Blood Red SKy: Snakes on a Plane… But Supernatural
Have you ever seen Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L. Jackson and thought I could survive that? Well what if you had vampires on the plane?
Blood Red Sky is a Netflix film with the premise of a passenger on a plane having a deadly disease that she is trying to get under control but it ultimately takes a turn for the worst. The plane is then taken hostage by terrorist having a goal to recreate 911 in London for monetary gain. She ultimately loses control and we see that the disease she was fighting is her thirst for blood as it turns out she’s a vampire. Not to mention she has been accompanied by her son, going to New York in hopes of a scientist being able to help them. With one of the terrorist figuring out what she is, he ends up turning into a vampire as well and all hell breaks loose.
Overview
Overall, as crazy as the summary above seems this film really works with its take on vampires steering away from it being a monster hunting in a small town. We can see the fight that the main protagonist puts in order to control the classic blood urges, and the ultimate savagery near the end of the third act. I wasn’t expecting such entertainment and for a 2 hour runtime it keeps you mesmerized and focused on trying to figure out what’s going to happen in the end, which you probably won’t guess. If you are looking for a good supernatural tone and a bit of gore on Netflix, then Blood Red Sky is a good choice, if you’re still not sold check out the trailer below.
Review
Now we have a few recognizable faces in this film starting with Dominic Purcell, Chidi Ajufo, and others. Of course it isn’t “A-List” actors, or the more talked about actors and actresses, but nonetheless the performance by all individuals really created a piece of what I’m saying could be the next selection of cult classics. In addition, talking about Carl Anton Koch who plays Elias the son of Nadja, the main protagonist and vampire in question played by Peri Baumeister.
There is no surprise when saying that the younger generation of child actors and actresses are storming the industry with great skills and performances and he is no exemption. He plays this traumatic experience incredible and sold to me the pain of seeing his mom lose her humanity while also seeing her get hurt trying to save him. Not to mention his ultimate sacrifice at the end by being the one to have to kill his own mother.
As always I try to not mention many spoilers as every movie I review is one that I recommend to go see if you have the time, so the same goes for this movie. Elias is a child going through many emotions and traumatic events from plane hijacking, seeing his mom get shot, seeing her get hurt, watching people die and overall to top it off ending up having to kill her. Carl shows each distress well, with tears and snot bubbles, in a good way, almost reminding me of Viola Davis’s choice of performance in Fences. You can see in the picture above that he has gone through a lot in the span of a couple of hours and his eyes show each and every emotion being involved, and with all honesty it brought a sense of sorrow for him even if it is a film. By such review, I have to give Mr. Koch a standing ovation and hope to see him in future works as he grows older.
I also have to mention other characters having Kais Setti play a honorable ally even from the beginning, although he is used by the antagonists as a tool, painting him as the terrorists who took over the plane and adding to the stereotype of terrorist being of Middle Eastern descent. His character shows the anger of this racial stereotyping to be frustrating and yet even when being held at gunpoint by military and antagonist he shows his will of fire, but it goes to show how white terrorist can get away with such acts if they blame the one group of people every racist and bigot believes who terrorists are.
I also have to mention the big bad of the film, Alexander Sheer playing Eight Ball, a psychotic man that seems to be enjoying the killing and chaos, even to the point of letting himself turn into a blood hungry creature. His performance of such psychopathic tendencies really was sold to me, as at one point I thought he was a real life menace to society. Not to mention that as I look through his other work I can’t seem to take out of my head his portrayal of a villain, which goes to show that the acting wasn’t bad at all.
Going from the main antagonist to the main protagonist, Peri Baumeister did an good job at selling her character from the disease to fear for the safety of her on screen child. If someone told me that her and Carl were actually mother and son I wouldn’t dismiss the notion, down to the last teardrop she had seeing Elias in such chaos.
The film’s plot, actors and makeup were phenomenal and was a great watch on a Sunday afternoon, having little to nothing in mind while looking for a distraction, Blood Red Sky did an incredible job at taking a new spin to a very old tale of blood sucking creatures.
Overall, although if you are prone to looking at ratings, critics wise this film did great, it may have the audience split in half but I can say that this film wasn’t bad at all. I have a love for watching monster movies and this one certainly got in my top 10 for 2021’s release of new films. But if reading this doesn’t intrigue you enough, just go and check out the film out now on Netflix and let me know what you think. Till next time, peace.
The Nerd Corps 