Written by Robert Benjamin
Directed by Alister Grierson
Starring Ben O'Toole, Meg Fraser, Caroline Craig and Matthew Sunderland
Running time: 1 hour and 35 minutes

by Nikk Nelson

I don’t know what it is about Northern Europe but, between movies like Midsommar (2019) and the Nighstream featured Bloody Hell (2020), places like Finland are the new Transylvania. I’m not sure who exactly is writing synopses for festival films but Bloody Hell was the second film I came across this season where the initial synopsis really failed to capture the plot. Originally, I thought I would be following a bank robber on the lam in Helsinki after one of his robberies is recorded and goes viral. To my delight, the plot ended up being a lot more complex than that. Rex, played in an outstanding performance by Ben O’Toole, was a witness to a bank robbery. But unlike the rest of the customers who do what the would-be robbers tell them to do, get on the ground and stay there, ex-military man Rex goes absolutely vigilante on their ass. The entire ordeal is captured on the bank’s surveillance system. His antics unfortunately result in the death of an innocent bystander and, despite his stance of self-defense, he is tried and convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison. 

Meanwhile, the footage of the confrontation leaks and, over the next eight years, Rex’s actions create a great deal of celebrity for him with half the country praising him as a hero and the other half condemning him as a menace. Finally, out of prison, this dichotomy makes Rex’s transition back into the real world a special kind of complicated and, in an effort to get away from it all, he books a flight to Helsinki. At the airport, he catches the attention of a creepy couple who, after Rex lands, kidnap him during his taxi ride to the hotel. Rex comes to, tied up in a murder basement, and has to use what little is available to try and escape. I don’t want to spoil much of the specific horror but, suffice it to say, writer Robert Benjamin and director Alister Grierson are obviously fans of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Other hints and nods aside, a ‘family at the dinner table’ shot is a dead giveaway. 

A lot of filmmakers in horror these days are obviously influenced and inspired by the golden age of horror cinema in the 1980’s. Most low-budget/independent films I see try, and mostly fail, to imitate a lot of the iconic films from that era. Bloody Hell, on the other hand, does exactly what you’re supposed to do. Take the influence but do something new with it. The opening sequence looks like it came right out of a Friday the 13th movie. One of the masked figures is even wearing a red and green striped shirt a là Freddy Krueger. The film seems to draw most of its influence from the classic Stephen King adaptation Misery (1990)—the film is both overtly mentioned in dialogue and referenced in various shots throughout. The originality of Bloody Hell, at least for me, came mostly from the character, Rex.

Rex is not a good guy. He is deeply flawed. He delighted in killing the bank robbers. What sunk him in court was his very nonchalant ‘omelet—broken eggs’ attitude over the death of the innocent bank employee. Rex doesn’t mind killing at all and will, as he demonstrates throughout the film, do anything and everything to get out of the horrific predicament he’s in. Traditionally in horror films, the lawful and moral alignment of the protagonist is an absolute must to play opposite the mindless, unceasing evil of the antagonist(s). Bloody Hell is the first horror film I can recall where the protagonist is just as adept a murderer as his villainous captors. There have been murderers and criminals in horror films, sure, but they’re usually quickly dispatched as, later in the slasher film era, especially in sequels, the killer is more or less cast as the hero so the over the top murder can serve a sense of justice—a catharsis for the audience meant to alleviate their original sense of horror toward that character. Bloody Hell doesn’t give their audience that comfort. You root for Rex but you also, kind of, don’t mind if he dies. It’s a balance I can’t remember really ever seeing before and it works perfectly. 

Aside from the well-crafted script and story, Bloody Hell has some honestly unique and surprising visual effects. Gore hounds won’t be disappointed either. The violence is intense and percussive. To my taste, there’s a little too much gloss where there should be grit that keeps the film from absolute greatness but, overall, this was my favorite film of this festival season. It’s simple, well-executed and a ton of fun.  

Bloody Hell played as part of the Nightstream Film Festival and will be available to watch soon.