You may not know the film Blood Valley - Seed's Revenge by this name under which indie distributor Phase 4 Films is releasing the film, but fans of indie horror will likely recognize it once it's acknowledged that the film was originally produced under Seed 2, the sequel/follow-up to Uwe Boll's original film and still based upon Boll's characters. Boll himself is still here as producer, though Marcel Walz has taken over as both writer/director for the film.
The film centers around Christine (Natalie Scheetz), who is driving back from her Vegas bachelorette party with her friends through the rather isolated deserts of Nevada, taking the more scenic route ya' know, when she and her friends start to encounter increasingly unsavory characters that will eventually lead her to a not so pleasant encounter with Max Seed (Nick Principe) and, this time around, his family.
In its own decent scene, and by decent I mean inventively psychotic, Blood Valley - Seed's Revenge kicks everything off with a brutal encounter two women involving a pistol, a vagina and, well, you probably get the idea. The scene does a bit of a slow build, and while you never really doubt what's going to happen there's something to be said for the way that Walz builds the scene into a rather horrific suspense.
Unfortunately, the suspense really ends there.
It'll only take a couple more minutes for you to realize that these two women are key players in the film, a rather odd reveal to give away in the film's first five minutes. On the plus side, it'll likely help you decide if you really want to stick around for the rest of the film's rather slight 78-minute running time.
Among the film's core actors, Nick Principe is easily the shining star here with a performance that is uncomfortably menacing yet surprisingly layered in how he presents it all. The rest of the players range from godawful to function, though I will say that most of our main quartet are pretty solid.
The film's biggest problem is that even for a film that exists among the relatively low expectations of B-movie horror, it offers surprisingly little for even the most hardcore fans of the genre. The story is slight bordering on non-existent, while the film's dialogue is so insipid that one almost feels badly even judging the actors on how they deliver it. The film is gory, at times incredibly gory, but it's so badly edited and awkwardly paced that it's impossible to get drawn into the film and to hold on even with it's short running time.
While the film has a connection to Seed, those who see it are far more likely to think about The Hills Have Eyes. I'm not sure if that's a compliment, an insult, or simply the truth.
The film has been translated into German, as well, by Annika Strauss, who plays a cop in the film. She plays it just fine, no small achievement given that her character actually makes no sense at all.
The film is available through Phase 4 Films.
© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic
