Controversial director’s IR-Red, A Dramatic Thriller Goes All In on Star Power and Performance
Written by Robert Scucci | Published
While I’m far from an expert when it comes to sword and sorcery and video game lore, I’m an avid fan of B-movie schlock and just about anything Uwe Boll has his name attached to. This lack of knowledge about 18th century Romania and vampiric etymology serves me well when reviewing the 2005’s. Blood Rayne because I’m not sure Boll knows much about these things. There’s a revenge arc, a hottie who can seduce with her teeth and slash with a sword, Michael Madsen and Billy Zane showing some of their weirdest roles to date, and the production values Blood Rayne that cannot be denied. It’s definitely worth your time if you want to see what spectacular failure looks like.
Billy Zane went on record as saying “it was a pleasure to work with such a determined director,” and Michael Madsen, who called the final product “a terrible, senseless film,” didn’t mince words when he said he would work with Boll again if the opportunity arose. with my money, Blood Rayne leaps and bounds better than some of Boll’s previous video games, such as the Christian Slater-starrer. Alone in the Dark which came out the same year.
That said, I can see why Blood Rayne it currently has a punishing 4 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes because everything you’re going to read about it is true. It’s painfully deranged, trying to build a world through the use of dialogue-heavy dumps and delivering some of the most epic fight scenes you’ll ever lay eyes on. Uwe Boll is also one of the most passionate filmmakers to ever walk this Earth, and you can tell how sincerely he wanted to tell this story, making every tragedy cozy with an unexpected charm. It’s a complete mess, but you can tell a lot of heart went into its production.
Our Ballsy Hero Is A Dhampir
Blood Rayneset in 18th century Romania, it tells the story of Rayne (Kristanna Loken), a vampire and a type of human known as dhampir. While he exhibits typical vampiric behavior when pushed to his limit, his genetics allow him to touch the crosses, though the holy water still poses a problem. She was conceived when her father Kagan (Ben Kingsley), the king of the vampires, forced himself on her mother before eventually killing her. Naturally, Rayne is gifted with revenge due to the circumstances of his birth, but we first meet him in captivity, working as a circus performer who receives a brutal injury that heals when he is fed goat blood.
Learning about Rayne’s existence and wanting to use her skills against Kagan in his crusade is Vladimir (Michael Madsen), a senior member of the Brimstone Society, a secret organization dedicated to one thing: killing vampires. Along for the ride are Katarin (Michelle Rodriguez), who doesn’t trust Rayne because of her vampiric lineage, and Sebastian (Matthew Davis), who ends up falling in love with Rayne with tragic results.
Rayne finally hears about the three holy talismans and is determined to buy them before her father does. Having an eyeball, a rib, and a cross can allow anyone who collects it to be immune to holy water, crosses, and sunlight, respectively. Complicating matters are Katarin’s ties to her noble father, Elrich (Billy Zane), who secretly seeks power while posing as an ally of Kagan. We learn about all of these moving parts through scrappy dialogue, and the Fortune Teller (Geraldine Chaplin). From there, it’s up to us to decide if any of this makes sense.
A Well Shot Cinematic Disaster
While watching Blood RayneI had two conflicting thoughts. First, the actual production quality is surprisingly strong for a 2005 release given its $25 million budget. The sound design is very immersive, and some very intense sequences almost took my head off. Every sword clang and explosion sounds deliberate, and you can tell that a lot of care went into this aspect of the production.
My second thought was that all this energy was wasted on one of the worst dialogues I’ve ever heard and fight choreography that makes absolutely no sense. In my mind, the cameraman was just walking around during the fight scenes to make them look more detailed than the actors could pull off. Some suspended pieces are evenly spaced, breaking the immersion completely.
There’s even a scene where Rayne, Vladimir, and Sebastian are walking down a cobblestone street where the bakery’s sign looks like it came straight from Panera Bread. I guess they couldn’t fix the “Ye Olde Bagel Shop” sign in time, which would have been more authentic than what we see in the end. And don’t even get me started on Meat Loaf’s Leonid walking around with more naked women than any mortal man could literally face in a thousand years of life.
That means, Blood Rayne it’s a joy to watch if you’re into the kind of cinematic experimentation that Uwe Boll is known for. You can tell how much care was put into this movie, but it’s all about the wrong things. I actually think it would play better with the budget segment because the campiness would feel earned. Production values and performance are constantly at odds here, making for an oddly engaging watch.
If you’d like to see a movie that has real creature animations and creature effects but is lacking in almost every other department, you can stream it. Blood Rayne free on Pluto TV as of this writing.
