Cold Blood DVD Review

Cold Blood DVD Review

Reviewed by Peter West "Danger Seeker"

DVD released by Heretic Films

Written and directed by Brian Avenet-Bradley

Credited cast:
Barnes Walker III .... J.M.
Carrie L. Walrond .... Julie
John L. Altom .... John
Kendall Dreyer .... Danny
Sarah Paul .... Gail's Voice
Laurence Avenet-Bradley .... Andrea
Brian Avenet-Bradley .... Bud

The Story:

In a single moment of insanity after his wife Andrea confesses to being unfaithful J.M. kills her with a baseball bat. Overcome with grief J.M. can't dispose of the body and takes his wife to his sister's farm where they had been married a year before. J.M. is haunted with visions of his late wife and despite her betrayal is still in love with her. At the farm J.M. meets the caretaker John and his wife Julie, while J.M. wants to be left alone with Andrea, every time he turns around Julie is complaining to him about her husband.

From there the action picks up and blackmail, betrayal, killing and revenge are the recipe for a fine indie thriller. There are some nightmares that don't come to an end!

The Picture:

Shot on 16mm, clearly a low to no budget film Cold Blood is presented in a non anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer. Despite it's meager roots the picture is very clear, colors are vivid and it's a very acceptable presentation. My rating 3.5/5

The Sound:

Some great post production was put into the soundtrack for this film! Cold Blood is one of the few films in this budget range to have a Dolby 5.1 audio track. As with John Carpenter's Halloween the music is what makes this film. There's excellent use of the surround channels and it really keeps you on edge while viewing the film. My rating 4/5

Extras:

As I have now come to expect from Heretic Films, this DVD is packed with extras! There's a pretty cool making of featurette, a director's commentary, songs behind the story, a trailer, deleted scenes, cast bios and six, yes six easter eggs! While major studios release films bareboned, the indies do it right with worthwhile extras. My rating 4.5/5

Peter West's Danger Seeking Summary:

I found Cold Blood to be a pretty decent thriller. It starts somewhat slow until J.M. gets to the farm and yes there's a heck of a lot of flashbacks, but they are used in the right way and really add to the story. The movie really has the flavor of the people who live in the south where they sit back and smell the roses instead of the madcap rat race of the city and the movie reflects that kind of pace.

Besides the above average story, Cold Blood shines in the way of special effects for good old fashioned gore. As the film concludes there's some pretty good killings. I don't want to give away anything but J.M. finds himself in some pretty deep shit. Overall I think Cold Blood is a welcome break from the faster paced thrillers and is a very easy film to view! If you're into indie films like the "Danger Seeker" is, I say check this one out. Redneck horror that's not dumb, you won't be disappointed! My overall rating 4/5

Films that Peter West reviews are played on a Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi DVD player, viewed on a Mitsubishi WS-55413 HDTV and listened to on a THX Ultra 2 Pioneer Elite VSX-59TXi A/V Receiver through a 7.1 setup of JBL Northridge E series Speakers.