The Blood Lands starts off promisingly. From the outset, you can tell it's a well put together film. It's well shot, has a cool looking central location (an old home in the Scottish countryside), and the leads are likable enough. That's especially important here, since they are pretty much the only non-masked people in the film. The first half-hour or so is a slow build with very little action, but it's well done enough that you have high hopes for things once they eventually get into motion.
And when they do? It's not bad, but mostly feels like your standard issue home invasion flick, with maybe a little less of a sadistic streak. But again, it's competent enough that if gives you faith in the rest of it - you want to wait around and see if the story can deliver. You want to be on its side, which is more than you can say for a lot of movies. So there's that.
My synopsis: English couple Ed and Sarah buy a fixer-upper in the secluded Scottish countryside. But someone - or something! - (okay, it's guys in pig masks) want to turn their new home into a Blood Land!
Elaborate Genre: "Based on Actual Events" home invasion thriller
Overall: Decently made but ultimately unsatisfying.
So yeah, much of the film works. Sarah (Pollyanna McIntosh) and Ed (Lee Williams) are believable and likable characters, even if Sarah is kind of a scaredy-pants. Although The Blood Lands is one of those movies that totally justifies being scared of everything, which I appreciate as a very paranoid person. The film moves along at a good pace - it takes it's time to get where it's going, but never feels like it drags. The big invasion takes place their first night in the home, so there's not a lot of mucking about.
And when pig-masks break in, the action is nicely done. It's shot in way that you get a good feel for the geography of the house and its surroundings, and the filmmaker's get good use out of flashlight beams scanning through the darkened house and surrounding woods. It does start to feel a little like a stealth video game at times as Sarah is trying to evade the pig-masks. But again, it's nicely done, and you want the give The Blood Lands the benefit of the doubt, at least until the next big reveal.
Which unfortunately, kind of never happens. The Blood Lands lacks one big defining set piece or moment in the whole hunt/chase department, and the overall story just isn't satisfying. I always hope for a compelling motivation in any home invasion flick, and barring that, just want it to be a totally random act of violence. Once everything is revealed here, you just kind of shake your head and sigh. It's too bad - The Blood Lands has earned a lot of good will up to that point - you want to like this thing. But it leaves you with a pretty bad taste in your mouth.
Also, there are a couple of nitpicky things that are annoying in the film. There are two really good examples of why you should just kill a dude who is trying to kidnap you if you get the chance. I know this is pretty common horror movie stuff, but I wish there was a better way to address it (a la "there's no service out here" - I liked how they got that out of the way ASAP here). Of course the guy is going to get up and getchya! Smash his face in while you can! And also, Ed might be the fastest and heaviest sleeper in cinema history.
There are some political themes in The Blood Lands that probably went over my head as an ignorant American. (It was also known as The White Settlers - not sure about that one, as everyone is the film is white. Although the tagline when that was the title was "Cross the Border Into Fear," which could be a good Halloween slogan for either Taco Bell or the Trump campaign.) These English folks, while nice, are pretty disparaging of their new Scottish neighbors - making jokes about their trashy homes and incestuous relations. Kind of like if I bought a fixer-upper in Alabama, I guess. But there are some class issues implied in the film that didn't totally register with me, so maybe someone with a better understanding of such things would get more out of it. I expect it's pretty surface level wealthy vs. poor stuff though.
Anyways, The Blood Lands is somewhat enjoyable. It starts kind of slow, peaks early, ends disappointingly and never quite gets where you want it to. Still, it's well made, and that counts for something.
I would kind of recommend this film.
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