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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This German mountain-biking slasher flick has its moments, March 17, 2007
When it comes to being repulsed by a horror film the most obvious line of demarcation has to do with blood and gore. There is a whole genre of horror films out there today whose primary intent is not just to make you cover your eyes or turn away, but to puke up your cuts ("Saw III", "Wolf Creek", and "Hostel" are just a few notable examples of this particular genre). But clearly there are people who do not want to see Hannibal Lecter sauteing slices of someone's brain let along organs and entrails up close and personal. However, in reading reviews of horror movies and thinking my own personal calculus for evaluating such films I have a working hypothesis that there is a second cinematic element for which viewers have a personal threshold, namely the stupidity of the characters. This is not restricted to the stereotypical damsel in distress, because the remake of "House of Wax" was dominated by the males of the species doing things that made them deserve to die. That being said, it is the female protagonist who keeps trying to prove she is too stupid to live in a horror film where director Robert Krause ("Checkpoint") is trying to come up with something different. The result is a mixed bag.
Rebecca Palmer is Anne, a bike messenger who an unfortunate and quite weird one night stand with Chris (Ben Price), a cycling policeman. The bad night ends before it goes too far, but Anne is feeling guilty when she and her boyfriend Michael (Tom Frederic) go biking in the mountains together. Her confession about what happened coincides with Chris' sudden appearance and before Michael can get too mad or fully understand what happened he is dead and Anne is fleeing through the woods with Chris in pursuit. They are not alone in the woods, which allows Krause to mix up the scenes with Anne on the bicycle with Chris adding to his kill count. The locale is part of the appeal here, although I do not know if we are talking the Black Forest or Bavarian Alps or whatever ("Blood Trails" was filmed in Germany, which probably explains why some of the supporting cast never says anything). Consequently there is a lot more green than you usually see in a slasher film. Like "Wolf Creek" and "Broken" this is a survival horror film, with Chris as the cat, Anne as the mouse, and everybody else as road kill.
The film is shot on Mini-DV so the hand-held camera is always in motion and Krause favors close-ups of Anne looking around one side of the tree and then the other, over and over again, trying to spot Chris in the forest (think the look of the original "Friday the 13th" but with better images). The weakness of "Blood Trails" is that there are several times when Anne could be safe or able to defend herself and she makes a stupid choice. One such error, namely the first one, might be forgivable, but after that all bets are off (ask yourself this simple question: you are in a vehicle and a psycho killer is coming after you. Do you drive away from them or towards them?). Add that to all of the looking around trees and I was becoming less and less impressed with this 2006 film. Then we get to the end game and things change dramatically and for the worst (which in a horror film is better).
You would think you know what is going to happen if and when Chris catches Anne, but I found "Blood Trails" took a slightly different path at that point, saving what is the scariest part of the film for the last. Those inclined to cover their eyes at this point will be as likely to do so because of the psychology involved as the blood involved. I found myself thinking that Chris was really a sick bastard, which is suppose to be true of the slasher in a slasher film, but you do not always feel that and this time I did. Perhaps the natural beauty of the setting of the rest of the film made this ending seem more intense. I was distracted by the penultimate deaths in the film, which happen off screen because I do not think they could come up with a realistic way for them to happen, but then we get to the end of this movie and I can tell you that I rounded up here just because of the last shot. I thought that I was seeing one thing, which would be pretty unique for a horror film, but it turns out Krause was going for a flip of something else. Most horror films do not save the best for last, but there was enough in the final act here to reverse my thinking about "Blood Trails." Anne is too stupid to live, but this film is not too stupid to see.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Meh...not that great, May 14, 2007
First of all, I have to say that the only reason this got two stars is because I thought the premise was very interesting (althought not well executed) and the cinematogrophy (that is defintely spelled wrong) was fantastic. Other than that, was boring....almost fast forwarded to the end, but was worried that maybe I would miss something profound.....no such luck. Was very disappointed...
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good, Creepy, Gory German Slasher Film, February 23, 2007
BLOOD TRAILS is a very calm and precise horror film. It is not a crazy chase slasher type picture, although it does have those traditional moments and they take place on mountain bikes providing a new sort of thrill.
It is a gorgeous looking movie that introduces you to a good looking killer in the opening scene and then spends the rest of the movie nudging our heroine Anne into his arms. It is a romance told through the slasher formula. And this particular courtship is breathtaking and shocking to watch.
Against wide shots of the mountain location(Austria I believe), the personal story of a girl cheating on her boyfriend and regretting how dark the experience got--not the act itself, unfolds in intimate, frantic spurts. She runs, she hides, she asks for help. The killer eliminates all help. This dance eventually forces Anne to confront why she's running, and it is here when the movie goes far beyond the typical horror film. Fans of THE AUDITION will enjoy this intense climax.
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