Book of Blood

Dir: John Harrison

2009

**

Reading Clive Barker's collective Books of Blood series are one of my most treasured memories of my adolescence. They terrified me and I loved every minute of it. Most of my friends were into Stephen King at the time but I found a certain maturity in Barker's work, not to mention a darker, more poetic venture into horror. Barker writes with a frightening degree of realism, one that is thus far unmatched in my opinion. However, much like his rival Stephen King, some adaptations of his work leave a lot to be desired. John Harrison's adaption is from where the series started, the place where I and many others got hooked but it's safe to say that if the written story had been as bad, the series wouldn't have got very far and I doubt a second, let alone a seventh, would have followed. The direction is great and the intro scene really did reel me in but somewhere towards the middle of the film everything became stale and utterly dull. The conclusion is somewhat of a payoff and again, the visuals were pretty impressive but it is the middle thirty minutes that ultimately ruin what could have been a compelling and suitably creepy thriller. I believe it is a four star film, it's just been edited so badly that the end result barely deserves the two stars I've awarded it. Such a shame.