The dark side of organised sub-cultural religion becomes a major source of conflict in writer/director Daniel Tucker’s new rural noir drama NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD.
Jessica (co-producer Rachel Hudson) is a small-town journalist more prone to covering stories about baseball in high school than the issue of a brand new opening of a controversial church, which she happily concurs with when her editor happily offers her the gig.
She meets man in a bar, Thomas (Jordan O’Neal) and wants to have sex with him, having just recovered from an abusive relationship with another man in the town. Thomas is, however, the son of the father of the church order, known principally as Emeth, a religious sect that frowns upon homosexuality and women speaking out, coupled with children out of wedlock, so inevitably when the two of them conceive of a child and are invited to the wedding of two of the key followers, the father banishes them for not being true members.
Their young daughter grows up and is invited to a birthday party, but this soon becomes the setting for a darker turn of events which is set to affect all who are involved…
The film has been described as a cross between RED STATE and STRAW DOGS. Up to a point, especially during the brutal climax, the film has echoes of the latter, but there is no horrifying sexual act to disgust viewers. Actually the film has a lot more to say about the darker essences of religious beliefs and the sins that we must all repent for at one time or another in our lives.
There is an element of literal reference to the Bible here and the film plays out its’ conflict with a hint of dark satire, thanks to effective performances from all in the film, touching on the discomfort that some have felt towards certain organised religions existing in the present-day world.
The film plays off the conflicts in a gradual sense, but reaches intensity with a very bloody climax (squeamish viewers might want to look away at one gory moment towards the end), but it does have a thoughtful idea at its’ heart and is designed to make you question your own beliefs, albeit avoiding action like those the characters carry out in the film.
Watchable.
