‘Blood Ransom’ review: A cop, a lover, and a vamp

“Show, don’t tell,” is probably one of the first things a film student would be taught in a standard film school. Francis dela Torre’s Blood Ransom, however, makes the horrid mistake of doing the exact opposite. (IN PHOTOS: Vhong, Solenn, Billy attend premiere of Anne Curtis movie Blood Ransom)

 

It tells more than it shows, with all its expository dialogue, its opening text, and sad voice-overs, resulting in confusion and frustration, despite some potentially novel but woefully unrealized ideas.

It starts out with text explaining the backstory of Crystal (Anne Curtis), a wayward waif who finds herself in the company of a West Covina vampire who turns her. The introductory text also explains how the movie’s concept of vampirism is different from what is commonly known. There’s a whole lot of hullabaloo about the seven-day period for which the fledgling vampire has to kill a person, and something about a dagger that is the center of all things. 

From the lazy exposition, Dela Torre thrusts the film to the end of the story, where Oliver (Dion Basco), a cop on the verge of disillusionment, is prompted to tell the story of the experience of his best bud Jeremiah (Alexander Dreymon) with Crystal.

Immediately, the movie is transported into the middle of the story, where Crystal is already nearing the expiration of her 7-day period to kill, and she is already madly in love with Jeremiah, her driver, and everybody else is buried in some form of desperation. 

A cop, a lover, and a vamp

Blood Ransom is ambitious in how it attempts to weave full narratives out of all its characters. However, Dela Torre seems incapable of balancing his interests, resulting in a film that seems misdirected and fractured. Its elements simply do not gel.

It starts out as a cop story, complete with all the existential narration that is common to a lot of classic noirs. However, Basco’s cop, who spends a lot of his time in a state of inexplicable gloom, really never gets to do anything. His moral dilemmas are also flimsily established, which turns his strand of the story into nothing more than an unnecessary and ineffective framing device. 

Then there is that love story between Jeremiah and Crystal, which is told without benefit of a backstory. The audience is immediately thrust into the heat of their affair, forced to believe that what is happening between them is true romance. Yet, there is nothing to ground what Dela Torre wants us to feel for the couple, except for the haphazardly edited sex scenes that are littered throughout the picture. 

Blood Ransom’s modified vampire lore is of course tailored to suit Dela Torre’s sordid narrative than anything else. Sensuality has been filtered in favor of crude violence. There is simply no replacing the arousing imagery of a vampire sucking blood out of his victim’s neck. 

A miserable costume party 

Fortunately, Curtis at times manages to churn something out of a role that seems to be written out of stereotypes. Curtis, with her doll-like face and trim physique, infuses the character with the type of vulnerability that makes her plight, despite the narrative confusion, understandable.

Inconsistency however is Curtis’ downfall here. When she attempts to portray the darker side of her character, she comes off as awkward and predictable. A lot of the movie’s action scenes are poorly executed, forcing the actors and actresses in them to make up with awful posturing. 

Despite Dela Torre’s insistence to stray away from traditional vampire lore, he nevertheless continues to propagate the proposition that all vampires have to don gothic-inspired garb and wear heavy makeup.

In the end, Blood Ransom makes the otherwise plain city of West Covina into a miserable costume party, with all its cowboy hats, red leather, and trench coats amidst the stark California sun. ­– Rappler.com

Francis Joseph Cruz litigates for a living and writes about cinema for fun. The first Filipino movie he saw in the theaters was Carlo J. Caparas’ ‘Tirad Pass.’ Since then, he’s been on a mission to find better memories with Philippine cinema.