to let go and is about to bite him but is stabbed in the side by Amy using the stake. By the way, this means Ellie was able to resist the urge to bite Meegan, a total stranger, but can’t resist the urge to bite her own son.
Ellie falls to the ground and Kyle picks up the stake, raising it up to stab her. Ellie begs him to do it but he instead cuts his wrist and starts feeding her his blood so she can heal. Amy pushes him away and as he passes out, she wraps his wound with her sweater.
Ellie tries to help but Amy yells at her, demanding she leaves. This would be great character development for Amy if we knew literally anything about her character but, she was sidelined the whole movie.
Ellie leaves and there’s an annoyingly cheap jump scare with Kyle waking up and grabbing Amy’s arm. The film ends with a scene sometime later of Ellie putting on some fake teeth as we hear her introducing herself to a Narcotics Anonymous group and telling them she hopes to get her family back one day.
Review:
Family Blood is not good. While it has a great premise and some pretty good performances from James Ransone and Vinessa Shaw, it falls short everywhere else.
Character motivations don’t entirely sense or are expected to be pieced together by the audience without being given all the pieces. For example, we’re supposed to believe Richard fell in love and turned Ellie just because he saw her? The scene where she tells her story is cut off so we don’t see his reaction. It would have helped his character motivation if we saw his reaction when he first joins the group and hears her story.
The pacing and editing of this movie really ruins the third act. It shifts between morning and night literally within the same scene, Kyle does nothing but sit around for two days and make a wooden stake, and all characters wear the same clothes over the course of what is supposed to be 2 days. You’re left wondering what the characters have been doing the entire time other characters are shown besides sitting and waiting.
On top of that, Meegan’s death was supposed to signify Ellie overcoming the addiction but then Meegan dies anyway. It’s a pointless and contrived death that adds nothing to the story. It would have been more impactful to see Ellie overcome the urge from biting one of her children.
Kyle’s choices don’t make sense for his character in the third act. The only way it sort of makes sense is that the director/writer wanted to make it seem like Kyle was addicted to his family or mom but nothing from the first half of the movie supports that in any way so that justification is flimsy at best.
Despite all the negatives I’ve listed the movie isn’t entirely bad, it is effective at showing its main point, comparing the dangers of drug addiction with a vampire’s addiction to blood. You really feel for most of the family as the addiction of one starts to destroy the entire family.
Overall I wouldn’t recommend Family Blood unless you’re looking for a character-focused vampire movie with good acting, not a lot of vampire in it and if you’re not looking to be scared.
Cast IMDB