Director Alister Grierson and writer Robert Benjamin's Bloody Hell is one of those genre mashups that gleefully refuses to fit into a single category. Perhaps best described as a cross between a horror-comedy and a twisted satire of both princess fairy tales -- one where neither the damsel in distress nor her prince are what you might call well-adjusted people -- and macho power fantasies, Bloody Hell doesn't always have a firm grip on what it's going for. Luckily, it has enough style and a pair of wild performances by leading man Ben O'Toole to power it through the rough patches over the course of its lean 94-minute runtime.
O'Toole stars in Bloody Hell as Rex, a man with a mysterious background who manages to foil an armed robbery, only to end up in prison for eight years because his actions led to the death of an innocent bystander. When he gets out, Rex returns to his hometown of Boise, Idaho, where he finds he's become a local celebrity who is hounded by either onlookers or paparazzi wherever he goes. It's this segment of Bloody Hell that plays out the most like a satirical take on an action film like John Wick (which even gets name-dropped), particularly when Rex is conversing with his personified conscience (also O'Toole).
From there, the plot shifts gears and heads deeper into horror territory as Rex decides to try to escape his problems by traveling to Finland (a decision he makes based on less than sound reasoning). However, along the way, he crosses paths with a peculiar husband and wife, played by Matthew Sunderland and Caroline Craig, whom, according to another passenger, said they're planning to "get" him. Confused but otherwise unconcerned, Rex ignores them and goes about his business, only to be kidnapped at the airport in Finland and wake up in a basement, his hands tightly bound from the ceiling.
If nothing else, Bloody Hell is an excellent showcase for O'Toole, who resembles Robert Downey Jr. (especially his performance in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) in the way he displays a sense of nonchalant irony in between the moments when Rex is panicking about the horrifying situation he's in. Indeed, the scenes where O'Toole acts opposite himself as Rex's often cheerfully immoral conscience are pretty entertaining, so much so you might not even realize a good chunk of Bloody Hell is just O'Toole alone in a basement and not two different actors bouncing lines off one another.
In time, though, Rex sees an opportunity to escape when he's approached by his kidnappers' young son, Olli (David Hill) and, after Rex brutally knocks him out and takes him hostage, Olli's older sister, Alia (Meg Fraser). While the rest of her family rushes Olli to the hospital to treat his wounds, unaware of what really happened to him, Alia tells Rex all about her family's dark secret and the reason he's there. It's here that Bloody Hell changes gears again and briefly evolves into a grim fable about the emotional labor women are expected to perform for their families, even when it involves doing truly horrible things.
By the time the third act rolls around, Bloody Hell begins to weave its disparate elements together by revealing the truth about Rex's actions eight years earlier. In doing so, it questions whether Rex is actually a hero willing to help Alia escape from her terrible situation or just a self-serving monster in disguise like most of his kidnappers. Overall, the film struggles to pay-off all of these threads and themes equally well from that point, but its plot takes enough unexpected zigs and zags to avoid running out of steam entirely before it crosses the finish line.
What's more, Bloody Hell has a surprisingly polished look for such a low-budget production. Director of photography Brad Shield, who has experience doing second unit work on tentpoles like The Avengers and Pacific Rim: Uprising, uses a strikingly dark and grimy color palette to bring the film's eccentric world to life, combined with bravado camera shots and movements that further energize the proceedings. His visuals mesh smoothly with the score by composer Brian Cachia, who melds eerie compositions with whimsical musical cues in a way that matches the movie's general horror-comedy vibe.
Bloody Hell concludes with a final scene and mid-credits stinger that set up a sequel, which may or may not ever come to pass. It's a film that feels tailor made for the midnight-movie crowd, but it's hard to say if others will find this stylishly schlocky mashup of genres and satire to be engaging, confusing or a bit of both. At the very least, it's one of those fun WTF viewing experiences best enjoyed with friends, even if you have to do so as an online watch party in light of the currently limited access to theaters.
Directed by Alister Grierson and written by Robert Benjamin, Bloody Hell stars Ben O'Toole, Meg Fraser, Matthew Sunderland, Caroline Craig, Travis Jeffery, Jack Finster, David Hill and Joshua Brennan. It arrives in select theaters, drive-ins and On Demand Jan. 14, before premiering on DVD and Blu-ray Jan. 19.
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